As the curtain closed on Week III at the HITS Coachella Desert Circuit, riders descended on the Grand Prix Ring at HITS Desert Horse Park for a shot at the lion’s share of the prize in the $75,000 Purina Animal Nutrition Grand Prix.
The week preludes the upcoming Longines FEI World Cup Jumping Thermal CSIW3* on Saturday, February 11 at 2pm. To purchase tickets, click here. Thirty-seven equestrians turned out to compete in Sunday’s Grand Prix, but the victor would be Chris Pratt and his ride, Concorde, owned by The Epic Group, LLC.
Nine advanced clear over the first round course designed by Olaf Petersen, Jr. of Germany, and six would go clear in the jump-off in contingency for the win. Pratt was the fifth in the order to challenge the abbreviated course, where he and Concorde would stop the clock in 41.702, just hundredths of a second ahead of second place, Eric Navet.
Navet and Catypso, owned by Signe Ostby, were the first to test the jump-off course, laying down a solid, fault-free round in 41.787 which would hold up until Pratt came in.
Tamie Phillips took home the third place prize piloting Cristar, owned by Merle Gardner. Phillips and Cristar climbed their way up the Week III Grand Prix rankings after scoring a fifth place ribbon in Friday’s $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix. Sunday, they brought in third with a cool, clear round in 42.491.
Karl Cook is no stranger to the leaderboard at the HITS Coachella Desert Circuit, and he proved that he was back for more in Sunday’s class aboard Tembla, another mount in the top five owned by Signe Ostby. Cook and Tembla powered down a 44.211-second round with all of the rails up for the eventual fourth place.
Rounding out the top five was Jamie Barge and Luebbo, owned by Kylie Co. Last year, Barge and Luebbo placed second in the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Thermal at HITS Desert Horse Park. Will they return to the top of the pack again this weekend? Only time will tell.
For tickets and additional information about the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Thermal at HITS Desert Horse Park, please click here.
$75,000 Purina Animal Nutrition Grand Prix
Place/Horse/Owner/Rider/Prize/R.1 Faults/J.O Faults/J.O Time
1 Concorde/The Epic Group/Chris Pratt/$22,500/0/0/41.70
2 Catypso/Signe Ostby/Eric Navet/$16,500/0/0/41.787
3 Cristar/Merle Gardner/Tamie Phillips/$9,750/0/0/42.491
4 Tembla/Signe Ostby/Karl Cook/$6,000/0/0/44.211
5 Luebbo/Kylie Co./Jamie Barge/$4,500/0/0/44.622
6 Dacarlos/Mattias Ekeroth LLC/Mattias Ekeroth/$3,750/0/0/46.298
7 Calton Cafe/Freestyling Farms/Jill Prieto/$3,000/0/4/42.897
8 W Zermie 13/Woodacres Stables/Zazou Hoffman/$2,250/0/8/43.379
9 Camerino/Wells Bridge Farm/Paul Rohrback/$2,250/0/8/47.741
10 Christian Grey/Haley Farms, LLC/Tiffany Sullivan/$1,500/2/-/-
11 The Dude/Nicole Walker/Will Simpson/$1,500/4/-/-
12 Agro Star/Little Valley Farms/Ashlee Bond/$1,500/4/-/-
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