SAUGERTIES, N.Y.--Ireland's Jordan Coyle on Centriko Volo won the $100,000 HITS Grand Prix during HITS-on-the-Hudson VII on Sunday, Sept. 4.
Jordan Coyle on Centriko VoloCatsy Cruz designed a course with a technical 13-obstacle track that featured an oxer-vertical combination early in the course, but the biggest test came at the end, with fence 12 set as a vertical-vertical-oxer triple combination to a steady liverpool vertical as the last jump.
Seven advanced to the jump-off which featured three new fences, multiple tight rollbacks, a combination and a large oxer going away from the gate as the final question.
Katherine Anne Brewer on Casido 2 was the first to go clean but opted for a more conservative time in their effort to leave all the fences intact, stopping the clock at 43.822 seconds for fourth place.
Hunter Holloway was next with Pepita Con Spita, and quickly galloped to the lead, clean in 41.538 seconds.
Holloway’s time did not stand for long, though, with Mattias Tromp edging ahead on Noemi VH Wuitenshof, finishing clean in 41.119 seconds.
Coyle, last to go, was quick and clean in 39.853 seconds to win.
"CENTRIKO VOLO is actually a very fast horse, and I don't feel like I did anything crazy, I think he's just faster than the other horses,” said Coyle. “I maybe did one less back to the third jump, but apart from that I feel like I probably did the same numbers as everyone else – he just goes in a very fast way.”
Coyle has been riding Centriko Volo for four years and is just stepping the 10-year-old Oldenburg gelding up for the 5* level.
“I actually just took him over to the Dublin Horse Show]a few weeks ago and he was very good there,” said Coyle. “He jumped the Grand Prix over there, and it was one of the biggest Grand Prix I've ever jumped and for sure the biggest Grand Prix he has ever jumped!”
Coyle used Sunday’s grand prix at HITS-on-the-Hudson to prepare his horses for next week’s HITS Championship.
“I am excited to come back,” he said. “It's 5*, which everyone knows is the best you can jump. There’s $400,000, that's a lot of money, and everyone loves the money. That arena has been very lucky for me, and all my horses jump very well. I'm looking forward to next week!”
