THERMAL — Olympic Gold Medalist Will Simpson has virtually shut out the field of Grand Prix riders so far at HITS Desert Horse Park. Simpson, riding S.F. Ariantha, claimed his fifth consecutive victory with a first place finish in the $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix on Jan. 30. S.F. Ariantha, a new mount for Simpson, is owned Olivia Cox-Fill.

Thirty-five riders competed in the class and 11 returned for the jump-off. Simpson took home the $7,500 top prize by cleanly completing the jump-off course in 39.033 seconds — just a tenth of a second faster than second place finisher Karl Cook on Basimodo, owned by Signe Ostby, with a time of 39.130 seconds. A little more than a full second behind Simpson and Cook, to finish in third, was Kara Chad, riding Stone Ridge Farms LLC’s Alberto II, in a clean 40.551 seconds. Both Cook and Chad finished in the top six on other horses, Cook with Ostby’s Tembla in fourth, and Chad on Stone Ridge’s Zamiro 16, in sixth.

Simpson said S.F. Ariantha “is a really fast horse and a different ride, for me but I loved it.” He praised the setting, too, adding, “It’s such a nice circuit here and I am in my zone, as they say. Everything is rolling along pretty good…I probably need to pinch myself a little.”

Second-place finisher Cook said, “We went as fast as we could but Will went faster. I am really proud of both horses. They are really ready for Sunday (the $50,000 Horze Equestrian Grand Prix).” He said of his strategy, “I took a chance on the inside turn toward the last two jumps and it worked. I knew on this horse I couldn’t do the eight strides later so I had to ramp up somehow. I thought I’d do what no one else did, and see if I could get an advantage but still do the nine strides. Will was just faster.”

Chad, in third place, noting the competitive spirit of the jump-off said, “It was a fast jump-off for all of us. The course was not ‘too’ big but it got bigger as it went along so you had to take that into account — leave the jumps up but go as fast as you can. I tried to give Karl a run for his money but he just out did me a bit in the end.”

$50,000 Horze Equestrian Grand Prix
Place/ Horse/ Owner/ Rider/ Prize/ Round 1 Faults/ JO Faults/ JO Time
1 The Dude/ Monarch International/ William Simpson/ $15,000/ 0/ 0/ 39.002
2 Tembla/ Signe Ostby/ Karl Cook/ $11,000/ 0/ 0/ 39.355
3 Pater Noster/ Jaclyn Duff/ Jaclyn Duff/ $6,500/ 0/ 0/ 41.991
4 Calero/ Neaulani Farms/ Allyssa Hecht/ $4,000/ 0/ 0/ 43.135
5 La Fleur/ Francisco Pasquel/ Eduardo Menezes/ $3,000/ 0/ 4/ 38.046
6 Quintol Mercedes Benz/ Santiago Hank/ Eduardo Menezes/ $2,500/ 0/ 4/ 38.923
7 Katie Riddle/ Monarch International/ William Simpson/ $2,000/ 0/ 4/ 39.090
8 Axl Rose/ Monarch International/ Hannah Heidegger/ $1,500/ 0/ 4/ 42.729
9 AJE Cluny/ AJE Equitation/ Christian Heineking/ $1,500/ 0/ 8/ 42.121
10 Zamiro/ Alix Fargo/ Susan Artes/ $1,000/ 4/ */ *
11 Son of a Gun/ Forest View Farm Inc./ John Pearce/ $1,000/ 4/ */ *
12 Terrific/ John Anderson/ John Anderson/ $1,000/ 4/ */ *

$10,000 Jr/AO Jumper Classic High, presented by Vetera Vaccines
Place/ Horse/ Owner/ Rider/ Prize/ Round 1 Faults/ JO Faults/ JO Time
1 Acardi/ Eduardo Sanchez/ Navarro Rivera/ $3,000/ 0/ 0/ 34.873
2 Mucho Gusto/ Melissa Doddridge/ Melissa Doddridge/ $2,000/ 0/ 0/ 36.401
3 Lifestyle/ Eduardo Sanchez/ Navarro Rivera/ $1,400/ 0/ 0/ 38.379
4 Calvatos Z/ Neaulani Farm/ Allyssa Hecht/ $1,000/ 0/ 4/ 35.389
5 E-Unanime De La Haie/ Monarch International/ Hannah Heidegger/ $800/ 0/ 4/ 37.790
6 Kavanagh IV/ Harris Equestrian LLC/ Taylor Harris/ $700/ 0/ 4/ 52.006
7 Star La Tuiliere/ Stone Ridge Farms LLC/ Kara Chad/ $600/ 0/ 12/ 50.256
8 Leopold 221/ Abbygale Funk/ Abbygale Funk/ $500/ 4/ 0/ 0
9 Cornishman/ Stone Ridge Farms LLC/ Bretton Chad/ */ 4/ 0/ 0
10 Quantonius/ Nicole Peterson/ Nicole Peterson/ */ 4/ 0/ 0
11 NKH Barbosa/ Alexandra Ozymy/ Alexandra Ozymy/ */ 4/ 0/ 0
12 Chamcara/ Woodacres Stables LLC/ Saree Kayne/ */ 4/ 0/ 0

$5,000 Jr/A-O Jumper Classic Medium
Place/ Horse/ Owner/ Rider/ Prize/ Round 1 Faults/ JO Faults/ JO Time
1 Gucci/ Cavallo Farms, LLC/ Hannah Heidegger/ $1,500/ 0/ 0/ 37.902
2 Valentia RC/ Guy McElvain/ Chenoa McElvain/ $1,000/ 0/ 0/ 38.537
3 Lysander 99/ Peyton Warren/ Peyton Warren/ $700/ 0/ 0/ 39.703
4 Bonito R/ Devon Mac Neil/ Devon Mac Neil/ $500/ 0/ 0/ 41.393
5 Camona 3/ Elena Fernandez/ Elena Fernandez/ $400/ 0/ 0/ 43.108
6 Zola/ Sophia Mossman/ Sophia Mossman/ $325/ 0/ 0/ 44.513
7 Albertino/ Ransome Rombauer/ Ransome Rombauer/ $300/ 0/ 0/ 45.660
8 Volla/ Guy McElvain/ Chenoa McElvain/ $275/ 0/ 4/ 37.479
9 For Fun/ Stone Ridge Farms LLC/ Kara Chad/ */ 0/ 4/ 42.576
10 Loving Dancer/ Zeidler Farm Canada LTD/ Julia Tops/ */ 0/ 4/ 54.869
11 Capital One/ Morgan Dickerson/ Morgan Dickerson/ */ 5/ */ *
12 Ucarls/ Susan Hill/ Susan Hill/ */ 8/ */ *