Saturday afternoon highlights at the Del Mar Horse Park included the $50,000 Showpark All Seasons Grand Prix and the $20,000 Interactive Mortgage Horses 10 & Under Futurity Final. Catsy Cruz of Mexico set the tracks, with her educated eye on encouraging the young horses and challenging the 1.50m show jumpers. Will Simpson and The Dude (Nicole Walker, owner) illustrated their dynamic partnership once again by leading the grand prix victory gallop, and Bjorn Ikast rode his nine-year-old, Supernatural, to the win in the futurity finals. "I enjoyed setting for this class. The material here is fantastic and this ring gives you a lot of room to set these courses," FEI course designer Cruz said. "In the grand prix, I set the triple at the end of this course to test the riders' ability to keep their horses focused. I also set some fences that might present riders with some problems, like the triple bar to the tight skinny vertical. I made the time quite fast; they must keep the pace, especially on the long gallops." With the variety of questions asked, jumps fell throughout the 16 effort track, but as noted, the 'A' element of the triple combination came down repeatedly. As Cruz expected, the time allowed was tight, and over half the class incurred time faults. Two riders finished with time faults only, just missing the chance to ride the shortened course for the blue.
Saturday afternoon highlights at the Del Mar Horse Park included the $50,000 Showpark All Seasons Grand Prix and the $20,000 Interactive Mortgage Horses 10 & Under Futurity Final. Catsy Cruz of Mexico set the tracks, with her educated eye on encouraging the young horses and challenging the 1.50m show jumpers. Will Simpson and The Dude (Nicole Walker, owner) illustrated their dynamic partnership once again by leading the grand prix victory gallop, and Bjorn Ikast rode his nine-year-old, Supernatural, to the win in the futurity finals. "I enjoyed setting for this class. The material here is fantastic and this ring gives you a lot of room to set these courses," FEI course designer Cruz said. "In the grand prix, I set the triple at the end of this course to test the riders' ability to keep their horses focused. I also set some fences that might present riders with some problems, like the triple bar to the tight skinny vertical. I made the time quite fast; they must keep the pace, especially on the long gallops." With the variety of questions asked, jumps fell throughout the 16 effort track, but as noted, the 'A' element of the triple combination came down repeatedly. As Cruz expected, the time allowed was tight, and over half the class incurred time faults. Two riders finished with time faults only, just missing the chance to ride the shortened course for the blue.