OCALA, Fla.--Aaron Vale rode Major to win his fouth $75,000 World Equestrian Center Grand Prix on Feb. 27.
Aaron Vale on Major (Photo by Andrew Ryback)The 1.50m Grand Prix was held under the lights and included a field of 29 entries representing eight countries, including Olympic medalists and World Games competitors.
The jump-off saw a head-to-head battle for the win, but it was Aaron Vale of Thinkslikeahorse who won his fourth Grand Prix of the season.
Vale was one of eight entries to jump a clear first round and return for the short course.
First to contest the short course was Grace Debney on Zarina De Vidau who finished clean in 45.040 seconds.with all rails up, upping the ante for the remaining entries.
Debney held the lead until Molly Ashe Cawley and Berdien shaved crucial seconds off, finishing in 41.531 seconds to move into the lead.
Last in the order was Vale, who turned tight to the rollback fences and galloped at every opportunity to finish in 41.122 seconds.
Vale turned to the scoreboard to check his time and threw his fist in the air, celebrating his win.
“I THOUGHT the first round was quite difficult," said Vale. "There was a tall skinny vertical heading to the triple combination with the horizontal-striped rails. Those poles are very difficult as a single fence, let alone a triple combination. However, Major jumped it well.”
“Watching the first couple go in the jump-off, the times were fast, but not crazy fast," said Vale. "I didn’t get to watch Molly go, but I heard that her time was four seconds faster than Grace, so I knew it was a really fast time to get. Going in last, I knew there was a big gap between the current first and second placings, so I didn’t want to do anything too risky to jeopardize a top placing. I caught the first few jumps pretty well, then rolled back to the oxer really quickly. I probably went way faster to B and C of the combination than I should have, but he moved his feet out of the way and jumped it clear. I turned back pretty tight to the next fence, then ran to the last fence. I didn’t have a great sense of the time, so I didn’t know where I was going to end up. When I saw the scoreboard flash up ‘Rank 1’, I was pumped. I didn’t know until then that I had won. The crowd was happy, and so was I!”
“These evening classes under the lights have been great, and the combination of that and the crowd makes for an unbelievable atmosphere," said Vale. "A lot of locals are coming out to watch the grand prix. The crowd is even staying to watch the victory gallop; they were cheering as loudly during the victory gallop as they were for the jump-off. It’s nice to see non-equestrians becoming fans of equestrian sports. It really makes the classes fun.”
Earlier, Bree Rosales of Marshall, Va., on California PJ won the $7,500 Futures Prix 1.40m.over 32 entries with eight going on to the jump-off,
Three were clean in the jump-off, with Rosales clean int 37.116 seconds for the win.
Tiffany Hammack on Ghana FS Z was also clean in 38.473 seconds for second, and rounding out the top three was Diego Perez Bilbao on Alter Ego, clean in 41.008.
“That was a fun course," said Rosales. "I was so nervous when they put the wall in the ring earlier in the week because it isn’t something that I’ve schooled her over before. She acted like it was no big deal. I didn’t have a great warm up round, but she was on fire today and ready to go. My plan in the jump-off was to be as quick as I could be from 1 to 2. I was debating whether to go inside or around to the final fence after the combination, but she felt so on it and I saw the inside turn and just went for it.”
“We bought her as a 4-year-old from Germany off of a video when she was in foal," said Rosales. "She was started by a friend of ours and was a bit difficult to start, but we worked our way up through the 5, 6 and 7-year-old classes with her. My husband, Chicho, rode her for a little while while I was pregnant with my daughter, then the moment I was able to ride again, I stole her back. She’s my heart horse.”
“It’s so much fun to show at World Equestrian Center," she said. "We feel honored to be able to show here. It’s so cool to have this in our backyard. We’re really grateful.”
