Homfeld Designs HITS Million

By Staff Report December 29, 2012

Two-time Olympic medalist Conrad Homfeld has been selected as course designer for the  new AIG Thermal $1 Million Grand Prix, scheduled for March 17 as the capper to seven weeks of non-stop hunter/jumper action on the 2013 HITS Desert Circuit.

The AIG $1 Million provides a massive shot of prestige to the West Coast show  jumping world. It is one of only two $1 million prize events the sport offers in the U.S., both courtesy of HITS and president and CEO Tom Struzzieri. “In planning each detail of the first-ever AIG Thermal $1 Million we have taken great care to ensure that it is in every way a special event ― one that’s memorable for exhibitors and spectators alike,” Struzzieri said.

“In keeping with that strategy, it’s appropriate to have Conrad design the test. As a show manager, I appreciate working with someone whose plan makes a course challenging and beautiful at the same time,” he continued.The aesthetics will be enhanced by a special set of Olaf Petersen, Sr., jumps brought out for that one event. “It will make for a long night on the 16^th, but will add to the excitement,” Struzzieri said.

That excitement includes $1 million divided among the top 20 riders, with $350,000 going to the winner.  The second-place prize of $200,000 is more than all but a fraction of grand prix winners walk off with. With this much prize money at stake, the event will play out at a high level of  international sport.  “HITS is doing something important,” Homfeld said. “We will see top horse and rider combinations crossing a few borders to try to win some significant money.”

The Desert Circuit runs Jan. 22-March 17 at the HITS Desert Horse Park in Thermal, CA. Homfeld will design all courses in the Grand Prix Ring during Desert Circuit VII, March 12-17, culminating with theAIG Thermal $1 Million, presented by Lamborghini Newport Beach.

The course designer knows a thing or two about high-performance international sport. Riding the gray stallion Abdullah, he earned team Gold and individual Silver Medals at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

The pair also won the FEI Show Jumping World Cup Finals championship in 1985, making Homfeld the first rider to notch two World Cup victories, following his 1980 win on Balbuco.

Homfeld designed the 2010 World Equestrian Games show jumping course in Kentucky and is a three-time recipient of the USEF’s Mr. & Mrs. William C. Cox Memorial Trophy for Course Designer of the Year.

In the past two years, Homfeld has designed only two Grand Prix courses ― a CSI-W at the Kentucky National Horse Show and the 2012 Gucci Masters in Paris. It’s been “a good four or five years,” by his own reckoning, since Homfeld set a West Coast course, making the AIG Thermal $1 Million a treat indeed for those 40 riders who qualify. “This will be Conrad’s first time building for me in Thermal and I wish we could convince him to build courses for us more often,” Struzzieri said. “Since we rarely get to see Conrad out west, his work will be that much more appreciated.”

Homfeld said he’s looking forward to working with Petersen’s dazzling jumps. “When I was at my best as a rider, Olaf was one of the top course designers. Anything he does on this subject will be of high quality,” Homfeld predicted. The course will be set at 1.45m-1.60m, leaning more toward the high end of the scale, with 16-17 jumping efforts. Beyond that, the designer had little to say about what to expect for the AIG Thermal $1 Million Grand Prix. “I will arrive with sketches, but the real work starts once I see the jumps. It’s a fluid process,” Homfeld said.

HITS established the tradition of bringing out new jumps specifically for one big class in the first three years of its Pfizer $1 Million, and some of the jumps Petersen is bringing to Thermal will be recreations of those hat dazzled the crowd at the Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix in Saugerties Sept. 9, 2012. “That entire set of jumps was sold that very day. This set will also be for sale, and it wouldn’t surprise me if all the jumps were sold before the class ends,” Struzzieri noted.

Forty horse and rider combinations will earn their way into the prestigious class based on their performances during the Desert Circuit and at a series of West Coast horse shows participating in the newly formed AIG Thermal $1 Million Grand Prix League. There will be an additional 15 winter qualifying opportunities on the Desert Circuit.

A rider will become eligible to compete only after showing ― on any horse or combination of horses ― in at least four Open Jumper classes of $25,000 or more during four different weeks on the HITS Desert Circuit prior to the week of the AIG Thermal Million. The Leading Grand Prix Rider from the 2013 Arizona Winter Circuit and the winner of the $25,000 Smart Pak Wild Card Grand Prix on March 15, during Desert Circuit VII, will also be invited to compete for the $350,000 first-place prize ― one of two such jackpots in show jumping, both offered by HITS. In addition, at the discretion of management another five riders may be invited. The reverse order of go will be determined by a rider’s money won on their leading horse, according to the AIG Thermal Million Top 40 Rider Standings.

“This will be an important class for the riders and the owners, and I’ll have more butterflies that day than on other days,” Homfeld admitted. “My goal is to make it safe and also an exciting competition. My hope is that everyone who rides the course comes out feeling like it was a fair and appropriate test.”

For a prize list and class specs, visit HitsShows.com.

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