Cavalor Rider Hillary Dobbs Wins FEI World Cup Qualifier

Published: 12-14-2009

Montreal, Canada - December 14, 2009 -Cavalor show jumping rider Hillary Dobbs found the perfect way to usher in the holiday season - by winning the Holiday & Horses $50,000 Grand Prix and FEI World Cup Qualifier at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center in Wellington, FL.

Cavalor, the world's leading equine nutrition company for high-performance horses, announced Dobbs as the company's first "Cavalor Young Champion" earlier this year.

"We are extremely proud of Hillary's recent victory in the Holiday & Horses Grand Prix and FEI World Cup Qualifier," said Philippe Collard, President of Cavalor, Inc. "She is a talented rider, a wonderful person and a perfect representative of our brand."

Dobbs and her mount Quincy B, a horse she has been riding since her days of competing in the junior jumpers, bested a starting field of 38 horse-and-rider combinations for the win after advancing to the final jump-off round. Joined by seven competitors in the jump-off, Dobbs knew that she and Quincy B would have to perfectly execute the Anthony D'Ambrosio designed course to secure the victory.

Going second to last in the order for the jump-off allowed Dobbs the opportunity to carefully study the courses of the riders who went before her, with the only fault-free ride thus far going to Ken Berkley and Carlos Boy with a time of 46.14 seconds.

Living up to her "Cavalor Young Champion" title, Dobbs rose to the occasion and put in a fault-free ride in a time of 45.39 seconds - just ¾ of a second faster than Berkley. With only the Russian Olympic horse-and-rider combination of Ljubov Kochetova and Aslan left to compete, all Dobbs could do was wait and hope she and Quincy B were fast enough for the win. Indeed, they were!

"You can always count on Ljubov to go clear, so I was just holding my breath," said Dobbs.

Kochetova finished with no jumping faults in a time of 47.91 seconds, securing the third place finish while Ken Berkley and Carlos Boy finished in second.

"We're showing in these big night classes that are FEI World Cup qualifiers with the hope that we acquire points early, so it's an option later down the road," Dobbs said. "This horse just keeps getting better and better!"