HITS Ocala celebrated Mid-Circuit with the $200,000 Ocala Electric Utility Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon, welcoming a field of 35 riders to the Stadium all with their eye on the lion’s share of prize money. HITS Post Time Farm continues to host the top riders and horses in the sport, many of whom are preparing for the Seventh Great American $1 Million Grand Prix.
After an unlucky rail in last Sunday’s Grand Prix jump-off, Aaron Vale moved up in the standings to secure the win aboard ELUSIVE in a time of 38.547 for Thinkslikeahorse during Week V of the HITS Ocala Winter Circuit. “He’s [ELUSIVE] won several Grand Prix already this year and jumped one fence of the jump-off just ‘this much too low’ not to win last week,” said Vale, pinching his fingers to show the 2 millimeters that stood between him and the blue last week.
ELUSIVE, now 12, has been part of the Thinkslikeahorse family since he was a 6-year-old. “We bought him as a 6-year-old and the plan was originally for him to be Mallory’s (Vale’s wife) horse. I competed him as a 6- and 7-year-old and he finished 2nd in the 6-year-old Finals and won the 7-year-old Finals. Mallory started jumping him when he was 8 in the Amateurs and showed him successfully for a couple of years until I started showing him in the Grand Prix last year.”
Vale gave us the inside scoop on how ELUSIVE has become one of his top Grand Prix horses. “The real story is that I didn’t really have a big string of Grand Prix horses last year, like I do this year, and coming up to HITS the money was tremendous,” said Vale. Last year nearly all the Grand Prix at HITS Ocala double and tripled in prize money. “Mallory said ‘You know, you should try ELUSIVE in the Grand Prix’,” Vale laughed adding that he had always insisted he was too big for the 16-Hand Dutch Warmblood, but the duo seemed to click right away.
“After he won two of the Sunday Grand Prix last year, which was quite valuable, Mallory hasn’t gotten him back,” said Vale. If you’re watching the Grand Prix, ELUSIVE is easy to pick out and while he may be smaller than most of the other Grand Prix horses, he certainly holds his own when it comes to being competitive. “He’s a great horse for our family and he’s got a place in our dining room forever,” Vale said, referencing the paintings of their favorite horses that adorn the walls of their home.
“The Stadium arena is fabulous here – it’s a nice big arena – and the footing is good,” Vale exclaimed. “It’s a rectangle which to me, makes course designers do a better job normally than a square. I appreciate the rectangle because subconsciously it encourages course designers to make good courses and they probably don’t even realize that, but it’s something my brain sees as a rider who has been to a lot of horse shows.”
While there were thirteen that jumped clean in the first round, Vale said that the course was fair. “The entries that are at HITS Ocala showing are pretty accomplished, so even though there were quite a few in the jump-off, it was all good horses and riders,” he said.
Speaking of his partnership with ELUSIVE over the past year, Vale continued, “He wasn’t so fast last year, but I’ve had people tell me that he’s the fastest horse in Ocala right now. I think that if he leaves the jumps up then he is hard to beat. He can jump a big enough jump to be in these big classes.”
