Week VI is the finish up for our show days at the facility we have called “Indio” for the past many years. Some people are sad and some are not but everyone is flocking to the HITS office to pour over the plans on display for the new Thermal show grounds. Sounds a little weird to be saying “Thermal” and HITS in the same breath.
Today was one of those California desert days where any and all weather variations you can imagine cropped up at the show. Rain, sun, WIND, cold, clear skies, cloudy, overcast, bright sun and any thing else you can think of. The most difficult part for us has definitely been the wind. We had it all day last Friday and again this week the Friday Prix was plagued by driving wind but mixed with rain for today. The gazebo, for the farm next to us in the tents, decided to do a Wizard of Oz flight through the barns last night and when we arrived today it was a wadded up mass of canvas, steel, metal clips and wood frames for name banners.
The course today, set by Conrad Homfeld, was big and difficult but not trappy therefore the first round finished with 17 clean rounds. A bit of a surprise but I imagine Conrad was watching this, the Friday Prix, and will set Sunday’s class accordingly.
Grooms watch the Grand Prix from the hill
A Kathy Hobstetter Photo
The jump off was full of surprises and some excitement. This was about the time the rain started for real and drove all of us into the VIP tent to watch the finish of the class. The Grand Prix grooms are the unsung heroes of this class. They all waited by the back gate and faded as far into the trees/hedge on the hill as they could in order to try to stay al least a little dry. Watching for them is a sense of pride and accomplishment. They work hard, we should never forget that, and they take the placing of their horses seriously. A little thank you and a nice tip is always appreciated by them.
First to go was Katherine Bardis riding Pariska 2 for C&S Partnership. A respectable 4 faults in a safe time of 44.159. Helen McNaught rode Sharira for Gord Munro and also had 4 faults in a bit faster time of 40.906.
Rich Fellers on Harry and Molly Chapman’s McGuinness went 3rd of the 16 and had a super fast CLEAR round in 39.882. Set the pace for the rest of the class to try to chase that Blue ribbon in the sky. Richard Spooner on Show Jumping Syndication’s Cristallo tried for the time but was a bit slower in 41.374 but CLEAR.
Richard returned on C&S Partnership’s Airtime and to the surprise of everyone he stopped out. Following a stop at the first fence, Airtime decided he did not like the second fence either. Hap Hansen was next on Double Dutch owned by Barbara Endean. A cheap rail for 4 faults and another 4 time faults made his jump off total 8.
Ali Nilforushan on Hoek’s Nan for Danielle Koresh rode a forward, flowing ride but had a rail for 4 faults. Mark Leyton riding his own Nicole had problems and stopped at fence #2 and #4 in the jump off and was excused. Richard Spooner returned on Quirino 3 for Oncany Inc and raced around chasing the win but had a rail for 4 faults in a fast time of 38.688. John Pearce was next on Forest View Farm’s Urioso but didn’t have such a wonderful time. 12 faults kept him completely out of the prizes on this horse.
Peter Pletcher is again in the Grand Prix ring on Alex Dillard’s Charmed. Today was not his day and he had 8 faults. Mariano Alano on Kilkenny Crest’s Kilkenny Lesandra was CLEAR but slow in a time of 51.675 for 5 time faults. Mark Watering on his own Sapphire had a rail late in the jump off but he was quick in 40.927 allowing him to end up 9th.
Spooner returned for another try for the Blue on Half Moon Bay’s Robinson. CLEAR but not quite fast enough with a time of 44.796. The gentleman at our table in the tent made the comment that he thought Richard was focusing on “schooling” for Sunday’s class. Could be!!
John Pearce came into the ring on Forest View Farm’s Archie Bunker, and you could tell there was about to be a horse race. His signature forward gallop with no slow down made him fast and CLEAR in 40.507…not quite fast enough to catch Rich Fellers, but close. Fellers came in on the Chapman’s Gyro and zipped around for a CLEAR in 43.635, not fast enough to catch himself !!
Down to the last 2 riders. Guillermo Obligado on Woodgrove’s Picasso had a rail and then 4 time faults. Richard Spooner galloped across the ring and you could tell he was out for the win. From the very first step of his jump off it was obvious he was going to take a chance and try for the top prize. An amazing FAST round, a very fast last turn to the final oxer and we all knew he was ahead on the clock BUT the last rail fell. He had the fastest time of 39.310 but the pesky rail came at the cost of the top prize.
1st…..McGuinness/Rich Fellers/Harry & Molly Chapman 0/0/39.882
2nd….Archie Bunker/John Pearce/Forest View Farm 0/0/40.507
3rd…..Cristallo/Richard Spooner/Show Jumping Syndications 0/0/41.374
4th…..Gyro/Rich Fellers/Harry & Molly Chapman 0/0/43.635
5th…..Robinson/Richard Spooner/Half Moon Bay 0/0/44.796
6th…..Quirino 3/Richard Spooner/Oscany Inc 0/4/38.688
7th…..Ezrah/Richard Spooner/S&B LLC Corp 0/4/39.310
8th…..Sharira/Helen McNaught/Gord Munro 0/4/40.906
9th…..Sapphire/Mark Watring/Watring-Bohannan 0/4/40.927
10th…Hoek’s Nan/Ali Nilforushan/Dannielle Koresh 0/4/41.500
11th…Pariska 2/Katherine Bardis/C&S Partnership 0/4/44.159
12th…Kilkenny Lesandra/Mariano Alario/Kilkenny Crest 0/ 5 time/51.675
I have to make a comment here about Richard Spooner, Rich Fellers and John Pearce. I am not sure why and I certainly don’t have any idea “how,” but these three had 10 horses between them in the class today and they had 9 CLEAR rounds. Seems like the norm for the Grand Prix’s here at Indio this year. All three have had a remarkable Indio 2006 series and all three have been in the top ribbons almost every single GP of the circuit.
If you are looking for a horse, or maybe you are just needing a laugh you must call Helen McNaught’s cell phone. Donald Trump will answer it for her and scold you at length for bothering her if it’s not important. It is one of the funniest messages around. Speedy, the back gate guy at the Level 4 ring, had all of us in stitches as he passed around his phone for all of us to take a listen. Pretty soon everyone was passing the phone to someone else and so on. Sorry Helen if all those calls made you a bit grumpy but it was worth the dialing.
Tomorrow starts the count down for our final 2 days here, our last weekend. The artist boards in the HITS office are for standing room only as all the parents, owners, riders and trainers want to get a personal glimpse of what’s ahead of us next year. It’s beautifully done and we all hope that the construction stays close to the plan. I think the majority of us are most excited about the barn layout, most impressed by the layout of the rings, most thankful for getting the campers our of the barns, most appreciative of the entire effort by Tom and by far the most fascinated by those bridges over the road.
I think there could be a living made by collecting the bets going around the show grounds on whether or not the horses will all cooperate and walk over the bridges or if they will revolt and go on strike. I guess we will all have to show up next year and find out for ourselves.
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