Monday, Nov. 25, 2024
After jumping two clear rounds this summer to help Team USA earn a silver medal at the Paris Olympic Games, Karl Cook and Caracole De La Roque continued their streak on home turf Saturday night at Santa Anita Park (California), coming out on top in the inaugural $400,000 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Los Angeles.
The pair bested an eight-horse jump-off under the lights in a newly constructed arena at the site of equestrian sport at the 1984 Olympic Games. Their winning time of 41.19 seconds was the best in a field of 40 elite competitors, including four of the world’s top-10 ranked jumping athletes and—for the first time since Paris—every member of the silver medal-winning U.S. team. Daniel Bluman of Israel finished second with Corbie V.V. (42.87), followed by Ireland’s Cian O’Connor and Iron Man (44.68).
“When you go through something really intense, it makes you stronger, or it really does the opposite,” Cook said. “In our case, the [Olympics] made us stronger. I have complete faith in [Caracole De La Roque].”
Rails fell throughout Anderson Lima’s big and technical first round track, and the pattern continued in the jump-off. Ashlee Bond pulled two rails with her speedy partner from the last two Olympic Games, Donatello 141. British Olympic gold medalist Harry Charles took a risk that caused him to ultimately retire on course with Sherlock, while Shawn Casady added a single rail to his scorecard with Cool Quarz, illustrating the course’s difficulty.
It wasn’t until the final four rides in the jump-off that all the rails stayed in the cups, and then the lead changed hands with nearly every round. Bluman set an extremely competitive standard with Corbie V.V., whom he has developed since the mare’s 6-year-old season, stopping the timers in 42.87 seconds. O’Connor took a slightly more calculated route with new mount Iron Man before Cook entered the arena aboard Eric Navet and Signe Ostby’s 12-year-old Selle Francais mare (Zandor—Pocahontas D’Amaury, Kannan), last to go, knowing exactly what he needed to do to win.
Watch their winning jump-off round, courtesy of FEI.tv:
“There’s a huge advantage to going last. You get to see everyone go; you get to see how other riders shave time [and] what mistakes they make,” Cook said. “When I watched Daniel, he was crisp, [and] he was smooth. It was a great round.
“But with ‘Caracole,’ I have such confidence in her speed and her ability to turn that it that it was just about staying on our plan and not trying to get too far out over our skis [or trying] to break a land speed record,” he continued. “It was just about, ‘Do what I know she can do.’ “
After logging his best results in Europe during the summer months, winning a five-star World Cup event in his home state was particularly meaningful for Cook. California will hold two World Cup events this NAL season.
“This is a wonderful setting, a historical setting, [and] one that deserves, in my mind, show jumping,” he said. “I’ve wanted this investment—in time, people and money—in California for so long.”
Bluman’s result increased his lead in the North American League standings with 54 points. Kristen Vanderveen (USA) sits second with 35 points, followed by Kent Farrington (USA), who has 34 points. The North American League resumes in February 2025 in Thermal, California.
See complete results from the $400,000 FEI Jumping World Cup Los Angeles here.
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Copyright © 2024 The Chronicle of the Horse
