Thermal, CA – February 23, 2025 – After Ali Ramsay realized Conrado 12 seemed stressed competing under the lights, she made the tough decision to forego jumping Saturday night’s $117,000 Spotlight 29 Casino CSI3* Grand Prix at Desert Circuit 7. Instead, Ramsay pointed the gelding at Sunday, February 23’s $32,000 Balmoral CSI3* 1.45m, and that decision paid off in a big way with a win for Ramsay.
“[Under the lights], he tries so hard that he gets himself a bit impressed, and when you’re jumping two feet over 1.60m, it’s really hard to do that at 12 jumps in a row!” explained Ramsay. “So, after I jumped him on the grass last week, I felt how easily he jumped that CSI3* grand prix. I knew that I shouldn’t be putting him in a position where he was that stressed because, if I could feel him at his best, why put him somewhere that it makes him not feel like that? So, we just decided to tuck the ego away and sit on the sidelines last night. It makes me very happy to know that it was worth it, and it paid off. He felt amazing!”
As one of seven entries to jump clear, and one of four to jump double clear, Ramsay and Conrado 12 cruised to the win with a time of 35.46 seconds. Second place with a time of 36.81 seconds went to Belgium’s Jos Verlooy and Omaro van de Meerse, owned by Eurohorse BV. Finishing in third was Canada’s Samantha Buirs-Darvill, who rode Maria 111 to a time of 37.27 seconds.
Of her winning jump-off track, Ramsay said, “Every time I walk a jump off with my boyfriend Michael [Williamson], he always tells me one less stride, and I tell him he’s crazy. I’m like, ‘No, no, that’s impossible. Then, I do the stride that I think, and I’m pulling and way too slow. So today, he actually wasn’t even here, but I had his voice in my head saying, ‘You can do eight in that first line,’ even though nobody else had done it. So, I did the eight! Amazingly, [Conrado 12] turned back very well to the double and was super-fast there. I personally should have done one less in the last line, but I guess I got lucky that nobody else did it too!”
Ramsay has been partnered with the 12-year-old Zangersheide Conrado 12, owned by Ramsay Equestrian Inc., for four years, and the gelding has really come into his own throughout the past year.
“He’s so talented,” said Ramsay. “We had to take some time to build the partnership and kind of learn to allow him to his full potential. I think that, over the last year, he’s really kind of risen and exceeded all expectations.”
For full results of Sunday’s $32,000 Balmoral CSI3* 1.45m, click here.
