Wistful FEI Win for Bond
By Paula Parisi February 9, 2013
Ashlee Bond and Wistful were the only clear in 24 tries. (Photo by Paula Parisi)
Course designer Florencio Hernandez of Mexico said before the start of the $54,500 HITS Grand Prix CSI-W 2* that ideally there would be one clear round, and he got his wish with a single textbook turn by Ashlee Bond and Wistful.
Bond was one among 24 riders to tour the track with rails intact and in good time. At 79.28, hers was not only the most accurate but also the fastest round on a night in which poles spilled evenly across the course (but a single, long-stride vertical-to-vertical caught eight contenders).
Nayel Nasser of Stanford, CA, was the only other rider to leave up all the rails, earning second place on his own Raging Bull Vangelis S, though his one time fault meant there was no jump-off.
The track was huge, with 13 obstacles and 16 jumping efforts set between 1.50m and 1.60m (only jump No.1 was a mere 1.45m). That scope, combined with some tricky distances and a sequence of very tight turns, was more than most horse and rider teams could master. Half the field had time faults even after the clock was reset from 77 to 84 seconds time allowed.
Rich Fellers and Flexible placed third. (Photo by Paula Parisi)
Rich Fellers, of Wilsonville, OR, riding Harry and Mollie Chapman’s Flexible, was the fastest of the four-faulters, breaking the beam at 80.37. Of the six who finished with four faults, only two others made the time: Woodside’s Karl Cook on Signe Ostby’s Jonkheer Z, whose 81.27 was good for fourth; and Germany’s Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum on Octavia Farms’ Malou, fifth in 82.68.
The $54,500 HITS Grand Prix presented by Zoetis took place under the lights in a ring that was fenced off at about 150-feet by 400-feet, or half its normal width, to better-approximate the tight indoor ring where the FEI World Cup Show Jumping Final will take place in Gothenburg, Germany in April. “It was a very technical and careful course – definitely big enough,” Bond said after the class. “The oxers were super-wide, and tall. It was very difficult.”
“It was definitely as big as a World Cup Final course,” said Fellers, the reigning World Cup champion with Flexible. “That last day at the World Cup Final is really huge, but if you reach that point and you’re going well, you’re up for it. This is different because you just start out with a big class. It’s tough. I’m proud of the West Coast.
It was the second World Cup qualifier of the 2013 HITS Desert Circuit, and observers couldn’t help but notice that Bond’s horse that was bred by the same outfit that produced Bristol, the winner of the Desert Circuit II’s $54,500 Strongid C 2X Grand Prix CSI-W 2* a week earlier: Rusty and Kandi Stewart’s Grey Fox Farm, based in Camarillo. “I bought her as a seven-year-old. Kandi did maybe six shows when I got her, so she was very green,” said Bond, whose Little Valley Farm is based in Hidden Hills. “She’s really stepped up this year.”
Nayel Nassar and Raging Bull Vangelis S (Photo by Paula Parisi)
Bond said if she qualifies for the World Cup Final her plan is to bring both Wistful and Cadett 7 – who she scratched from this evening’s lineup – to Gothenburg. “The first round I would do Cadett,” said Bond, already a veteran of two World Cup Finals. “He’s really good at speed and she’s not ready to run at that level, so if I can do the first round on him and have her take over, that would be ideal.”
In addition to being an FEI World Cup Final qualifier, the $54,500 HITS Grand Prix is also a qualifier for two big-ticket HITS contests: the AIG Thermal Million, taking place March 17, and the Zoetis $1 Million Grand Prix, Sept. 8 in Saugerties, NY.
Desert Circuit grand prix riders will have one more chance to earn World Cup points, at the $54,500 Purina Mills Grand Prix presented by Zoetis, February 23 at Desert Circuit IV.
| Place | Horse | Rider | Owner | Score | Prize |
| 1 | Wistful | Ashlee Bond | Little Valley Farms | 0/79.28 | $17,985 |
| 2 | Raging Bull Vangelis S | Nayel Nassar (EGY) | Nayel Nassar | 1/86.86 | $10,900 |
| 3 | Flexible | Rich Fellers | Harry & Mollie Chapman | 4/80.37 | $8,175 |
| 4 | Jonkheer Z | Karl Cook | Signe Ostby | 4/81.27 | $5,450 |
| 5 | Malou | Meredith Michaels Beerbaum (GER) | Octavia Farms LLC | 4/82.68 | $3,270 |
| 6 | Kiss The Sky | Lane Clarke (AUS) | Horsemanship Australia | 5/84.10 | $2,452.50 |
| 7 | Utopia | John Perez (MEX) | John Perez | 5/84.12 | $1,635 |
| 8 | Unbelievable | Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum (GER) | Windward Farm | 5/85.17 | $1,362.50 |
| 9 | Springtime | Saer Coulter | Copernicus Stables | 5/85.77 | $1,090 |
| 10 | Nemo 119 | Lucy Davis | Old Oak Farm | 8/82.63 | $1,090 |
| 11 | S F Uryadi | Jennifer Crooks | Olivia Cox-Fill | 8/83.19 | $545 |
| 12 | Mr. Whoopy | Duncan McFarlane (NZL) | Simone Coxe | 8/83.38 | $545 |
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