Will Simpson Continues Mastery of HITS Thermal with Fifth Grand Prix Win
by HITS E-News | Feb 1, 2015, 12:14 PM
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.”
$25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix
Place Horse Owner Rider Prize Round 1 Faults JO Faults JO Time
1 S.F. Arlantha Olivia Cox-Fill William Simpson $7,500 0 0 39.033
2 Basimodo Signe Ostby Karl Cook $5,000 0 0 39.130
3 Alberto II Stone Ridge Farms LLC Kara Chad $3,250 0 0 40.551
4 Tembla Signe Ostby Karl Cook $2,000 0 0 41.422
5 The Pugilist Stone Ridge Farms LLC Bretton Chad $1,500 0 0 42.865
6 Zamiro 16 Stone Ridge Farms LLC Kara Chad $1,250 0 0 43.637
7 Zilox T Haley Farms LLC Tiffany Sullivan $1,000 0 0 44.926
8 Cassiato Oak Park Group LLC Harley Brown $750 0 0 46.158
9 Baldira Mirador & Paul Schockemohle Ray Texel $750 0 4 42.513
10 Zeddam Stone Ridge Farms LLC Bretton Chad $500 0 4 43.131
11 Caretol Moonlite Beach LLC Marc Grock $500 0 4 45.243
12 Christian Grey Haley Farm LLC Tiffany Sullivan $500 2 * *