Back-to-back wins for John Pearce close out 2007 HITS Desert Circuit

THERMAL, CA (March 12, 2007) Until two weeks ago, Canadian Olympian John Pearce couldn’t catch a break at the 2007 HITS Desert Circuit. Last year’s leading money winner had yet to collect a first place check during the first four weeks of horse shows at the new HITS Desert Horse Park in Thermal, California.

That’s all changed now as Pearce has taken top honors two Sundays in a row. On Sunday, in the season’s Grand Finale, the $150,000 HITS Grand Prix of the Desert presented by Cessna Aircraft Corporation, Pearce and Urioso got the best of 41 of the top riders in the world. The horse/rider combination took home $45,000 in prize money, ending the first six-week HITS Desert Circuit held at the newly designed facility. Last week, Pearce also won the $75,000 Footing Authority Grand Prix aboard his other mount, Archie Bunker.

Pearce and Urioso had the enviable last-to-ride position in the jump-off designed by Olaf Petersen, Jr. The three previous trips before him all had at least one rail down, so Pearce knew he could play it a little more safe and tried to go clean all the way home. If that wasn’t enough, he had the company of fellow Canadian Olympian, Jill Henselwood offering words of advice as they walked out of the Grand Prix Schooling ring moments before the event.

As it turned out Pearce didn’t play it too safe after all, taking down the second to last rail in the jump-off course. After clipping the red and white vertical, he galloped to the final hurdle stopping the clocks at 48.52 to secure the triumph.

I planned an inside turn to the final jump, said Pearce. I was careful enough to know that if I took a rail down, I would still make it to the final jump on time with a chance to win.

With four faults, Jill Humphrey and Felix 380, held the Great American Time to Beat at 49.99 when Pearce entered the ring. I knew Jill’s time wasn’t that fast, said Pearce. She had a rail down on both of her horses and that’s what let me come into the jump-off with a little more room for error.

Humphrey, and her World Cup Horse, Kaskaya, also had a single rail down and finished in third place. Ironically, she dropped the second element of the triple combination with each horse.

Humphrey had not dropped a single rail in the first round of any of the Sunday Grand Prix classes this year during the HITS Desert Circuit. It’s an incredible feeling when you see a horse jump clean six Sundays in a row, said her trainer Rudy Leone. She is an incredible talent. I have been training riders all of my life and she is one in a million.

Humphrey, who is only 24, has already qualified for the FEI World Cup next month in Las Vegas. She added to her total points as Sunday’s $150,000 Grand Prix of the Desert, presented by Cessna Aircraft Corporation, was also a World Cup qualifier.

I’m still in shock, she said. Never did I expect to have this much success so early on in my career. Rudy Leone and Leone Equestrian have done wonders for me and I am ready to represent my country in the World Cup. According to Leone, he will not be showing Kaskaya in any other horse shows until the World Cup so he can rest.

Going first in the jump-off and dropping three rails was Tracy Fenney and Grace.

According to Petersen, these riders competed on some of the best footing he has seen. It’s not only good, it is excellent, he said. I have seen five full days of horse shows and I didn’t see one horse slip or stumble. I was able to build my course big today because of the condition of the footing. HITS Thermal features new, state-of-the-art footing provided by Footing Authority, a division of International Surfaces Group, Inc.

For the past 15 years, HITS has produced a six-week winter horse show circuit in Indio, California. The 2007 HITS Desert Circuit was held just five miles from its previous home at the new, state-of-the-art HITS Desert Horse Park equestrian facility on Airport Boulevard in Thermal, California.

The new horse park is the largest Hunter/Jumper horse show venue in the United States and has more than $10,000,000 in improvements, including stabling for more than 3,000 horses and 12 competition rings.

In January 2006, HITS entered into a private equity arrangement with Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. in Los Angeles. As a result, HITS, Inc. is able to develop and execute exciting operational and strategic initiatives that both solidifies its well-established position as the leader in horse show management and allows for new growth opportunities including the construction of the HITS Desert Horse Park. HITS generates significant economic impact in each of its five venues in California, Arizona, Florida, Virginia and New York.