Wellington, Fla., Feb. 4

Jim Koford started his Grand Prix freestyle aboard Pharaoh with a smile on his face, and he finished the ride the exact same way. After their energetic routine, set to music from The Mask Of Zorro movie, Koford and Pharaoh picked up a 73.70 percent and first in the class of four.

“What I so enjoyed was when Jim asked the horse for a piaffe, and the horse just did an 8. [Jim] had this big smile on his face. It was so fun because you don’t see that sort of expression in the top international ring because everyone is so concentrated. It’s wonderful to see someone enjoying the sport,” said Janet Foy, FEI I judge and president of the ground jury for the freestyle.

Koford, Wellington, Fla., agreed that he enjoyed riding the freestyle on Pharaoh, a 13-year-old Belgian Warmblood (Ferro—Heureka VH Rampelhof, Carneval) owned by Hannah Holland Shook. 

“I just have so much fun with that freestyle,” Koford said. The routine highlights Pharaoh’s excellent pirouettes and includes a lot of piaffe and passage work.

“It suits this horse. For me, it gives me a chance to go big or go home. It’s this macho Spanish music, and I can go in there and let it rip. It’s Zorro—you just go in there and be a Spanish superhero,” Koford continued.

Pharaoh finished fourth in yesterday’s Grand Prix test with a 65.91 percent. 

“My horse has so much physicality,” said Koford. “In the Grand Prix I have to keep a lid on it, and here it’s like, ‘Go, go, go.’  I’m glad the judges rewarded it, but at the same time, I come out, and I’m laughing and hugging my horse. We have a really fun time together.” 

Koford started riding the gelding last year for Shook, who works for him. Shook competed him in the small tour, and Koford took over the ride last year. But it’s probably not a permanent partnership.

“We made sort of a mutual decision that this horse would be more suited to the Grand Prix ring,” said Koford. “So she let me have the ride on him to give him some experience in the ring. We’re grooming him to be her [Brentina Cup] horse. We’ll play it by ear, but when I talked to Anne Gribbons and Steffen Peters, they wanted to make sure I have the ride through the selection trials [for the 2012 Olympic Games]. I love riding him, and it’s so much fun, but at the same time it’s not my horse. I want him to be a good horse for Hannah.”

Tigger Montague designed Koford’s freestyle.

“I got ahead of my music at one point, and I saw her grimacing in the crowd,” said Koford.

Shawna Harding, who finished second to Ashley Holzer and Pop Art in yesterday’s Grand Prix, had a few costly bobbles in her ride today with Come On III. The pair finished with a 70.57 percent in the freestyle.

“We’ve had a flying change disaster this weekend,” said Harding, of Aiken, S.C. “He’s a little out of sync in the ring. We’re getting really good warm-up, but he got in there today and was like, ‘Let’s relax a lot.’

“He’s going to do what he can do, and he always tries his best,” Harding added. “Something will happen, a little bird will fly by or something, and he has a little hiccup of a lapse of concentration, and then the mistakes can creep in. He has to get a little more serious in the ring sometimes.”

Jacqueline Brooks and D Niro were third on 68.62 percent. Brooks offered her truck and trailer to help all the competitors move from the permanent stabling to the tent last night, schlepping tack trunks and whatever else people needed moved.

The first CDI-W at the new Global Dressage Festival site concludes tomorrow morning with the Grand Prix Special and Intermediaire I freestyle. Results are available at Fox Village. Read about yesterday’s Grand Prix and see photos of the new facility.