Karl Cook on Sunday became the first U.S. rider in a decade to win the Grand Prix of Rotterdam CSI5*. On his Paris Olympic Games partner Caracole De La Roque, Cook raced to the top of the jump-off nearly a full second faster than his closest competitor, France’s Nina Mallevaey on Dynastie De Beaufour.
Eight riders from the first-round field of 47 advanced to the jump-off. Cook returned to the ring second and set a pace no one else could catch, stopping the timers in 37.17 seconds to make him the first American rider since Lucy Davis in 2015 to win the class. Mallevaey took second place in 38.09 seconds, while Donald Whitaker (Great Britain) finished third with Millfield Colette in a time of 38.78 seconds. U.S. rider Aaron Vale finished 13th with Styles, and Laura Kraut was 16th with Baloutinue.
Watch the winning jump-off round, courtesy of ClipMyHorse.TV:
View this post on InstagramADVERTISEMENT
Cook called the courses, designed by Belgium’s Bart Vonck, “challenging and original.”
“When it was my turn, I just went as fast as I could,” Cook said. “We did have a plan in advance, but my horse Caracole de la Roque is so incredibly fast, during the ride you don’t really have time to think.”
“Being allowed to ride such a horse is inspiring,” he added of the 13-year-old Selle Francais mare (Zandor—Pocahontas D’Amaury, Kannan) owned by Eric Navet and Signe Ostby. “She has so much confidence in herself, and she knows exactly what she is doing in the course. She wants it as much as I do, if not more. Every time we participate in a competition, we get a little better as a combination. Of course sometimes something goes wrong, but if it all falls into place, this is the result.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Listen to Cook talk about “Caracole” and showing in Rotterdam, courtesy of ClipMyHorse.TV:
See complete results here.
