SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — Susie Hutchison is back on top of the 2014 Blenheim EquiSports grand prix scene. Hutchison, reunited with Ziedento after a couple years, on Saturday took the 10-year-old gelding to his second grand prix win in seven days, the $50,000 Blenheim Spring III Grand Prix, after she and Ziedento had taken the $40,000 Blenheim Spring II Grand Prix the previous weekend.

She also took another up-and-coming star, SIG Excel, to victory Saturday in the $10,000 CardFlex 1.35m Jumper Classic. It was SIG Excel’s 14th win in 15 competitions. In one event, SIG Excel was second.

“I have a lot of really nice young horses coming on,” Hutchison said. “I just got Ziedento, who was sold and in Virgina, and the owner, Barbara Roux of St. Brides Farm, just recently sent him back to me during Thermal.

“We started back as a team at the last three weeks in Thermal, and the partnership looks like its going to last,” she added.

Hutchison didn’t win the Blenheim $25,000 Markel Insurance 1.40m Grand Prix on Thursday, but she did take Ali Nilforushan’s Fortuna di San Martino to second place—by less than a quarter-second—to winner Mandy Porter on Plum Creek Hollow Farm’s Con Capilot.

Leopoldo Palacios admittedly built a tough track for the grand prix.

Of the 36 who attempted Palacios’ track, actually only five rode without fault. Second to go, Karl Cook and Signe Ostby’s ASB Conquistador were first clean. John Pearce and Chianto (Forest View Farms, owner), assured a jump-off with their clean round.

Only one more went without dropping a rail, Josephina Nor Lantzman and her partner Chello Z, to make it a jump-off of five.

With this group of two young, talented and ambitious riders, Cook and Nor Lantzman, as well as two seasoned and speedy equestrians, Pearce and Hutchison, a thrilling five attempts at the top prize was guaranteed.

With this win, Hutchison created her own double victory on a horse she rode as a seven and eight-year-old before he went to the East Coast.

“I think Ziedento likes being back in California,” Hutchison admitted. “He’s won the grand prix two weeks in row!”

In the $10,000 CardFlex 1.35m Jumper Classic, Hutchison was happy with SIG Excel, one of her favorite horses.

“There are very few horses that you can get that many clear rounds out of,” she says of winning 14 out of 15 starts. “She just tries, tries, tries.”

The speedy pair was second to go in the jump-off of six and set a blistering time of 37.70, almost five seconds faster than the leading time. No other rider could break forty seconds, until the last to go, Nayel Nassar on Baraka. The talented twenty-three-year-old tried, but couldn’t quite catch the winning time, and finished second in 39.46.

$40,000 Spring Classic II Grand Prix, presented by Orange County Register
Place – Horse – Rider – Owner – Faults/Time
1. Ziedento – Susan Hutchison – St. Bride’s Farm – 0/0/41.089
2. Chello Z – Josephina Nor Lantzman – Josephina Nor Stables, LLC – 0/0/43/140
3. Lordan – Nayel Nassar – Nayel Nassar – 0/4/41.459
4. SIG Zuleika – Susan Hutchison – SIG International, Inc. – 0/4/42.696
5. Miss CashCall – Joie Gatlin – Gregg DeLong – 0/9/53.177
6. Webster – Jenna Thompson – Jenna Thompson – 1/86.777
7. Bristol – Rusty Stewart – Grey Fox Farm – 4/77.804
8. Agamemnon – Alec Lawler – Alec Lawler – 4/79.173
9. Already – Jeffrey Fields – KEW Farms – 4/79.374
10. Socrates de Midos – Michelle Parker – Cross Creek Farm – 4/79.476
11. Charly – Joie Gatlin – High Voltage Farms, LLC – 4/79.486
12. Quilebo du Tillard – Enrique Gonzales – Enrique Gonzales – 4/79.533

$7,500 1.35M-1.40M CashCall Mortgage Jumper Futurity
Place – Horse – Rider – Owner – Faults/Time
1. Cyrano Z – Rachel Fields – SHF Group – 0/0/41.505
2. Pugilist – Bretton Chad – Stone Ridge Farms LLC – 0/0/45.272
3. Boland – Sergey Zayika – Spruce Meadows – 0/0/48.084
4. Baraka – Nayel Nassar – Nayel Nassar – 0/4/40.118
5. Tembla – Karl Cook – Signe Ostby – 0/4/44.189
6. Casco Junior – Kyle King – Danielle Walker – 4/75.009
7. SIG White Chocolate – Kyle King – SIG International, Inc. – 4/78.510
8. Acer – Hap Hansen – Geraldine Bidwell – 4/80.193

$10,000 Scarlett’s Derby Results
Place – Horse – Rider – Owner – Faults/Time
1. SIG Consegal – Kyle King – SIG International – 0/0/27.083
2. Banba – Karl Cook – Signe Ostby – 0/0/27.844
3. Raska – Tommi Anne Clark – Tommi Anne Clark – 0/RT
4. Casco Junior – Kyle King – Danielle Walker – 4/114.984
5. Zan Chin – Kelly McKnight – Jane Hind – 4/116.745
6. Irish 77 – Marc Grock – Moonlite Beach LLC – 4/119.472
7. Nika – Carla Diewert – Carla Diewert – 4/121.520
8. Camaron Hills Shanroe – Jenny Calandra – Tim Calandra – 4/122.758
9. Casino Royale – Katelyn Cooper – Katelyn Cooper – 4/122.787
10. E-Star – Sara Jorgensen – Sara Jorgensen – 4/124.753
11. Senna Van Paemel – Brooke Bidwell – Geraldine Bidwell – 4/128.242
12. Count Grannus – Sergey Zayika – Spruce Meadows – 5/129.173