Friday Night was hopping in Rancho Murieta, and not just because of the band, bar and afterparty. Some of the fastest horses and riders around treated the crowd to some amazing show jumping in the form of the $36,500 Murieta Inn, Spa & Restaurant 1.45m speed class in the GGT Indoor Arena at Sacramento International.
Twenty-three riders took their shot around the Marina Azevedo-designed course which consisted of 14 jumping efforts including two double combinations. First out of the gate, Nikolaj Hein Ruus set a blazing fast speed aboard his 10-year-old grey Zangersheide mare Crusader Z, putting the pressure on the field early. Ultimately seven riders would put in clear rounds to contest the championship, and the top of the podium crossed the finish line within mere hundreds of a second of each other.
Taking the win by a whisker with a time of 62.32 was Angel Guillermo Karolyi (VEN) aboard April Moon owned by Carol Rosenstein and Silver Raven Farm.
"She felt fantastic in the warmup and was jumping in good form," said Karolyi of the 11-year-old bay Holsteiner mare. "I walked in the ring pretty confident and I thought it was a very well-designed course."
April Moon is one of three mares who are triplets. The others are Nicole Shahinian-Simpson's Akuna Mattata and Abbey Road. "The sisters are a lot alike," said Karolyi. "They're wild spirts, but they're so talented, careful, and fast. You just have to understand those types of mares."
Coming in just behind April Moon with a time of 62.62 seconds was Karrie Rufer (USA) on Mai Tai, the 10-year-old bay Westphalian gelding owned by Morning Star Sporthorses, LLC. And just two-hundreds of a second behind, with a time of 62.64 seconds was Mandy Porter (USA) on WT Ca-Pow, a 10-year-old bay Holsteiner gelding owned by Wild Turkey Farm LLC.