Thermal, Calif. – Prior to Saturday, December 6, Argentina de la Marchette had impressively won three out of four of her FEI starts at 1.50m in the Desert International Horse Park’s Grand Prix Stadium.
Now, following Saturday’s $62,500 Circle B Ranch CSI5* 1.50m Winning Round, the mare has only further improved that record to four out of five, or an 80 percent win percentage.
“I think she really likes the place here!” said Wathelet of his homebred 13-year-old Luxembourg Warmblood mare. “I know she’s very fast. I know sometimes I need to think that I don’t do stupid things because she can be so quick. Even when I think the time is very difficult to beat, she can make it because she’s very quick on the ground.”
Saturday afternoon’s 1.50m Winning Round was one of those instances when the time was in fact very difficult to beat.
“In this jump-off, where you could not take too many strides out because it was three lines, I knew on the turn after the double I could catch eight. Most people did nine,” explained Wathelet, who is currently ranked 15th in the world in the Longines FEI Rankings. “I got there very good, but I was a bit deep to the oxer. Then, I had to move quite a lot for the five stride. I think, from there, I wanted to bring her inside, and she was a bit surprised. She walked on the boot protection on her hoof there. Then I think she lost a bit of balance.”
For a split second, Argentina stumbled slightly, and it looked like the pair could be out of contention for the win. However, thanks to the pair’s adept skills and strong partnership, they recovered quickly to clear a vertical just a few strides later and to finish in a winning 33.22 seconds.
Second place with a time of 33.55 seconds went to Mexico’s Arturo Parada Vallejo and Bordeaux, owned by David Bustillos. Finishing in third on 33.92 seconds was the number 22 rider in the world, Ireland’s Cian O’Connor aboard Pegasus.