The crowd groaned as John Pearce and Forest View Farms’ Urioso dropped the next-to-last fence in the jump-off of the $150,000 Grand Prix of the Desert, March 11.

A clear round would have guaranteed him the win, as Grace and Tracy Fenney had dropped three rails, and Jill Humphrey had a rail on each of her two rides, Kaskaya and Felix 380, in the finale of Desert Circuit VI in Thermal, Calif.

But Pearce didn’t worry. “I had a plan,” he said.

His scheme was to go like the wind to the final jump. “I knew Jill wasn’t very fast,” said the Canadian professional. “I just planned on keeping the inside turn, trying to stay on top of her time, and then if I had something down, I was going to make it up on the last jump.”

Urioso, never loath to gallop, opened his huge stride on the long bending turn to the last fence. It stayed up, and Pearce was the winner with the fastest four-fault time.

“It was an inviting jump,” said Pearce of the final jump, a spread fence set at the in-gate end of the arena. “It wasn’t big, and it was a rampy oxer. It would have been very unlucky to have it down.”

In the first round, Pearce was most concerned about one difficult line in Olaf Petersen Jr.’s course—a forward four strides to a quiet five. “It was dead on the half-stride coming home, and the five was very  difficult for Urioso. He can be very difficult to bring back,” said Pearce. “I didn’t get it easily, but I got it.”

The win guaranteed that Pearce would qualify for the Rolex FEI World Cup Finals in Las Vegas, Nev., in April. “I’m leading the Canadian league right now,” he said. “I am going to Vegas.”

Humphrey, who teamed up a couple of years ago with Sacramento, Calif., trainer Rudy Leone, finished second and third. She still does not quite believe how far she’s come.

“I was just trying to complete courses,” said Humphrey, 23. Now she’s a lock for a berth at the World Cup Finals.

Humphrey’s red-ribbon finish solidified her hold on second in the West Coast World Cup points, with Richard Spooner remaining the leader. The California professional won three of the 12 grand prix events in Thermal, including the $30,000 Ariat Grand Prix on the final Friday. Spooner took the win that day with Airtime, better known as Bubba.

“It’s Bubba’s day; he’s been great the whole tour,” said Spooner of the 13-year-old, bay gelding by Burggraaf. It was not Airtime who led the victory lap, though. Spooner gave that honor instead to his veteran jumper Robinson, who was making his final appearance on the Desert Circuit. The 19-year-old Hanoverian has had a remarkable career, earning more than $1 million in prize money.

“He’s won 39 or 40 grand prix [classes] in his career, more than any other horse in U.S. history,” Spooner said.

Spooner, whose barn is in Los Angeles, will make the short trip up the interstate to the World Cup Finals. He’s looking forward in particular to riding his young horse Cristallo, winner in Thermal of the $75,000 Footing Authority Grand Prix.

“He’s coming 9 this year, and I think he’s really got international potential,” Spooner said of the Show Jumping Syndications International entry. “I think he should be great for the World Cup Finals. He’s a fighter.”

Picasso Tops Ponies
Pearce was not the only Canadian honored on Sunday. Bretton Chad, Calgary, Alta., was presented with the Hillcrest Pot O’ Gold Memorial Trophy, which goes to the high-point pony for the circuit. Chad earned the trophy for her ride on Picasso, the large pony she leases from Dearborn Stables.

“He’s a good boy, and he did very well this circuit,” said Chad, who trains with the California team of Susie Schroer, Francie Steinwedell and Dick Carvin. Chad was enjoying the desert weather and not looking forward to returning to the Canadian winter. The temperature that final Sunday in Thermal was around 93; in Calgary, it was minus 22.

One of Chad’s trainers, Dick Carvin, earned the circuit championship in regular conformation hunters with Paris Sellon’s Ahead Of The Game. Carvin spends most of his time in the jumper ring and was glad to have the opportunity to show Sellon’s lovely hunter. Carvin had shown Ahead Of The Game several times in regular working hunters but never in the conformation.

“I always thought the conformation was his division,” he said. “He’s the model, he’s the mover and he’s the winner.”

Ahead Of The Game was purchased as a 6-year-old with the aim of bringing him along for his owner to ride in the juniors. “The whole plan was to buy a young one,” Carvin said. “When he was 6, Paris was 11. She’s 14 this year, and he’s turning 9, so I think they’re ready to go. I think this will be a good year for Paris on him.”

John Bragg had the best of it in the green conformation division, earning the championship with Dearborn Stables’ Charade and reserve with Mary Slouka’s Cunningham. John French, meanwhile, took Janie Andrew’s new hunter Andiamo to the circuit championship in the second year and regular working hunter divisions. French, a trainer in Gilroy, Calif., bought Andiamo in the Midwest for his customer, Sovereign Farms. He sold the horse to Andrew near the end of the Desert Circuit.

One condition of the sale was that he be allowed to show the horse from time to time. French found the horse at one of the winter shows in St. Louis, Mo. He’d gone there to look for prospects, and Andiamo caught his eye right away. The gelding’s owners were not sure they wanted to sell, however, and they didn’t make the decision until the last minute. French had a plane to catch, and the deal was closed in a hurry.

“I never even tried the horse, never sat on him,” French said. “I could just tell that I would love riding that horse.”

The circuit championship in the first year green divsion went to San Morino, with Seattle, Wash., professional Jack Hammond up. Hammond, who rides for his business partner John Turner, loves the way the horse goes.

“One of the nicest horses I’ve ever ridden,” he said. “He’s soft, and you can press him at the jumps and he jumps high. It’s a pleasure.”

San Morino belongs to Ann Lindwall,  Duncan, B.C., where she trains with Norah Ross. “Norah found her in Europe, and we just ride the horse for her,” said Turner. “She left him down for the second half with us, to see if he could be circuit champion, and he was.”

Love At First Sight
Tracy Sully continued to win with Elvis, taking him to the circuit championship in the  amateur-owner, 36 and over divsion. Circuit honors in the 18-35 split went to Lesley Bulechek and her lovely gray mare Vida Blue. Bulechek took a bit of a break from the horse world for college, graduating from UCLA in 2005. She and trainer John French immediately went in search of a new hunter. They traveled to Florida during the off week at last year’s Indio circuit, shopping for horses.

“We looked at a lot of nice ones, but there was nothing that just grabbed us,” she said. “We were kind of panicking, because I didn’t have a horse to ride.”

They got a tip about a nice prospect at Tony Font’s barn in Texas and decided to stop there on their way back to California. “As soon as we saw her, we knew,” Bulechek said.

It was a good year in the desert for gray mares. Hannah Goodson-Cutt, 13, took her Ceillia to the circuit championship in the large junior, 15 and under, division. Goodson-Cutt, who trains with Kate Considine, bought the horse through Paul Valliere.

“I went back and tried her, and when I rode her, I just knew right then,” she said. “It was a huge connection. I just fell in love with her.”

Goodson-Cutt, who splits her time between Beverly Hills and Manhattan Beach, frowned a moment in thought. “You can’t really explain when you really have a connection with a horse,” she said. “It’s just a vibe you get that you’d be really great together.”

Kels Bonham earned the circuit championship in the small juniors, 16-17, division with the Tri-Mare entry Urlala. Bonham, who trains with her parents in Claremore, Okla., has had a hand in the horse’s development from the very beginning.

“We bought her as a 4-year-old in Europe,” she said. “We started her in the baby greens and worked our way up to the juniors. She actually started her 3’6″ career here in Thermal.”

Gail Morey, Menlo Park, Calif., was the week 6 reserve champion in the amateur-owner, 36 and over division. Morey also got to lead the victory lap in the amateur-owner hunter classic on the final Sunday. She earned the win with the Yellow Dog Farm entry Crown Affair, a stallion she purchased last year at Indio from amateur Laurie Lewis.

“Lenny Marconi, my trainer, found him for me. He thought he would be a great fit,” said Morey. “We had always admired him. Laurie happened to be stabled down the aisle from us at Indio last year, so when she decided to sell him, Lenny jumped on it. I was lucky enough to get him.