Thermal, CA – January 23, 2025 – Thursday, January 23, marked 8-year-old Chatadel PS’s first 1.45m class, but with the brains and abilities of an older horse, the stallion and Erynn Ballard made besting the $32,000 CSI2* BRAINJUICE 1.45m Welcome Speed look easy.
With a time of 59.62 seconds, the pair rode away with the win at Desert Circuit 3, presented by American Wild Horse Conservation. Finishing in second place with a time of 61.70 seconds were Michael Williamson and his own Call Me Baby Quick PS. Rounding out the top three was Savannah Jenkins who piloted Bresil de Carnaval Santa Rosa, owned by Proper 12 LLC, to a time of 62.19 seconds.
“He’s amazing,” said Ballard of the grey Oldenburg Chatadel PS, owned by Jose Salgado Negrete. “He’s a horse that’s very sure of himself; you can’t really train a horse to do what a horse like him does. He does it on his own. He doesn’t want to hit the jumps. He wants to be fast; he wants to be with you all the time. To do those turns; to leave those strides out, that’s a big education. It comes easy for him. He wants to do the job, and he’s exceptional.”
Chatadel PS had what Ballard describes as a “superstar” 7-year-old year, and he continues to rise to the occasion as he climbs the ranks. While Thursday’s class marked the first CSI2* competition for the stallion, trainer Ilan Ferder reminded Ballard not to treat it as such.
“Ilan said, ‘You can’t think of this as his first 1.45m and change the way you ride him. You ride him forward. He likes to go forward. He jumps well from being forward,’” said Ballard. “I said before I went in the ring, ‘If everything goes well, I can go eight to the last.’ For sure doing the eight to the last is where you saw that sort of second difference between first and second because I just kept coming the whole way forward. I never had to pull on the reins there. He’s a clever jumper; he doesn’t hit the jumps. He’s fast across the ground. He’s pretty much what everyone wants in a horse!”
Ballard continued, “He’s a big stallion; that’s not normally my kind of horse, but it was sort of love at first sight. He’s so beautiful. Really all he’s done is win.”
With that in mind, it made sense for Chatadel PS to join Ballard at the Desert International Horse Park as she made the trip from the East Coast to Thermal, CA, for Desert Circuit 3 and Desert Circuit 4, including the Longines FEI Jumping World CupTM Thermal.
Now, she will aim the stallion at Saturday afternoon’s $45,000 CSI2* PRO Series Equine Grand Prix, while also competing Gakhir and Mullentine Shalom in this week’s CSI4* and next week’s CSI5*.
To view complete results from Thursday’s $32,000 CSI2* BRAINJUICE 1.45m Welcome Speed, click here, and to access a complete competition schedule, click here.
