James Chawke and Katie Laurie Take Home Wins in $10,000 1.35m Welcome Speed
To embark on the final week of action of Desert Circuit, there were yet again two winners of the $10,000 1.35m Welcome Speed to open Desert Circuit 10, presented by La Quinta Resort & Club. In Section A, sponsored by Barnwalkers, it was none other than James Chawke taking the top position, this time aboard a horse owned by Alison Locke, Nacara Van Berkenbroeck Z. In Section B, sponsored by IDA Development, Katie Laurie took the win aboard Pretty Women, owned by Highland Farms Ltd.Over Joey Rycroft’s track, Chawke was late to go in the first section of the class aboard Nacara Van Berkenbroeck Z, an 11-year-old Zangersheide gelding by Nonstop. With several second-place finishes on the horse’s resume so far, Chawke was determined to get the horse a win. And that he did.
Full results Section A
Full results Section B
“I watched Kyle [King] go first and he had a really good round,” Chawke reflected. “He was very neat and efficient. I thought if I had a similar track as him I could be a bit faster because my horse is naturally quicker. I did one less stride from [fences] three to four than him and then I went fairly fast to the liverpool. I saw a bit of a wild one there and Nacara always jumps liverpools quite careful so I figured I could get away with that.”Chawke’s time was about four seconds faster than King’s, or anyone else’s for that matter. King ended up second aboard Diamond, owned by Strasburg Morin Inc., while Katherine Huffstutler was third with Kimmel SCF.
Nicolas Gamboa Gets the Gold in CSI4* Two Phase
Colombia was well represented in international action as the first CSI4* class of the week came to a close. Atop the starter list was Nicolas Gamboa (COL) aboard NKH Warrior, a horse owned by NKH LLC.
Gamboa stopped the timers in 40.62 seconds to claim the win. In second was Camila Ruedo (COL) who piloted Indus Van Het Keysereyck Z, owned by Lexi Silver, to a time of 42.09 seconds around the speed phase. Just behind in third was Katie Laurie (AUS) with her homebred Django II, bringing home a time of 43.30 seconds.
Photo 1 James Chawke and Nacara van Berkenbroeck Z Photo by High Desert Sport Photo | Press release Desert International
