Karl Cook is Back in the Desert and Back on Top in $62,500 Western Alliance Bank CSI3* Welcome
FEI competition is back at Desert International Horse Park for the 2026-2027 season, and so is U.S. Olympian Karl Cook. On Thursday, November 5, Cook wasted no time in returning to the DIHP winner’s circle as he piloted Heroes Kervec to victory in the $62,000 Western Alliance Bank CSI3* Welcome.
This year marks the first time DIHP’s National Sunshine Series 2, presented by Frank & Eileen, has offered FEI classes, and the show’s CSI3* has attracted a strong field of entries, including 57 horses in Thursday afternoon’s featured class.
Of those 57 horse-and-rider combinations, nine found their way around the first-round, Colm Quinn-designed track without fault. Eight entries ultimately elected to return for the jump-off in the Grand Prix Stadium, but none of them would catch Cook and Heroes Kervec, who stopped the timers in 35.09 seconds for the win.
Kaitlin Campbell (ISR) came extremely close to Cook’s time on two occasions, and she ultimately finished in both second and third place on her two entries, Cloud and Cosm Questa VD Heffinck, respectively. With Cloud, owned by SWS Training & Sales, Campbell crossed the finish in 35.51 seconds, and with Cosm Questa VD Heffinck, owned by Mirasol Equestrian, she nearly mirrored that time, finishing in 35.75 seconds.
“[Heroes Kervec] is a great horse,” said Cook of the 9-year-old Selle Français gelding that has been owned by Signe Ostby for roughly the past three years. “He stayed in Europe for a bit [after we bought him]. We brought him over at the very end of his seven-year-old year. He’s really come into his own now. We jumped our first 1.45m class in April this year, and then we had two classes of little mistakes. Then after that, he’s just been clear round after clear round after clear round. We’ve been taking it slow, staying at 1.45m, 1.45m, and I think that’s a good place for us to be. He just keeps getting faster, and it’s a great thing. It’s always inspiring when you see horses just from show to show just kind of progressively get better.”
In speaking of being back at DIHP, Cook drew similar parallels between Heroes Kervec’s progress and the continual facility improvement projects at DIHP.
“A little bit like Heroes, each time you come here, it’s getting better and better. It’s never stable. They just keep stepping up the game and improving themselves. It’s inspiring,” said Cook.
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