Keri Potter and Ariell la Sirene Land a First Place Finish in $40,000 Diamond Tour Speed CSI3*, sponsored by Vita Flex
Photos © ESI Photography
For Immediate Release:
THERMAL, Calif. – February 28, 2020 – Keri Potter (USA) and Ariell la Sirene stole the show in the $40,000 Diamond Tour Classic CSI3*, sponsored by Vita Flex, with a jump-off winning time of 33.45 seconds. Nicholas Dello Joio (USA) and Columbcille de Reve (Hermes de Reve x Errigal Flight), owned by Wembley Farms Inc, finished in a close second with a short-course time of 33.5 seconds, while Karl Cook (USA) piloted Signe Ostby’s Fecybelle (Carambole x Sjapoo) to a third place finish with a time of 33.74 seconds.
Forty-two riders challenged the course with fourteen returning to attempt the short-course designed by Bernardo Cabral (POR). “I thought the course was very fair, very friendly, and nice to jump,” Potter commented. “I knew going into the jump-off that it was going to be competitive and if you wanted to win you were going to really have to go for it.”
Photos © ESI Photography
Potter took advantage of the 2009 Westphalian mare’s short stride to give her the edge she needed to win the class, “I think the fact that her stride is not the biggest gave me an advantage because we could keep moving forward, even when I might have had to add [a stride] on a turn where some of the bigger horses might have left it out,” Potter explained. “She is so fast across the ground and I can keep pressing on the gas without having to fit in strides.”
Potter and Ariell la Sirene (Arioso du Theillet x Silvio I), owned by Hannah Loly, have been partnered together for a year and “She is just awesome, she actually originally was a hunter that was not very successful and turned jumper,” Potter shared. “She had a little bit of a strange past and she wasn’t very trusting when we first became partners, it took awhile to gain her trust,” Potter continued. “Now she is one hundred percent behind me and will do anything I ask her to do and it could definitely be seen today. She is pretty cool, she has a big heart and is a great mare.”
About Desert International Horse Park
With nearly 1.3 million square feet of competition and riding space, the Desert International Horse Park is one of the largest equestrian facilities in North America. Offering multiple weeks of world-class equestrian competition from October through March, the facility is a destination location for thousands of equestrians, their horses, family and friends for several months annually. Competitors from all over the world travel to Thermal, CA to not only compete but to enjoy everything the desert has to offer.