International competition during HITS Championship week at HITS Hudson Valley came to a head on Saturday, September 7, 2024. The highly-anticipated highlight event of the week, the $250,000 Core Specialty Insurance CSI4* 1.55m Grand Prix, crescendoed an incredible week of four-star action with athletes from across the globe venturing to Saugerties, New York, for the finale of a top-tier summer. Amidst ten nations represented in the field, it was Great Britain’s Jessica Mendoza who took the top call at the class’s completion aboard I-Cap CL Z.
Returning in the penultimate position, Mendoza was one in a sizable field of 26 horse-and-rider combinations to contest Olaf Peterson Jr. ‘s (GER) first round track, but one of only three athletes to produce a fault-free effort. Peterson Jr. designed a course that encouraged precision and timeliness with challenging efforts, including a triple combination and a daunting triple bar oxer, all to be completed in an efficient time allowed of 84 seconds. As preparations were made and jumps were set for the jump-off, Mendoza held the prime position as the last to return to the field. Both of the other jump-off contenders, including Abdel Said (BEL) and Samuel Hutton (GBR) navigated yet another flawless performance, but in the pole position and knowing what she had to do, Mendoza shaved over a second off of the previous leading time.
“I think I was in the best position going in because I got to see everyone in the jump-off go before me,” explained Mendoza. “I-Cap CL Z has quick foot speed, so I knew I could make it up in the turns, and I played it a little safer to the last fence, but I felt I had done all I could up to that point.”
The partnership between Mendoza and her 12-year-old Zangersheide gelding (I’m Special de Muze x Air Jordan) is a long-standing one, and the root of their success together.
“He is my pride and joy,” enthused Mendoza. “I’ve had him since he was four years old, and I just know him inside and out. I know if I turn really tight and slice a jump, he’s not going to knock it down.
“He’s a horse of a lifetime for me in the sense that we have such a strong emotional connection as well,” she continued. “He’s kind of like my best friend in a horse. He always gives it all for me.”
Said’s double-clear effort in 40.92 seconds split the difference between the two British riders and was good enough for second.
“I know my mare pretty well, but I also know she can be slow,” he explained of the 11-year-old Estonian Sport Horse mare (A Big Boy x Landfriese) he co-owns with AS Trading and Antonia Pettersson Häggstrom, Bonne Amie. “I am competitive. I want to win. It was a hard one because I have had so many times where I went too fast and I overcooked it. I knew there were only three of us, so I wanted to put enough pressure, but also not risk knocking a rail. I think Jess really timed it well. She had an excellent plan. It was really a nice jump-off by her and she deserved the win.”