THERMAL, Calif.--Kyle King on Kayenne Z, "A horse that has been delivering dreams one after another here recently” won the $340,000 CSI5*-W Longines FEI Jumping World Cup – Thermal, on Saturday night, Jan. 31, at Desert International Horse Park.

Kyle King on Kayenne Z (Photo by High Desert Sport Phot)This was King's first CSI5* grand prix victory.

Alan Wade set the course for the field of 28, of which seven went clean to make the jump-off.

Karl Cook set the early time to beat at 36.60 seconds on Foxy de la Roque, and King was fifth to go, with Gregory Wathelet of Belgium on Ace of Heats and Kent Farrington on Toulayna still to go.

King's initial jump-off plan didn't quite come to fruition, but despite that it became the winning move when he finished clean in 36.46 seconds, 

"I almost made a mistake on the rollback to the purple jump, but it worked out, and I think that's where I was able to be competitive," King said. "Sometimes mistakes work out. I turned up wrong, but the stride showed up."

"I knew Kent could catch me, obviously, if he was clear. But sometimes it's just meant to be," King said. "I really was going to be satisfied with a double-clear tonight. .I just figured, 'Let's go for it!'"

 

KING HAD TO wait through the final two riders, but both Wathelet and Farrington had rails down to finish fifth in 36.33 and sixth in 36.51 respectively, leaving King with the win.

Karl Cook on Foxy de la Roque (Photo by High Desert Sport Photo)Cook on Foxy de la Roque finished second, and Kaitlin Campbell on Karius was clean in 39.96 seconds to place third with Conor Swail on Casturano fourth, clean in 41.12.

“This horse means everything. She has allowed me to do things that I’ve been wanting to do my whole career,” said King. “She keeps delivering. I’ve been waiting for a horse like this. So, I feel like I was really lucky. She came along, and luckily, I had a person to support me to see where we can go.”

"There were a couple of fast ones after me, so I would have been pleased just to go double clean," he said. "But that's show jumping. I've been waiting  for a big victory. I just felt it was my time. My team does everything. I'm just the monkey they put on top."

“This is my home,” said King. “I live here on this property seven months of year, and I ride a lot of rounds in these rings. I’ve got a lot of friends and family and clients and people. It is always nice to be here at this horse park because it’s an amazing venue. Everybody treats you great here, and I feel really home. I’ve got for sure all the staff and everybody that hung around to watch night, they’re all rooting for me. It was nice!”

 For Cook, the result showed significant progress for Foxy de la Roque.

“Tonight was very much about the first round,” said Cook of his plan with the mare that he has been riding for roughly a year. “We’ve been kind of knocking on the door, but we haven’t really found the right key yet. We’ve been working on some things and trying to find the right way to go together. The way she felt in the first round today was what we’ve been trying to get. So, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”

 Campbell was similarly pleased with Karius’s results, as the 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding only recently stepped up to the CSI5* level.

“This is only his second jump off at a 1.60m, so I wanted to go in there and give him a really confident ride and hopefully go a little bit faster the next time,” said Campbell. “I think the improvement from the last time we were here in the Coachella Cup in December to now is huge. So, I think he’s just going to keep improving.”

With their top three finishes, King, Cook and Campbell each earned significant points to improve their rankings in the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup North American League East and West  standings.

In the East, Conor Swail leads on 51 points, followed by Farrington with 42 points, McLain Ward, 36 points, Laura Kraut, 33 points, Daniel Coyle, 27 points, Rene Dittmer, 25 points, King , 20 points and Aaron Vale, 20 points.

In the West, Sklylar Wireman leads on 30 points, with Cook second with 29 points and Kaitlin Campbell third with 19 points.

“It was big jumping; horses were jumping well tonight,” said course designer Wade. “It proved that the standard is rising here with perfect footing and great fences, and I thought it was good sport and top sport and good winners.”

The North American League holds its penultimate leg in Puebla, Mexico  on Saturday, Feb. 7 andends with Ocala the following week.