Cristobar, Bourns race to Angelstone grand prix win

AUGUST 23RD, 2015 – ROCKWOOD — Cristobar just loves the spotlight and it paid off for Irish rider Andrew Bourns Saturday night at the Angelstone Stadium.

“The lights and the crowd change it a lot. They give an extra pressure and extra atmosphere which this horse thrives on,” Bourns said after guiding Cristobar to a jump-off win in the $84,000 Groupby Grand Prix, the feature event of Angelstone’s The National meet.

Cristobar topped a field of 25 including nine who returned for the jump-off following clear first rounds. In the jump-off, Cristobar and Bourns recorded a winning time of 41.645 seconds as seven horses also went clear in the extra round.

“He gets better when there’s pressure on,” Bourns said. “If you saw him jump that course during the day with nobody watching, you wouldn’t look twice at him. You really wouldn’t. He’d probably have two down. He goes in there, there’s pressure, it’s big, there’s people watching — he grows. That’s the sign of a champion.”

Leslie Howard of the U.S. and Gentille Van Spieveld were second in 42.496 seconds while Canada’s Ian Millar and Baranus were third in 42.609 seconds in a fast jump-off.

“For an arena this size, it was a little different than normal,” Bourns said. “It was a little more, in technical terms, open. It was a galloping jump-off, you had to move much faster across the ground. Normally in an arena like this, you have to twist and turn and it’s a little more technical, tighter. Tonight, the course builder really opened it up to a very galloping, kind of running jump-off. I guess it suited me on the night. My horse is quick on the ground.”

[Photo Credit @ Ben Radvanyi]

Cristobar is eight-and-a-half years old and Bourns has been working with him for seven or eight months after he was based at his family’s farm in Ireland for about a year.

“He’s quite inexperienced,” Bourns said. “For an eight-and-a-half year-old horse, this is really impressive. This is the Olympics for an eight-and-a-half year-old horse. He’s without a doubt in his age group one of the best horses in the world right now.”

Bourns, 32, purchases horses from other riders, then works with the horses with the goal of turning them into top-notch show jumping competitors.

“It’s what I do. I produced one other horse that was in the lineup tonight,” he said of Casper who Sharn Wordley of New Zealand rode to a fourth-place finish with a time of 43.222 seconds in the jump-off. “I’m very proud to see my horses that I’ve produced and sold go on to do so well for their new owners. It’s a measure of me doing my job correctly.”

[Photo Credit @ Mackenzie Clark for Ben Radvanyi]

The National is the sixth main event on Angelstone’s schedule and Cristobar has competed in five of them. His best result in the feature events prior to Saturday’s win was a fifth-place finish in the Lasergrade Modified Grand Prix July 4 with Kevin Crosby at the reigns.

“I broke my collarbone in May,” Bourns said. “It was the first major injury that I’ve ever had, knock on wood, and it set me back about two months. I have to say during my injury a local rider here, his name is Kevin Crosby, kept the horse going for me and he rode him in a couple of the grand prix here earlier in the year and he was placed as well. That’s a very good barometer of the horse. He’s an extremely competitive horse.”

[Photo Credit @ Mackenzie Clark for Ben Radvanyi]

For Cristobar and Bourns, the events at Angelstone are sort of home events as this is the third summer that Bourns has been based there.

“I live on the premises here at Angelstone during the summer and I absolutely love living here,” Bourns said.

“I’m good friends with (Angelstone owner) Keean (White) and he told me he was starting to run this show and I liked the idea of it. Three years ago I came and it appealed to me the way this show was run, the atmosphere, the quality of the show, the footing, the jumps. Everything is run to a very high standard. To me it made more sense for my business to stay here for the summer. It was less expense in travelling and less risk to the horses.”

[Photo Credit @ Ben Radvanyi]

He has a week left of his Canadian summer before he and his horses head to the U.S. for stops in Kentucky, North Carolina and Florida.

He’s hoping for another top finish for Cristobar Saturday in the feature $84,000 grand prix at Angelstone’s final meet of the year, The International. Given Cristobar’s penchant for pressure, he wouldn’t mind seeing an overflowing crowd at the stadium for the 8:30 p.m. event.

“They can come and watch me do the double.”

[Photo Credit @ Ben Radvanyi]