Amanda Derbyshire and Cornwall BH are Victorious in the $65,000 Equestrian Services International FEI 1.45m Grand Prix

February 14, 2026, Myakka City, Florida. With a time allowed of 77 seconds in the first round of today’s $65,000 Equestrian Services International FEI CSI2* 1.45m Grand Prix, the track proved challenging. Only 11 of the 40 competitors finished within the time allowed, and just three did so without jumping faults.

Amanda Derbyshire (GBR) and Cornwall BH stopped the clock in 73.20 seconds with zero jumping faults to top the leaderboard after the first round. Returning for the jump-off, the pair once again delivered a fault-free performance, securing the win in 40.70 seconds, nearly four seconds faster than Ansgar Holtgers Jr. (USA) and Caliblue PS, who finished second in 44.20 seconds.

Holtgers and Caliblue PS had also been close behind in the opening round, producing a double-clear effort in 75.74 seconds to secure their spot in the jump-off.

Yesterday in the $32,000 Howard Leasing 1.45m FEI Welcome Speed, Derbyshire and Cornwall BH delivered another strong performance, stopping the clock in 60.29 seconds to claim second place. Their clear round finished just fractions of a second behind the winning pace set by Samuel Parot (CHI) and his mare Tiffany de Olid, who drew first in the order and established the time to beat ahead of the remaining 42 competitors.

Amanda Derbyshire and her longtime partner, Cornwall BH, have become a consistent partnership on FEI circuits, earning wins and top placings in CSI2* and CSI3* competitions across multiple seasons. The 18-year-old Holsteiner’s résumé includes a double-clear victory in the CSI2* $32,000 Grand Prix Qualifier at WEF, the $62,500 Griffis Residential Grand Prix, and the $100,000 CSI2* Grand Prix at Split Rock Aiken.

A familiar face at TerraNova Equestrain Center, Derbyshire traveled from Wellington with 8 horses to compete during Week 1 of the TerraNova Winter Series. “We’ve tried from the very beginning to support the facility. We really like it here, it’s very accommodating, peaceful and relaxing, and competitive! We really like the show, Mike who runs it, and the grounds are nice and the people are nice. It’s always a great time,” she said.

“With Cornwall, who won today, he’s 18 so I’m trying to keep him at the 2* level, so he’ll come back to TerraNova for a couple more weeks, then I have some younger up-and-coming horses. I was most proud of the horse I was third on, Kiss Me FZ. It was her first time stepping up to the FEI level, and she went clear in the ranking class and double clear in the Grand Prix. It was nice to come to a show like this as she steps up in her 9-year-old-year and go double clear. We are very proud of her,” Derbyshire said.

Course designer Olaf Petersen crafted a track that rewarded forward riding and efficient use of the 77-second time allowed. While the lines themselves were straightforward, the time allowed proved influential in determining the final standings.

“In the Grand Prix today, the time was definitely extremely tight, which put the pressure on to make some mistakes. I thought it was a tricky course, but I think [Petersen] got the right amount of clears,” said Derbyshire, who also piloted three mounts in the $20,000 KB Squared Construction 1.35m TerraNova Prix. “It was the same thing in the TerraNova Prix, a hard track especially for the younger horses, with a time that was extremely tight.” Kent Farrington topped the podium in the 1.35m Prix aboard Diakatisa, owned by Robinson Ridge LLC.

“In the FEI, I think overall the lines were fairly simple and the horses had space to move up where needed,” Petersen explains. “For example, from fence six to the triple was a longer distance, and I really wanted the riders to gallop there, that’s where the time was made. Some combinations were conservative in those stretches, and in the end, that’s where they struggled with the time allowed. For me, that was the key to the course.”

While some riders often look for alternate tracks to shave time with tighter turns, Petersen intentionally designs his Grand Prix courses to discourage shortcuts and reward those who commit to the intended track.

“When I build a Grand Prix, I always try to avoid giving them an easy option to cut inside,” Petersen says. “I want them to stay on the track I’ve designed and ride at the pace that’s asked. That sometimes means they have to really gallop, and when the pressure builds, that can result in a light fault or a small mistake at the end. But that’s part of the challenge.”

One of Petersen’s primary goals in this and every Grand Prix is to design a course that is both fluent and rhythmical. “In a CSI2* with that many top-quality riders, you want strike the right balance, you don’t want it too hard, but you don’t want it too easy either. I think eight clear rounds were the right number for this course, and it set up a very nice jump-off. It can be challenging to build at 1.45m and still produce that kind of result, but in a class like this, the time allowed becomes essential. That’s often what makes the difference.”

FEI competition continues next week at the TerraNova Winter Series Week 2. National competition for Week 1 concludes tomorrow.

$65,000 Equestrian Services International FEI 1.45m Grand Prix: Order of Finish