Pratt Takes Blue at Del Mar

By Paula Parisi May 15, 2011

Chris Pratt and Cruise won the $100,000 Grand Prix of Del Mar on May 7. Riding Indigo Farms’ 11-year-old gelding, he delivered double-clear rounds and a snappy jump-off time that put him ahead of second-placed Saer Coulter and Springtime and third-seat Nicole Shahinian-Simpson on Candle Light Van De Warrande, the only other combinations to leave all the rails up.

For Pratt, a Canadian citizen who still competes internationally for his country, it was his first major grand prix victory since moving to Southern California three years ago (although he did also win the $30,000 Del Mar International Grand Prix last fall). “I’ve had a lot of success in Canada, but it was nice to have this big victory in the U.S.,” Pratt said.

Twelve of 32 starters made the jump-off over what proved to be a challenging Leopoldo Palacios course (which produced three withdrawals and two unscheduled dismounts). Susie Hutchison and Cantano were the favorites heading into the Saturday night event, having on Thursday won the $25,000 Surfside Grand Prix, which serves as a qualifier; the top 30 riders, out of about 40 total, earn an entry slot. After a perfect first round, the duo had some bad luck in round two, with a rail down on the first fence and an initial refusal at the “Lego Wall” that cost precious seconds.

A month earlier, the pair won the $40,000 Orange County Register Grand Prix in San Juan Capistrano, and they went on to win the $50,000 Grand Prix of California at Showpark on May 14 (Pratt and Cruise came in sixth), so they’ve had quite a run, but had to settle for 11th on this particular night. “Things don’t always go your way,” Del Mar National Hunter Jumper Week event producer Dale Harvey said philosophically. Susie is a very experienced rider, and she goes with the ups and downs of the sport.

Offering some insight on the “ups,” Hutchison said, “It’s really having the right horse-rider combination. You look at Ashlee [Bond] and Cadett and Richard [Spooner] and Cristallo. When the horse and rider have been together for a while and get to know each other well, it can be magic.” Hutchison has been riding Cantano, who is now 11, for the past six years. “He’s been a good horse, and he’s becoming a great horse,” she said. “Sandy Aspen is my ground person, and the Iversons, who own El Dorarado 29 and Cantano, have been her clients for 30 years.”

Pratt has only been riding Cruise, also 11, for the past year. Originally purchased for a client, the Dutch Warmblood proved too much of a handful for a junior jumper, and Pratt was ready to return the horse to the Netherlands when another client, Susan Geliebter of Indigo Farms, decided to buy him as a grand prix jumper for Pratt.
“Cruise is a very quick horse, very quick off the ground, and a big stride where he needs to,” Pratt said. “In the jump-off, there was one area where I didn’t make an inside turn everyone else was making, and I still managed to make the time. There were a couple of times faster than ours, but they had rails down.”

The duo heads next to Vancouver and Spruce Meadows with seven horses, and then maybe to Europe. “We’re possibly looking to the Pan American Games, riding for Canada,” added Pratt, whose Epic Stables is based at Middle Ranch in Lake View Terrace, where he and assistant Lisa Cahn have about 25 horses in training.

The grand prix was also notable in that hunter champion John French of Waldenbrook Farms landed in 7th place on Chawi De Laubry.

Del Mar also proved a good week for Woodside-based jumper Karl Cook, who won the $5,000 “Ride and Drive” special event on Notories Utopia. The pair took blue in a $3,500 Junior Amateur/Owner 1.40M North America Junior and Young Rider Championship (NAJYRC) class and second (to Hannah Warde and Canasucre) in the $25,000 Junior A/O 1.45M NAYRC class. Cook was third in the Surfside Grand Prix on ABS Conquistador.

“He’s becoming a major player at the grand prix level,” said Harvey. “He’s competitive. He actually tries hard to win, which isn’t always the case. That may sound strange, but lots of people play it safe and win only when others fall apart. There aren’t many that go balls-to-the-wall to try to win, and he is one of them.”

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