Thermal, CA – January 11, 2025 – Kyle King wanted to utilize Saturday night’s $25,000 Kubota Grand Prix as a nice and easy confidence builder for his top mount Odysseus, but when it came time for the jump-off, King decided he couldn’t just take it nice and easy. Instead, he went for it, earning the win in the Desert Circuit 1 featured class by more than three seconds.
King and the 14-year-old Holsteiner gelding, owned by Patricia Vasey, were one of five entries that qualified to jump off over the Cedric Longis-designed short course, and they had the advantage of being the final pair to return to the Grand Prix Arena at the Desert International Horse Park.
When King crossed back under the entry arch, the time to beat had just been set at 47.172 seconds by Canada’s Ali Ramsay and Conrado 12, owned by Ramsay Equestrian Inc. With Odysseus’ natural foot speed on his side, King made short work of Ramsay’s time, soaring over the final vertical in 44.136 seconds for the win.
“I did the [$1,000,000 MLSJ CSI5* Coachella Cup Grand Prix] in December, and [Odysseus] got in a little bit of trouble at the end of the course, so I had kind of tipped my hat,” explained King, who regularly competes Odysseus at the CSI4* and CSI5* level. “I wanted to do tonight just to get him some confidence. Then, once we got in the jump-off, I said, ‘Might as well take a little shot!’”
“‘Odi’s’ just a very fast mover,” explained King. “I did one more than [Ali Ramsay] did from one to two, and then I think I was inside of her tracks to three. It showed up beautiful. I did that rollback. I was inside her tracks there, and then Odi just has a certain rhythm, so I didn’t want to change it. I just stayed with it. I didn’t mean to be three seconds faster, but it’s just kind of the way he rolls!”
With King taking the win and Ramsay finishing in second, third place went to Tali Dejong aboard Duke of Doel. As the top under-25 rider in the class, 24-year-old Dejong also earned the win in the $1,000 YETI U25 Classic.
Fourth place with just one fence down in the jump-off went to King’s second mount, Bynamic’s Conthaloubet.
“I’m very proud of, [Bynamic’s Conthaloubet]; we call him Bojangles in the barn,” said King. “I’ve been kind of catch riding him here and there. I had him ready to win a class, or be very good in a class, and I ended up injuring my leg a couple weeks ago, so I couldn’t ride him. I felt so bad. I had to scratch the class because I was injured. I was really proud that he went clear tonight…[Janet Hischer] brought him along to a very high level, and she has high hopes. I’m really excited about that horse for this season. I think that horse can actually jump some pretty good tracks. He’s a very good jumper.”
Now, following his victory, Odysseus will enjoy a week off before returning to FEI competition during Desert Circuit 3, to be held January 22-26. To learn more about all competition at the Desert International Horse Show, click here, and for full results of the $25,000 Kubota Grand Prix, click here.
