Los Angeles—Sept. 27

Riders got into the Halloween spirit a little early this year for a good cause at the debut edition of the  Longines Los Angeles Masters Grand Slam.

Twenty-two riders traded their breeches for fishnets and surfer shorts to compete in the Charity Pro-Am Competition. The competition paired one professional and amateur rider together to jump in faults-converted speed relay competition, and each pair earned a $35,000 for a different charity. As an added bonus, celebrity judges Jeannie Mai, Sebastian Roché and Ariana Rockefeller rated each pair on their style, and some pairs went way out of the way to show off. Francie Steinwedell and Saree Kayne (riding for Baby2Baby) recruited others from the Meadow Grove Farm team to dress up and join in their choreographed intro to a medley from “Grease,” and Will Simpson and Hannah von Heidegger, riding for Compton Junior Posse, trotted into the ring with surfboards, while Simpson put his down on a squarish oxer and hopped aboard.

Laura Kraut and Hannah Selleck laid down the fastest time of the day for Just World International while dressed as Batman villains Catwoman and Poison Ivy. Selleck went to famed Hollywood costume shop Trashy Lingerie earlier in the week to have them put together her Poison Ivy costume, and she tracked down a catwoman suit for Kraut as well. Selleck also recruited a professional make-up team to come to the LA Masters to get her and Kraut looking their best.

Riders donned more traditional attire for the two-round Battle of the Nations competition, a 1.55-meter winning round competition, which pitted riders from the United States to a conglomerate team of riders from other nations. While “the rest of the world” won, Kent Farrington took the top honors on Blue Angel. It’s his second win of the week. 

Find full results from the week here, and catch up with all the news from yesterday’s Longines Speed Challenge. For a full report from the Longines LA Masters, check out the Oct. 13 issue of the Chronicle.