Shawn Casady and Cool Quarz Continue Their Hot Streak in the $39,000 Voltaire Designs CSI2* Welcome at HITS Del Mar
International show jumping returned to HITS Del Mar on Thursday, August 29, 2024, with the $39,000 Voltaire Designs CSI2* Welcome. Hot on the heels of his grand prix victory during the Del Mar Summer Classic I, Shawn Casady (USA) once again delivered the winning ride with Cool Quarz to kick off two-star competition the during Del Mar Summer Classic II.
Esteemed FEI Level 4 Course Designer Bernardo Costa Cabral (POR) set the first-round track for the international field of 41 horse-and-rider combinations representing eight nations. Time proved to be a factor with four duos crossing the timers just over the allotted 70 seconds, but 14 pairs managed to find the clear path. With Matt Archer (USA) withdrawing from the jump-off to save his mount Luigi vd Bishop for later in the week, 13 pairs remained to race for the top prize.
In the jump-off, riders took chances in an effort to achieve the fastest time, but as they risked for reward, poles fell. Olympian Cassio Rivetti (BRA) looked like he might have shut the door on the competition as he and Edesa’s Vidal 8, a 12-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Vigo d’Arsouilles STX x Baloubet du Rouet) owned by Monarch Farms, LLC, flew through the timers clear in 35.95 seconds. However, it was not meant to be. Toward the end of the order, Casady and Cool Quarz stopped the clock in 35.40 seconds to just edge out Rivetti, who would have to settle for second. Eduardo Sanchez Navarro (MEX) was less than a second behind with Grandje O in the highly competitive class. He and the 13-year-old KWPN gelding (Cardento 933 x Voltaire Pref) owned by Operadora Yeguadas Haras la Mexicana S.A de C.V. finished in third in 36.03 seconds.
“Honestly, I’m not really sure where I was faster,” admitted Casady of his tour around the short course. “I just wanted to do the right number of strides and be smooth. I knew Cassio [Rivetti] had done the numbers I was planning, but I didn’t really know what he ended up doing between the related lines. I just focused on keeping a good, positive gallop, keeping it between standards, and going around the course with a good feeling, and I’m lucky it worked out today.”
While Casady has only been partnered with Cool Quarz since November 2023, they have already recorded numerous top placings together. Their victory in the $39,000 Voltaire Designs CSI2* Welcome is only the most recent in their wave of success, after scoring a second-place finish in the $39,000 Purina Animal Nutrition CSI2* Welcome and topping the $100,000 Great American Insurance Group CSI2* Grand Prix during Del Mar Summer Classic I.
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