Early migration south pays dividends for Alex Granato
Alex Granato decided to migrate south a little earlier this year – a decision that paid off as he and Helios vd Nosahoeve closed the ESP Pre-Charity week at Florida’s Wellington International with a win in the $140,000 CSI3* Grand Prix.
“I switched up my plan a little bit this year,” the 41-year old US rider whose jump off round in 42.60 seconds dropped Venezuela’s Luis Fernando Larrazabal and Baroness down – with a time of 45.50 – to second.
“Typically, I would just be getting down here,” Alex said. “I would stay in Lexington a little longer, but this year I was a little burnt out at the end of the fall, so I changed my plan. I didn’t do any of the indoors. I let my horses have some quiet times, kept them in light work, but lots of turnout at home, and they got to enjoy the cooler weather and the bigger paddocks, and then ended up coming down right at the beginning of November.”
Puerto Rican course designer Hector Loyola set a challenging track in the opening round of the Grand Prix, with the time allowed often proving to be the nemesis for the 42-strong field of entries. Nine made it through to the jump off where Alex relied on Kisma Equestrian’s 12-year old Dutch Warmblood gelding’s growth in experience – marked by seven international wins this year – to secure victory.
“When I took the time to fine-tune him and trust him in the ring, his competitive nature took off,” Alex, a member of the bronze medal winning U.S. team at the 2019 Pan-American Games in Lima, Peru, said. “My main focus is going to be to stay consistent at this level and maybe dabble in more four- or five-stars. His strength is a super consistent attitude. I was trying to keep up with him out there. He’s so bold and brave at the jumps.”
The decision to take a brief time out proved to be a good one for Alex, who is based in Lexington with Mad Season, LLC. “We skipped indoors, came down at the start of November and focused on this week and the upcoming four-star,” he said. “I actually really enjoyed it. It got me some quiet time at home and some cooler weather, and now I’m excited to be going again.”
Alex was not alone in his early sojourn to Florida, with the week’s show at Wellington International’s main ground, hosting record-breaking entries totaling more than 750 horses for the week as attention now turns to this Thanksgiving week’s ESP Holiday & Horses CSI4*.
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