[dropcap style=”font-size: 70px; color: #052b51; font-family: ‘Droid Serif’, Arial, sans-serif;”] O [/dropcap] n the 19th of May the first leg of the FEI World Cup Qualifier kicked off at Kyalami Equestrian Park in Midrand, Johannesburg. The testing track was built by Portuguese course designer, Bernardo Costa Cabral. Nicola Sime waved the Sunny Park banners high, producing some fantastic results.

After the first round of the Knowles Husain Lindsay Attorneys Inc. FEI World Cup Qualifier, Nicola went into the second round on 1 time penalty with Sunny Park’s Connoisseur and clear with Sunny Park’s El Paso.

Jeanne Engela on Cloof Wines Chanel was the only clear going into the second round and the competition was heated!

Nicola put all the pressure on Jeanne jumping clear in the second round on Conn but had an unfortunate 4 faults on El. However, Jeanne was able to also jump clear ensuring she piped Nicola at the post.

Nicola finished in second place on Connoisseur and in fourth place on El Paso.

World cup Qualifiers are extremely technical to jump and most riders are lucky to finish the track on less than 8 penalties. To jump two clear rounds on two different horses and place to highly on both is a huge achievement. One Nicola tends to do again and again.

It is also especially important to remember that Nicola produced both these horses herself and did not buy them as going horses overseas who had experience with professional riders jockeying them.

Our fingers are crossed for her, Conn & El for the rest of the season!