Zazou Hoffman and Bloom du Plessis Get Milestone Win in $117,000 Marshall+Sterling CSI3* Grand Prix
Zazou Hoffman and Bloom du Plessis celebrated a major milestone moment on March 7, at Desert International Horse Park, as the pair earned their first FEI victory as a partnership. They rode away with the win in the $117,000 Marshall+Sterling CSI3* Grand Prix on Saturday morning to conclude CSI3* competition at Desert Circuit 9, presented by Marshall+Sterling.
“‘Bloom’ and I have had an amazing partnership, but we’ve never won a class,” said Hoffman, who has had the ride on the 15-year-old Selle Français mare for roughly seven years. “So, it’s super exciting for me to finally get that win!”
On her way to the top of the podium, Hoffman was one of eight riders from the 34-rider start list to qualify for the jump-off. She and Bloom were only the second to return, but they quickly threw down the gauntlet.
“The jump-off was pretty wild!” said Hoffman. “I went with high risk into the double with the inside turn. It basically ended up being a bending one stride. Mathijs [van Asten] went before me, and I actually trained with him previously. He was like, ‘You have to try it! You have to do it!’ We tried, and [Bloom] tried her heart out and made it out. She was amazing.”
Hoffman continued, “There were definitely a couple spots I left the door open – especially given that the double got a little bit hairy – but I definitely put the pressure on that they’d either have to try it or gallop fast.”
In the end, none of the remaining six returners would come within even three seconds of Hoffman’s time of 44.38 seconds. Second place on 47.50 seconds went to Canada’s Tiffany Foster and Steadfast, owned by Artisan Farms LLC and Kent Farrington LLC. Third place – and the only other double clear effort – went to Australia’s Zoe Brown who piloted Con Aperol to a time of 51.23 seconds.
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