The first Grand Prix of the season took over the Grand Prix Arena at Desert International Horse Park on Thursday as athletes vied for the top prize in the $25,000 FarmVet Grand Prix at Desert Circuit I. Set as a speed format, 21 horse-and-rider combinations took to the Ken Krome-designed track and attempted to navigate the single round as efficiently as possible with all the rails intact. While many pairs took direct routes and vied for the quickest time over the track, it was ultimately Canada’s Darren Dlin and Buddy Bounce who captured the win.

Lisa Carlsen and Livestream 2. (ESI Photography)

The course featured 12 numbered obstacles, including three double combinations, a liverpool vertical, and lines extending across the expanse of the Grand Prix Arena. With the goal of going as quickly as possible, riders opened their horses’ strides in the bending lines and around the corners, but the three combinations required a balanced and collected stride in order to keep rails from falling, which interfered with some riders’ attempts to stay on an open, flowing stride. Dlin and Buddy Bounce, owned by Dorothy Dlin, beat out Olympian Cassio Rivetti and his mount, Delaney Batter’s Cristal De Menardiere, by just under half a second. In third was Canada’s Lisa Carlsen with Livestream 2.

Dlin got on a good pace with the gelding from the beginning of the course, taking direct paths down the bending lines and utilizing the horse’s large stride around the turns. He took a bold inside turn to the oxer at fence 10, cutting back tightly but finding the right distance and giving the pair the edge they needed to speed down the final line and claim the top spot in the class.

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