Shauna Cook and Caya stand for the winner's presentation. Photo © tbird/Quinn Saunders.
Press release from Thunderbird Show Park
Shauna Cook (CAN) had one hyphenated word to describe her win in the CSI3* Kubota Canada Winning Round 1.45m: “nail-biting.”
After her first round with Caya (Christian x Quintender) in the uniquely formatted class, Cook was unsure whether she’d even make the second round, for which only the top 10 combinations return. Ultimately, she’d just qualify as the tenth best score of the round.
Returning first for the second round on a clean slate, she and her mount positively nailed Anderson Lima’s (BRA) shortened track. But Cook then had to wait nine rounds to see whether the effort would be good enough to win.
It was.
Shauna Cook and Caya. Photo © tbird/Quinn Saunders.
Cook and her mother Sheilagh Kelly’s Caya topped the CSI3* Kubota Canada Winning Round 1.45m for the second week in a row, crossing the timers in an uncatchable 48.19 seconds. James Chawke (IRL) and Gamble (Campbell VDL x Quick Star), who qualified ninth, finished second in 48.33 seconds, with Kyle King (USA) and Inferno BF (Tangelo van de Zuuthoeve x Numero Uno) third in 49.88 seconds.
“I had that bit of an unlucky rail in the first round. The winning round worked in my favor this week, and we just snuck in, because she’s a quick horse,” Cook said. “It was a nail-biter. I wasn’t sure I was going to get in, and then I was like, ‘Well, I’ve got nothing to lose."
Then