McNaught back on top at HITS

By Staff Report January 30, 2012

In an amazing comeback, Helen McNaught won the second grand prix of the HITS Desert Circuit, piloting Lariccello to the blue in the $50,000 EMO class on Sunday, Jan. 29. McNaught ruptured a neck vertebrae late last year during a schooling incident at her Outwoods Farms, based in Castro Valley, CA.

“This is my first show back after I fell off at home. The doctor told me I could ride again in January and here I am. Who would have thought I would have been back so fast,” McNaught said. The victory came just two days after she finished second on Jan. 27 in the $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix on the same horse. Both classes were presented by Pfizer Animal Health.

HITS kicked off Jan. 24 and runs through March 11. During that time, high performance jumpers will have 16 chances to qualify for the third annual Pfizer $1 Million Grand Prix. In 2011, McNaught and her partner, Duncan McFarlane, were among the California riders displaying a show of force in that class, which earned him a cool $200,000 for a second-place finish aboard Simone Coxe’s Mr. Whoopy.

Team Outwoods has its sights set on qualifying again this year. “I should break my neck more often,” she joked. On a more serious note, McNaught credited the superb showing in large part to Mushroom Matrix’s ECP Performance supplement. Her horse isn’t the only one that takes it. She takes it too! “The human version,” she notes. “When I broke my neck I took critical care. My horses have been on Muscle Matrix, but not for long, because they get strong pretty quickly. On ECP their performance, focus and fitness have gone from strength to strength.”

Lariccello is owned by Alison Heafy. The win by McNaught, a colorful U.K. transplant popular with spectators and fellow riders, got the 21^st iteration of HITS off to a roaring start. The six-week circuit opened Jan. 24, barreling past an EHV-1 scare in nearby Indio days earlier.

Sunday’s grand prix was a sequel to the Friday class where McNaught went head-to-head with Jill Henselwood, surrendering the win to the Canadian Olympian in the jump-off where less than two seconds separated them. On Sunday it was Henselwood that trailed by seven-tenths of second.

Eight in 24 horse horse-and-rider combinations made the jump-off after tackling Olaf Petersen, Jr.’s first-round track. Riding Leone Equestrian’s Kaskaya, Jill Humphrey of Sacramento, California was the first to go double clear, setting the “Great American Time to Beat” at 50.50 seconds. They were booted from the top of the heap one trip later when Henselwood and IV Ever (owned by Brian Gingras) cleared the eight-obstacle course in 42.86 seconds.

Three trips later McNaught and Lariccello made the dash for the cash, coming home in 42.16 seconds for a  $15,000 first-place check. McNaught also finished ninth aboard her own horse, Caballo.

“We had a great week. All of our horses were phenomenal,” McNaught said. Lariccello was a five-year-old when McNaught’s partner Duncan McFarlane bought him in Germany. “I have been riding him for more than a year now. We seem to really like each other. Caballo was tremendous and only had a time fault. Things are shaping up very well at HITS Thermal for us.” McFarlane finished fourth on Mr. Whoopy.

Rounding out the top five in the class was Canadian Olympian John Pearce in third place aboard Forest View Farms’ Chianto.

With strong showings across two Desert Circuit grand prix, McNaught and Henselwood are on their way to punching their return tickets for the Pfizer $1 Million at HITS’ 2012 Championship Weekend, scheduled for Sept. 7-9 at HITS on the Hudson in Saugerties, NY.

The Championship Weekend offers the richest individual U.S. classes for both hunters and jumpers, and has become a major destination for West Coast riders. HITS hunters will be riding for a shot at their own fall finales, with six qualifiers each for the Diamond Mills $500,000 Hunter Prix Final and the $250,000 HITS 3′ Hunter Prix (new for 2012). Nick Haness of Coto de Caza, CA, was the top-placed West Coast hunter rider at HITS last year, taking second place and $90,000 in prize money at last year’s Diamond Mills event, on Jessica Singer’s Cruise.

RESULTS – HITS $50,000 EMO Grand Prix, presented by Pfizer Animal Health, Jan. 29, 2012

1     Lariccello          Helen McNaught    (Alison Heafey  )   $15,000    0    0    42.16
2    IV Ever              Jill Henselwood    (Brian Gingras)        $11,000    0    0    42.86
3    Chianto             John Pearce    (Forest View Farms)         $6,500    0    0    43.58
4    Mr. Whoopy     Duncan McFarlane    (Simone Coxe)      $4,000    0    0    45.66
5    Kaskaya            Jill Humphrey    (Leone Equestrian)      $3,000
6    Katie Riddle     John McConnell    (Rancho Corazon)       $2,500    0    4    45.06
7    Xel Ha               Michelle Parker    (Tula Pinnella)             $1,500    0    4    47.06
8    Johnkheer Z    Karl Cook    (Signe Otsby)                            $1,500    0    4    55.57
9    Caballo              Helen McNaught    (Helen McNaught)   $1,000    1
10   Angelli              Harley Brown    (Paige Harryman)         $1,000    2
11   Chello Z             Josephina Nor  Lantzman (Josephina Nor Stables)    $1,000        3
12   Cassinna 39    Eduardo Menezes    (Fairway Farms)           $500    4

 

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