The crowd might have been shocked when SunCal Portofino stopped twice in the speed leg of the Rolex FEI World Cup Show Jumping Final on Thursday night, April 19.  But their dismay paled in comparison to Michael Whitaker’s.

“She’s never done anything like that before, ever. From one second to the next, I was going the wrong direction,” Whitaker said. 

But on Saturday, April 21, Portofino put the past behind her and sped to the win in the $75,000 Las Vegas Grand Prix to redeem herself.  “I didn’t really know what went wrong on Thursday.  She got a bit spooked in the ring, but I didn’t know why.  I spent all day yesterday thinking about it.  I didn’t even ride her—I just thought about things.  And then today she was absolutely perfect.  I think the atmosphere might have gotten to her a little bit,” Whitaker said.

Whitaker was relieved that he had his old horse back for the grand prix.  “In the first round, she was bang-on and didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.  “I think she just had a bad day the other day.  She’s so consistent, so when something like that happens, there’s obviously something wrong.  So we just had to regroup.”

Whitaker faced off against four other riders in the jump-off, including Canadians John Pearce and Jill Henselwood, Belgian Patrick McEntee and American speedster Richard Spooner. 

Pearce went first, and definitively set the pace.  He rode Urioso to a very efficient clear round in 36.97 seconds.  “I took as much risk as I wanted to.  I would say it was about 80 percent risk.  I had to.  I had [Richard Spooner] coming behind me, and Michael [Whitaker] too, who is sitting on one of the fastest horses in the world.  Michael’s a great speed rider.  I knew I had to go out there and take the risk and do my best,” Pearce said.

His best proved the best through the next few riders, who all pulled rails trying to chase his time.  Spooner blazed to a very quick round aboard Ace, an athletic and promising stallion who’s only 9, but they also collected 4 faults.

“Ace hasn’t done anything like this.  I was incredibly proud of him,” said Spooner.  “I didn’t know what he would do with the audience.  He was a little under the weather the first day, so that was the first time he’d jumped in that ring.  I went in the ring and everybody was screaming, and he was nickering and nobody could hear it.  He nickered all the way across the middle.  But he cowboyed up and I was proud of him.  I’m very optimistic for his future.”

The door was open for Whitaker.  He sliced the turns, twisting around the first few jumps, and then really galloped to the final fence.  “I saw John go, so I knew he was pretty quick.  I think I was fast in the beginning, over 1, 2 and 3.  From then on, I didn’t want to take any unnecessary chances because I thought I’d be winning,” Whitaker said.

And while Whitaker was thrilled to see Portofino—a veteran—back in form, Pearce and Spooner were both thrilled with signs of big futures for their mounts.     

Pearce has been doing the grand prix level with Urioso, 10, for three years.  He bought the Darco son from Jan Tops as a 6-year-old.  “When you look at him he looks like an unlikely candidate to be a grand prix horse.  But he’s got tremendous power for a small horse and tremendous heart.  He’s a big trier.  He’s not conventional but he makes up for it with his heart.

“I can take that horse just about anywhere.  I could probably go to war on him.  Nothing fazes him.  He’s not spooky.  He’s not affected by the crowd or footing.  He’s a tough guy and I think he’s going to jump until he’s 25.”

Spooner brought Ace with him to the east coast indoor circuit last fall, and to Florida this spring for experience.  “This horse has a lot of character.  I think when I call on him he’s going to be there for me.  He showed that to me today.  Sometimes in the face of adversity they can rise to the occasion,” he said.