Cooking Up a Win at Thermal

By Paula Parisi March 5, 2012

Karl Cook and Uno de Laubry provided a climactic end to HITS Thermal’s four-class World Cup Qualifier series on March 3, nabbing the blue ribbon as the fastest of the four-faulters in a contest in which there were no double clears.

The 15-effort course for the $53,000 Chartis Grand Prix CSI-W was designed by Marina Azevedo of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Five riders proceed to round two.

Rails fell all over the highly technical round one course – a sure sign it was well-designed – and the time was adjusted from 77 to 79 seconds after the first few rounds. The biggest challenges were a double combination at fence 8 and a triple combination at fence 11. It was fence 4, however, that was the biggest challenge of the evening: an ascending triple bar almost as wide as it was tall, at 1.6 meters by 1.5 meters.

Riding Callao, Antonio Maurer of Mexico City, Mexico, was the seventh to ride and the first to go clear. He was followed wtih clear rounds by U.S. rider John McConnell on Katie Riddle; John Perez on Utopia, riding for Brazil; Cook, another U.S. rider, from Woodside, CA; and Cruise and Chris Pratt, who is based in the Lakeview Terrace area of Los Angeles but rides for Canada internationally.

Round two featured the return of seven obstacles. After the first three jump-off rounds, Cook entered the ring with one thing on his mind – to go clean. But Uno de Laubry took down the back rail of the seventh fence – an airy oxer at the b fence of the original 11a-b-c combination. With only one rider behind him in the jump-off, Cook raced the clocked and posted the fastest four fault round in a time of 37.54 seconds to secure the victory.

“It was tough track and I am thrilled to take home the win,” Cook said. “Winning a World Cup qualifier against some of the best riders in the world is a rush. I thank HITS for putting on such a great event.” Unfortunately, the horse Cook declared for his World Cup points, Jonkheer Z, had two rails in round one, as the first horse out, so Cook the outing will not help his standing. But he is currently sitting comfortably at second place in the Western League, so he did not have a lot riding on the class.

“He has been riding with us his entire life and the best thing about Karl is that he is a class act no matter who you ask,” said Cook’s trainer, Butch Thomas. “We were leaving the schooling area and I said to him let’s go get this. He didn’t hold anything back.”

Maurer was first to go in the jump-off and handled the pressure of being the first to navigate the difficult track. He was clear until the fourth fence, but picked up 12 faults and finished the course in 39.43 seconds to ultimately end in fifth aboard his own Callao.

McConnell and Rancho Corazon, LLC’s Katie Riddle were next to challenge the course and assumed the lead after only four faults in a time of 43.65 seconds. McConnell’s single rail came down at the third fence. The pair was sitting pretty in first place, but weren’t fast enough to hold on to the lead and finished in second.

Perez and his own Utopia were third in the jump-off and poised to steal the lead from McConnell. A dropped rail at the fourth fence of the round and time of 44.05 seconds, however, kept them from moving into first, but still clinched third place.

Next to enter the ring was Cook, who excited the crowd with both speed and the possibility of the first clear round of the day. His rail at the second fence of the combination, however, kept a clear round out of reach, but tight turns and quick approaches gave him the win.

Rounding out the jump-off field was Pratt in the irons of Indigo Farms, LLC’s Cruise with eight faults and a time of 40.47 seconds. Fence four and six saw rails come down, but he was able to drop Maurer down a spot and finish the night in fourth.

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