Lane Clarke and Semira De Saulieu win the the $50,000 Card Flex Grand Prix, Sunday, March 8, 2015, at HITS Thermal (ESI Photography)
Karl Cook, winner of Friday's $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix, placed second Sunday, this time on Tembla, owned by Signe Ostby. Cook finished double-clear in a time of 39.361. Jaime Azcarraga on his Anton Radio Formula rounded out the top three in a clear 40.120 seconds.
Thirteen riders made it into the jump-off, and the top six went double-clear, with a tight spread in their finishing times of less than three seconds. Cook, who went sixth in the jump-off had the fastest time until Clark's turn in the ring. The stage had been set for Clarke, with a total of five double-clears before him, amping up the pressure to complete the shortened course even faster, and without faults. Clarke went 11th in the jump-off, besting Cook by eight-tenths of a second.
"It was a great jump-off," Clarke said. "My mare really stepped up. I took a lot of chances; she answered every question above and beyond what she needed too. With a class like that you had to take risks."
The other double-clear finishers included: Rich Fellers on Flexible, owned by Harry and Mollie Chapman, in 40.160; Richard Spooner on Cristallo, owned by Show Jumping Syndications International in 40.216; and Greg Broderick, last Sunday's $50,000 Horseware Ireland Grand Prix winner, on Caledonia Stables' Going Global in 41.598.
"The jump-off was really stacked, and I went toward the end," Clarke said. "I knew before watching that it was going to be really fast. With that many hot shots in the course you had to go really fast and you had to go clean or you weren't going to get a good placing."
$50,000 Card Flex Grand Prix - HITS Thermal - Week VII
Place Horse Owner Rider Prize Rd. 1 Faults JO Faults JO Time
1 Semira De Saulieu Charlotte Gadbois Lane Clarke $15,000 0 0 39.309
2 Tembla Signe Ostby Karl Cook $11,000 0 0 39.361
3 Anton Radio Formula Jaime Azcarraga Jaime Azcarraga $6,500 0 0 40.120
4 Flexible Harry & Mollie Chapman Rich Fellers $4,000 0 0 40.160
5 Cristallo Show Jumping Syndications Int'l Richard Spooner $3,000 0 0 40.216
6 Going Global Caledonia Stables Greg Broderick $2,500 0 0 41.598
7 Asb Conquistador Signe Ostby Eric Navet $2,000 0 4 37.790
8 Katie Riddle Monarch International William Simpson $1,500 0 4 39.331
9 Chivas Z Richard Spooner Richard Spooner $1,500 0 4 40.422
10 Quintol Mercedes Benz Santiago Hank Eduardo Menezes $1,000 0 4 42.958
11 Quidam Blue Juniper Farms & Equitop Farms Jill Henselwood $1,000 0 4 46.548
12 Ketchica John Perez Bohm Carlos Perez Bohm $1,000 0 8 43.708