ARCADIA, Calif.--Karl Cook on Caracole de la Roque won the $400,000 FEI Jumping World Cup CSI5*-W qualifier in Los Angeles on Saturday evening, Nov. 23.
Karl Cook on Caracole de las Roque (Photo by Winslow Photography)The World Cup qualifier brought show jumping to Santa Anita Park for the first time since the 1984 Olympic Games, and 39 top international riders qualified to compete over a course set by Anderson Lima of Brazil.
Eight went clean to make the jump-off, and Ashlee Bond of Israel on Donatello 141was the first to go, followed by Harry Charles of Great Britain, Shawn Casady, Kaitlin Campbell, Vanessa Mannix of Canada, Daniel Bluman of Israel, Cian O’Connor of Ireland and Cook.
Bond had two rails down in the fast time of 40.44 seconds, Charles retired after a stop and Casaday on Cool Quarz had four faults in 44.35.
Campbell on Castlefield Cornelious was the first to go clean, but she was slow, finishing in 49.17 seconds.
Mannix on Kingston was clean in 46.31 seconds to go into the lead with three riders remaining.
Bluman on Corbie V.V. galloped down the final line in eight strides for a new clean round time of 42.87 seconds.
O’Connor on Iron Man was clean but slightly slower, finishing in 44.68.
Cook was not only clean but beat Bluman’s time by over a second and a half in the winning time of 41.19 seconds.
Bluman placed second and O'Connor was third.
"THERE'S A huge advantage to going last. You get to see everyone go; you get to see how other riders shave time and what mistakes they make," Cook said. "When I watched Daniel, he was crisp, and he was smooth. It was a great round."
“With Caracole, I have such confidence in her speed and her ability to turn that it was just about staying on our plan and not trying to get too far out over our skis or trying to break a land speed record. it was just about doing what I know she can do,” said Cook, who had delivered two clear rounds at the 2024 Paris Olympics to help the U.S. Show Jumping Team win Team Silver.
"She's amazing," said Cook, who had a sharp turn to the second to last fence where the mare stood back for a huge jump. "As long as you're going forward with speed, there's no "no" in her. It's only if I pull that we have a problem. I'm fully confident with her. If there's any problem, it's with me."
"When you go through something really intense, it makes you stronger or it really does the opposite," he said. "In our case, the Olympics made us stronger. I have complete faith in Cara."
“Everyone that put the show together – to have the vision for this show, the facility, – it’s awesome,"said Cook. "It’s a great, complete show, from the tiniest things, like you can walk to the hotel, we have a lot of room to ride in the back, a very good size warmup ring, the atmosphere is really great. It’s a wonderful and historic setting, one that deserves showjumping. I’ve wanted this type of investment both in time, people, and money, into California for so long.”
Bluman with 54 points leads the World Cup standings to qualify for the World Cup Final in Basel, Switzerland in April 2025, followed by Kristen Vanderveen with 35 points, Kent Farrngton, 34, McLain Ward, 24, Alise Oken, 23, and four tied with 20 points, Alex Matz, Cook, Rodrigo Pessoa,and Katie Dinan.
"If I give my 70 percent, Corbie is probably going to jump a clear round," said Bluman, who has finished among the top 10 in each of the first four legs of the North American League season. "That's a great feeling to be able to have when you have this level of competition. I think the future is bright for her."
The North American League resumes in Thermal, Calif., on Jan. 29 to Feb. 2, followed by Puebla, Mexico on Feb. 4-9 and Ocala, Fla., Feb. 11-16.
