There was no confusion as to Saturday night’s winner, as Jos Verlooy piloted FTS Killossery Konfusion to victory in the $200,000 CSI4* American Wild Horse Conservation Grand Prix by a margin of nearly three seconds on January 25 at the Desert International Horse Park in Thermal, CA.
Course designer Bernardo Costa Cabral set the track for the featured event of Desert Circuit 3, presented by American Wild Horse Conservation, and his course ultimately resulted in seven clear rounds and an exhilarating Saturday night jump-off.
Verlooy was the fifth of those seven to return to the Grand Prix Arena for the short course, and, while he felt the jump-off rides had not been overly fast up until that point, he knew he likely needed to be.
“My plan was to put as much pressure on Gregory [Wathelet] as I could,” said Verlooy of his jump-off strategy. “I said, ‘I’m just going to give it a chance.’ I tried to do as fast as I can and put as much pressure on Gregory because I know Gregory’s just really, really fast. I was just putting pressure on him that he hopefully would have a fault and pull a rail. It worked, my strategy!”
With a rail down for fourth place for Belgium’s Gregory Wathelet and Ace of Hearts, it was the penultimate pair to return that gave Verlooy the greatest run for his money. As one of the final two to jump, Kaitlin Campbell stopped the clock in 40.23 seconds for second place aboard Armentos, owned by SWS Training & Sales. Rounding out the top three with a jump-off time of 44.85 seconds were Chandler Meadows and her own Calciet EB Z. Top Canadian was Vanessa Mannix and Kingston, who placed 8th.
Of his winning mount, FTS Killossery Konfusion, Verlooy said, “He’s been an amazing horse for me. I think I’ve been riding him now for three and a half, four years. He’s always been very competitive. If he’s in the jump-off, I always have a chance to win. He’s just so fast.
“He’s special,” continued Verlooy in speaking of the 15-year-old grey Irish Sport Horse gelding, owned by Euro Horse BVPA. “He’s so careful. He has just done so many good things for me during the few years that I’ve had him, and I’m really happy I can give him this win tonight.”
Now, the Belgian rider plans to spend the remainder of the 10-week Desert Circuit based out of the Desert International Horse Park, while still doing a bit of travel back and forth to Europe.
“I’ll go home to do some shows,” concluded Verlooy, who will soon contest the Nations Cup in Abu Dhabi, among other upcoming events. “I have still some horses at home, but I heard a lot of good things of this show, and I thought it was a very good plan to come over here!”
Complete results of Saturday’s $200,000 CSI4* American Wild Horse Conservation Grand Prix HERE.
Ballard Speeds to Brainjuice Welcome Win
Thursday, January 23, marked 8-year-old Chatadel PS’s first 1.45m class, but with the brains and abilities of an older horse, the stallion and Erynn Ballard made besting the $32,000 CSI2* BRAINJUICE 1.45m Welcome Speed look easy.
With a time of 59.62 seconds, the pair rode away with the win at Desert Circuit 3, presented by American Wild Horse Conservation. Finishing in second place with a time of 61.70 seconds were Michael Williamson and his own Call Me Baby Quick PS. Rounding out the top three was Savannah Jenkins who piloted Bresil de Carnaval Santa Rosa, owned by Proper 12 LLC, to a time of 62.19 seconds.
“He’s amazing,” said Ballard of the grey Oldenburg Chatadel PS, owned by Jose Salgado Negrete. “He’s a horse that’s very sure of himself; you can’t really train a horse to do what a horse like him does. He does it on his own. He doesn’t want to hit the jumps. He wants to be fast; he wants to be with you all the time. To do those turns; to leave those strides out, that’s a big education. It comes easy for him. He wants to do the job, and he’s exceptional.”
Chatadel PS had what Ballard describes as a “superstar” seven-year-old year, and he continues to rise to the occasion as he climbs the ranks. While Thursday’s class marked the first CSI2* competition for the stallion, trainer Ilan Ferder reminded Ballard not to treat it as such.
“Ilan said, ‘You can’t think of this as his first 1.45m and change the way you ride him. You ride him forward. He likes to go forward. He jumps well from being forward,’” said Ballard. “I said before I went in the ring, ‘If everything goes well, I can go eight to the last.’ For sure doing the eight to the last is where you saw that sort of second difference between first and second because I just kept coming the whole way forward. I never had to pull on the reins there. He’s a clever jumper; he doesn’t hit the jumps. He’s fast across the ground. He’s pretty much what everyone wants in a horse!”
Ballard continued, “He’s a big stallion; that’s not normally my kind of horse, but it was sort of love at first sight. He’s so beautiful. Really all he’s done is win.”
With that in mind, it made sense for Chatadel PS to join Ballard at the Desert International Horse Park as she made the trip from the East Coast to Thermal, CA, for Desert Circuit 3 and Desert Circuit 4, including the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Thermal.
Ballard next jumped the stallion in Saturday afternoon’s $45,000 CSI2* PRO Series Equine Grand Prix, where they placed 5th (fellow Canadians Vanessa Mannix/Valentino d’Elte and Christopher Lowe/Cunningham 4 were 3rd and 4th, respectively).
Complete results of $32,000 CSI2* BRAINJUICE 1.45m Welcome Speed HERE.
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