On Sunday the 26-year-old Bermudian rider stunned the local equestrian fraternity in winning the Grand Prix during this year's Equefest held at the Botanical Gardens.

Nisbett and his mount, Gulliver, won a stirring jump-off over five others leaving several competitors, including top foreign competitors, in awe.

"It was very exciting and rewarding to win,'' said Nisbett, who became the first local rider to prevail over a field containing foreign riders at the Equefest Grand Prix. "We put in a lot of work at Ocean View Farm to prepare the horses for the weekend -- not only for ourselves, but for the other foreign riders.'' The first two rounds witnessed Nisbett, Yannick Patron and Herve Godignon of France, England's Robert Smith and Bermudian Dale Rochester all emerge with clear rounds, precipitating the jump-off which had riders navigate a shortened, obstacle laden course against the clock.

First up was Nisbett and he proceeded to complete yet another clear round, clocking 33.92 seconds, to set the standard for the rest to follow.

As it turned out none could quite follow his footsteps, with Godignon, a member of the French team and ranked among the top 20 riders in the world, coming closest on the borrowed ride, Daniel, in a time of 33.98, while former European Young Rider champion Patron was third.

"It was a real pleasure just to get the opportunity to compete against the foreign riders and I'm excited that I went in there, did what I had to do and it all worked. Everything clicked and came together,'' said Nisbett, who first got in the saddle at the tender age of four and has been at it ever since.

"It was very exciting for me and a great thing for local riders to see that we can compete and be competitive at that level. We have a lot of young riders coming along and it was good for them to see something like that. For a local rider to come out on top gives them some sort of goal and incentive to want to be better.'' Nisbett gave special praise to Rochester and Patron, his training partners at Ocean View Farm, as well as groom Craig Goddard.

Nisbett hopes to go to West Palm Beach this winter to compete in several more competitions under the banner of sister stable Windsome Farms, which has outlets in several states, including Connecticut and Florida.

During the spring he hopes to tour Canada and the United States, gaining more experience against overseas competitors.

Beyond his own triumph, Nisbett took great pride in the achievements of junior riders Gregory Outerbridge and Ki-Juan Minors, whom he and Rochester coach.

Outerbridge won all three disciplines he entered, topping the Modified Pony Grand Prix, Open Pony Jumping and Hit and Hurry Ponies categories, while Minors was second in the Grand Prix and third in the other two disciplines.

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS -- Bermuda's Patrick Nisbett and Gulliver turned heads at Equefest on the weekend.