Yvonne Losos de Muñiz of the Dominican Republic Halfway to WEG Qualifying
15 years ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Yvonne Losos de Muñiz of the Dominican Republic Halfway to WEG Qualifying
LEXINGTON, Kentucky, Apr. 21–Yvonne Losos de Muñiz was awarded the first of two scores she needs to qualify her to become the first rider from the Dominican Republic to compete at a World Equestrian Games.
Riding Optimus Prime, a 16-year-old Austrian warmblood by Lux that was bought in December from California, Yvonne received a score of 65.319 per cent in the Grand Prix at the Kentucky Cup CDI3* WEG test event at the Kentucky Horse Park. She has two more CDI3* competitions in the USA in May, at Allentown, New Jersey, and Wayne, Illinois, to get her second score to qualify her to return to Kentucky for the WEG in September.
In 2003, in her hometown of Santo Domingo, Losos de Muñiz made history by becoming the first equestrian athlete to win a medal for the Dominican Republic at the Pan American Games. Four years later, at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, she repeated her individual bronze medal performance.
She came to Lexington after competing in the winter show season in Florida in preparation for the upcoming 2010 Central American Games in Puerto Rico and the Alltech FEI WEG.
A major decision during the Florida season was to renew her training partnership with Diederik Wigmans of the Netherlands, who she successfully worked with at the beginning of her international career. Wigmans will coach the entire Dominican Republic team for the Central American Games, as well as for Losos de Muñiz individually as she pursues her goal of representing the Dominican Republic at the WEG.
The Central American Games in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, in July, are at small tour level. Yvonne has three prospects – Dondolo Las Marismas, Royal Affair and San Piko. All three horses had top five placings in large CDI classes throughout the winter season in Wellington, Florida.
Owned by Las Marismas, Optimus Prime and Yvonne spent the winter getting to know each other.
“I am very pleased with the progress of Optimus Prime,” she said. “I have only had him for three months and he has progressed by leaps and bounds. He has shown much improvement in his movements, and is now consistently scoring in the 65 to 67 per cent range at Grand Prix.”
Losos de Muñiz and her husband, Eduardo Muñiz, operate Las Marismas in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
