Nayel Nassar Crowned Master of Speed

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Speed demon Nayel Nassar of Egypt and his trusty steed, Lucifer V, claimed the highlight event on Friday, April 26, at the Longines Masters of New York by racing to victory in the Longines Speed Challenge CSI5* at NYCB LIVE, Home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Longines Masters of New York runs April 25 through 28 as the third leg of the Longines Masters Series following stops in Paris and Hong Kong.

Using the same speed track at the Paris and Hong Kong editions of the Longines Masters, course designer Frank Rothenberger gave competitors numerous options for inside turns and short cuts for those brave enough to chance their luck.

Despite knocking one rail down for a two-second time penalty, Nassar moved to the top of the leaderboard with an adjusted time of 58.45 seconds and stayed there. Nassar sat on the podium – and on pins and needles – watching the remaining competitors attempt to catch his time. Kristen Vanderveen of the United States came the closest but still finished more than two seconds off the winning pace with a time of 61.07 seconds, demonstrating just how fast Nassar had been

“He’s naturally a really quick horse,” said Nassar of Lucifer V, a 13-year-old Westphalian gelding owned by Evergate Stables LLC. “I knew that if I got on a bit of a lick and kept it the whole way around, we would be in a pretty good spot.

“It’s Jenn’s birthday today and I told her that I wanted to win one for her so I was really glad that I was able to get it done even with the rail. It’s pretty crazy that we were still able to win the class even with a fence down.” ~ Nayel Nassar