On Repeat! Samuel Parot Begins The Royal West CSI3*-W in Winning Style Once Again
Samuel Parot. Ph. Totem
With just two days before the $132,000 Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Calgary presented by pandaHAUS, riders were pushing for a strong finish in the $35,000 CSI3*-W ACTC 1.45m World Cup Pre-Qualifier at The Royal West in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on Thursday, October 27.
A field of 35 started on Werner Deeg’s testing course but was narrowed to 14 clears for the jump-off. When the action wound up it was a familiar name atop the results. Chile’s Samuel Parot forged a time that stood up with the first ride of the jump off, blazing home in 36:24 aboard Quick du Pottier. In 2015, Parot won all three FEI feature classes at The Royal West in a memorable win streak, and it is clear he is back to try and repeat that feat this week.
The superb ride was in spite of a leg injury that keeps restricting his riding. “I re-injured the leg on Wednesday, and it makes it very hard for me to go to the right.” Asked about how he could take a conventional route around the course with no gambles, he says, “This is a very fast course. I don’t feel like I have to take a gamble to find time with this horse.”
In second was the German rider Christian Heineking aboard AJE Cluny. His time after a bold shortcut into the final jump was 37:07. “I knew Samuel was going ahead of me and would be fast, but I always planned to take the inside path to the final jump. I really enjoy this venue, and I’m glad I got this ride in tonight in preparation for Saturday.”
Third place went to Chris Surbey of Canada, just a tenth of a second back of Heineking aboard Chalacorada. In the fourth was Samuel Parot again, this time with Kanisso while Canada’s Julia Stanley in 49.95 took fifth.
See clips from Samuel Parot’s jumpoff round here:
Course designer Deeg says that he wasn’t surprised by Parot’s fast start in the jump-off. “He’s always fast. And you have such good footing here that Sam’s horses can really make good times here. It will make it a really exciting test on Saturday.”
Find the link to the complete results list at this link.