As the sun set in the west, George Morris, the U.S. show jumping team’s chef d’ equipe, and Tom Struzzieri, president of HITS Inc., took the stage at the USET Foundation Party, held in Indio, Calif., on March 3. Before the night ended, two groundbreaking plans to vastly expand West Coast presence in national and international show jumping would be unveiled.

Morris formally announced his Campaign To Achieve Competitive Excellence; a plan he hopes will greatly promote America’s international success in show jumping.

Proclaiming, “We have an obligation to participate with the rest of the world,” Morris described five “must” competitions for U.S. show jumpers – the Samsung Super League (including the Nations Cup in Wellington, Fla., on March 10), the Spruce Meadows Masters (Alta.), the World Equestrian Games, the Olympics, and the Pan Am Games. And now Morris is looking to the West to bring some competitive intensity to this campaign.

The new HITS Desert Equestrian Center is a key element in that plan. For weeks, rumors and speculation circulated from barn to barn throughout the equestrian colony in the desert regarding a new equestrian facility. As the beige curtains dropped, the night’s attendees got their first look at the blueprints for the future of show jumping in the West.

The new, 250-acre equestrian center will include 10 permanent barns that maintain 1,000 stalls, six competition rings, 12 practice rings, a Grand Prix ring, a dedicated hunter ring, and more acreage and amenities than the 100-acre horse park near Indio that currently hosts the annual desert circuit.

The new grounds will be located near the Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport in Thermal, Calif., and work is scheduled for completion by January 2007. “The fact that we have Roy Wilson, the Riverside County supervisor, to help keep this project on a fast track, and that we have George Morris talking about potentially having selection trials at the new facility, we hope will greatly advance West Coast presence in this sport,” said Struzzieri.

The new partnership established between HITS Inc. and Leonard Green & Partners, L.P., early this year has allowed HITS the additional capital needed to build and maintain the new facility. Plus, patrons of the evening\’s party enjoyed bidding on a vast array of silent auction items, from which proceeds support the USET Foundation and Morris’ competitive excellence campaign.