Saturday April 5, 2003

2003 Pan American Games Contenders: Yvonne Losos de Muniz

Yvonne Losos de Muniz – Her Road To The Pan Ams And The Olympics

A 35-year-old native Nigerian representing the Dominican Republic and bearing a lyrical yet challenging-to-remember name, as well as a tongue-twister moniker for her mount, has made the words ‘Yvonne Losos de Muniz on Inatana Las Marismas’ not only pronounceable but also memorable. The names were heard over and over at the Zada Enterprises LLC WEF Dressage Classic CDI in Wellington, Florida, March 13-16, when the duo won the Prix St. Georges, Intermediaire I, and I-I Freestyle – all three qualifiers for the Pan Am Games.

Yvonne had already become the rider to watch in the Pan Am Selection Trial qualifiers from her previous wins and placings on the 2003 Florida dressage circuit – a far cry from a year ago when she was competing at the Winter Equestrian Festival as virtually an unknown rider. Now dressage aficionados throng the ring when she rides in order to watch this ‘overnight sensation’ who has spent a lifetime working to achieve her current status as one of the top contenders bound for the August Pan American Games. Yvonne, whose hometown is Santo Domingo, the host city for the Pan Ams, smiles now about the ‘sudden’ limelight, “Everybody knows me.”

For Yvonne, the three big wins at the Zada/WEF CDI felt, “Great, because we had been working up to it.” She had competed in the two previous shows at the Palm Beach Polo Equestrian Club, but had to scratch the Palm Beach Dressage Derby CDI in Loxahatchee at the last minute when she learned that Lissette Purcell, an ‘I’ judge from the Dominican Republic, was presiding, which precluded her from competing because she uses the CDIs as Pan Am qualifiers. “So I built up for this,” said Yvonne about her triple victory. Her calculations of how much to peak the mare for the show proved accurate, and the duo scored 68.55% in the Prix St. Georges, 70.250% in the I-I, and 72.875% in the I-I Freestyle.