Mar De Amor was fresh and full of running today, March 28, in the final phase of the Galway Downs Horse Trials, and there was no getting in his way. The Selle Francais gelding and his owner and rider Leigh Mesher, of Redmond, Wash., won the advanced division in Temecula, Calif., from start to finish.

Mesher and the 10-year-old, blaze-faced bay lowered one rail in today’s show jumping, but it didn’t keep them from leading the victory gallop a few moments later. The pair began their weekend on a dressage score of 30.3, added 2.8 time faults on cross-country yesterday and pulled one pole at an oxer mid-way through today’s course, designed by Jose Nava. But their final score of 37.1 was still more than 10 points ahead of the rest of the field.

None of the seven advanced horses managed a double-clear round this afternoon, but Matthias Schwarz and Sandy Shoes came closest, finishing with just 1 time fault for fourth place.

Third-placed Jennifer Wooten-DaFoe with Nabouco De Lessay (51.6) and second-placed Alexandra Slusher aboard Last Call (48.2) both pulled one rail apiece at the double combination.

The intermediate field looked exceptionally fresh on the whole, and most horses jumped clean in good form. Seven of the 10 horses finished without jumping penalties, though time proved a bit too tight for a few.

Suzy Elliot put in two textbook rounds with Chauncy and Ogopogo to finish second (41.6) and third (45.2), respectively.

But Pam Fisher, the last to go, pulled off a double-clear with Simply Priceless, clinching the win on her dressage score of 41.2. Nick Cwick campaigned the black Australian Thoroughbred at the intermediate level last year, placing second at the Bromont CCI** (Que.). Fisher, of Basalt, Colo., contested three preliminary horse trials in California with the gelding this spring, but Galway was her first move up to intermediate with him.

Fisher began the weekend in fifth place in the dressage, but the pair posted the only double-clear round on Ian Stark’s course on Saturday to move into the lead.

As a special treat for today’s spectators, David Acord of Dublin, Calif., who finished second in the CIC** yesterday with GoodKnight, graced the crowd with his vocal stylings before today’s intermediate division show jumped. He and his wife Jennifer performed The Star Spangled Banner as a duet.

Check out the final Galway Downs CIC and Horse Trials scores, and for more stories about the weekend’s winners and photos from the competition, check out the upcoming April 9 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse.