Natalie Dean & Dotcom D’Authuit Dominate $31,020 BrainJuice Grand Prix CSI U-25

By Jumper News USA on January 23, 2024

Wellington, Florida, USA – January 21, 2024 – The second week of the 2024 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) at Wellington International came to a peak on the Equestrian Village derby field on Sunday. Competition on the derby field first began with the $31,020 BrainJuice Grand Prix CSI U-25 as 60 entries vied for top call in the first under 25 event of the season. Ultimately, the blazing fast combination of Natalie Dean (USA) and Dotcom D’Authuit bested the field of 14 jump-off contenders.

***Natalie*** **Dean** (USA) & **Dotcom D’Authuit**

Valentina Arenas Savaria (GUA) produced the first clear round across Olaf Petersen Jr’s (GER) round-one track and by the midway drag seven more combinations rose to the challenge. An additional six athletes found their way to a clear round on the back half of the first round and the stage was quickly set for the short course.

As the returning field of developing talent closed in on its final few, Grace Debney (GBR) appeared to have the class in the bag as she produced another blazing fast effort with career partner Zarina de Vidau, but Dean quickly answered.

Shaving close to two seconds off Debney’s time of 51.81 seconds, Dean’s need for speed and the Marigold Sport Horses` 11-year-old Selle Français mare’s (Diamant de Semilly x Quidam de Revel) determination to win shone through as the pair shot to the top with a time of 49.89 seconds.

“My horse is really reliable,” explained Dean. “She’s quite fast and competitive in these classes, so I knew I had a good shot. I’ve had her since she was seven years old so we know each other really well, and she is very comfortable in [the U25]. I know I always have a good chance of winning if I give her a good ride, and that gives me a lot of confidence.”

One particular spot on course that got its fair share of riders was an oxer to a combination line, where Dean said the number of strides was a make or break moment in her win.

“For the jump-off, I knew doing eight strides from the single oxer to the combination would get a little far away, but I also knew that was going to be one line where if I did nine strides I would be second,” she added. “So that’s probably where I’d say I took the biggest risk, but it paid off.”

Ireland’s Francis Derwin raced the clock to beat Dean’s time but landed in the reserve position after a fault-free effort that clocked him and the Santa Rosa Group’s 15-year-old Royal Dutch Sport Horse / Dutch Warmblood mare Elien (Carambole x Mermus R) in at 51.16 seconds.

Debney’s ride with the Temple Equestrian LLC’s 13-year-old Spanish Sport Horse (Diamant de Semilly x Coeur de Nuit) put the pair comfortably into third place as the class came to its completion.