Ainsley Clyman and Jeff Rootman each rode away with a $10,000 Core Specialty Insurance 1.15m Mini Prix win on Sunday, November 8, at Desert International Horse Park. Clyman earned her win aboard Lucky Charm in the $10,000 Core Specialty Insurance 1.15m Junior Mini Prix while Rootman closed out National Sunshine Series 2 with a win in the $10,000 Core Specialty Insurance 1.15m Amateur Mini Prix aboard The Best of Dancer.
Clyman was one of 38 junior riders to take on the course designed by Anderson Lima and set in DIHP’s Jumper 2 ring. While 15 of those riders ultimately turned in fast jump-off rounds, none of them were nearly as fast as Clyman and “Lucky.”
The pair stopped the jump-off timers in 26.850 seconds to take the win by more than two-and-a-half seconds. Second place with a time of 29.420 seconds went to Isabel Moment and her own Kitting des Hausseurs, and Isabella van der Werf rounded out the top three after riding to a time of 30.707 seconds with Serendepety.
“I felt really good about my first round,” said Clyman, who trains with Kristina Gratton. “Then, for my jump off, when we were walking the course, we saw a couple of really tidy turns. I was really scared to do them, but she was like, ‘You just have to trust him and be really confident in the ride.’ So, that’s what I did! [Lucky Charm] made two really, really nice inside turns that were super quick.”
Clyman has only been partnered with Lucky Charm since August, but she and the 14-year-old Rheinlander gelding looked like a veteran duo on Sunday.
“He was my coach’s horse for a while; he did the grand prix with her,” explained Clyman. “A couple years ago, he had an injury. So, he was coming back from that for a while. Then, in the last couple of months, I was looking to move up a little bit. He was coming back from the injury, and he was doing really well. So, my coach was like, ‘Maybe we’ll just try him.’ We’ve had our bumps, but he was so super today! I’m really happy with our ride.”
Now, heading into the winter season, Clyman hopes to eventually move up to the 1.20ms and to be successful there.
In the $10,000 Core Specialty Insurance 1.15m Amateur Mini Prix, Rootman and The Best of Dancer, owned by Heather Archer, topped a 31-horse field for the win.
The amateur class came down to an even more closely contested race against the clock than the juniors, with all of the top three finishing less than half a second apart. Rootman and his 16-year-old Irish Sport Horse mount blazed through the finish in a winning 31.213 seconds, but Mia James and Kaiser van het Lambroeck were hot on Rootman’s heels, finishing in 31.376 seconds for second place. Third with a time of 31.696 seconds went to Diane Doolittle and De La Vega.