Thermal, Calif.—Nov. 13
Irish rider Kevin Babington made his first trip to the HITS Desert Horse Park a memorable one.
Babington and his mount Shorapur won the $25,000 Smartpak Grand Prix during Week 1 of the two-week National Sunshine Series, and on Sunday afternoon they took the top prize in the most prestigious event, the $200,000 Sunshine Grand Prix.
Kevin Babington on Shorapur. Photo by ESI Photography
The first round of the CSI**** course by designer Olaf Petersen Jr. of Germany proved challenging. Jumping faults were scattered around the course, and only seven of the 41 starting horse and rider combinations went clear to advance to the jump-off.
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Chilean rider Samuel Parot was first to ride the short course aboard his Atlantis. The pair was lightning fast, taking a tight track and earning a time that proved unbeatable, but an unlucky rail going into the one-stride combination left the door open for clear rounds.
Next through the gate was Enrique Gonzales of San Diego, Calif., on his 9-year old Hanoverian mare Chacna, fresh off their victory last month at the Longines FEI World Cup class at Del Mar (Calif.). The pair put in a fast, clear round and became the team to beat with a time of 43.73 seconds.
The next three riders gave great performances but had unfortunate rails down. Katie Harris of Wilton, Calif., rode her own Lafino 4, and Andrew Ramsay of Wellington, Fla., piloted Stranger 30, owned by The Stranger Group. Both Harris and Ramsay knocked down Fence 10 to finish with 4 faults, and Harley Brown of Portola Valley, Calif., rode Emma Catherine Reichow’s Apex to an eight-fault round.
West Coast favorite Nayel Nassar was the sixth to ride the short course aboard his 12-year old bay gelding, Lordan. Nassar rides for Egypt and is based in Encinitas, Calif. Nassar and Lordan won the Longines Los Angeles Masters speed class in October and several other grand prixs earlier this year. The pair did not disappoint, with a clear round and tidy track, crossing the timers 1/10 of a second faster than Gonzales to take the lead.
But Babington, last to tackle the short course, was watching in the wings.
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“I made sure I watched everyone go, and Nayel was the one I had to beat,” said Babington. “I had Nayel’s track in mind, but I knew I had to be aggressive. He did six strides from the skinny to the double, so I did the five.”
But leaving out the stride to the combination proved to be a double-edged sword. “The thing is, it brought me a little bit to the right out of the double, so I got stuck doing the eight strides to the next fence even though I had planned to do seven,” he said.
Babington gave it his all to the final fence. “Shorapur is so good at galloping flat-out to the last jump,” he explained. “She’s so careful, as long as I just give her two strides to focus, she can do it.”
Sure enough, the 11-year old Hanoverian mare did it, soaring through the timers fractions of a second faster than Nassar’s Lordan to win the class. Before looking at the scoreboard, “I knew it was close, but I wasn’t sure,” recalled Babington. “I knew it could have gone either way.”
Babington, who is based in Gwynedd Vally, Pa., had intended to compete at the National Sunshine Series last year, but Shorapur injured herself at Del Mar so they went home early. Then Babington was injured earlier in the year, so his horses had some time off. “I was off for five or six weeks and my horses were fresh, so I thought I’d do the two weeks here and then continue on to Las Vegas. I thought this would be a nice trip for them.”
