Tanner Korotkin was in it to win it
Tanner Korotkin came to the Derby field in Wellington with a decisive plan for the ESP September $24,999 Grand Prix. “The plan with Cardozo actually was to win,” Tanner, 24, said after he and Cardozo 4 had done just that, leading the jump off by some three-tenths of a second with a time of 45.069.
Twenty-two horse and rider combinations took on the Andy Christiansen-designed course. “I think it was technical enough,” Tanner said of the track, which produced just three clears. Lupina Colada and Wilton Porter finished second in the jump off on a time of 45.348, with Okidoki Van De Renthoeve and Brazil’s Lucia Rivas third on 48.486 seconds.
“It [the course] was very fair,” said Tanner. “I don’t think it was overly big, but, you know, for a Grand Prix like this, I think there’s a lot of very good riders here with some of their younger ones, too, and so the technicality of the course probably caught a couple of them.”
Tanner had three horses in contention. Eight-year old Hermes d’Armanville was his opening ride and his last was aboard his leading horse, Kinmar Quality Hero. Both finished on four faults but placing 11th and 8th respectively, they were also in the money.
“I know it [the technicality] caught my younger one in the first line,” he said. “It caught me too on my younger one. But other than that you know the course is very fair and I did expect to see a few more clear but overall it worked out for me anyway.”
Tanner’s partnership with Cardozo 4 is relatively new, dating back to the middle of this year’s Winter Equestrian Festival. Formally ridden by Todd Minikus, Tenerife Stables brought the horse into Tanner’s string and the pair have chalked up promising results.
“He’s placed in countless FEI ranking classes,” said Tanner. “He’s had a few good ranking wins. He’s had some high placings in FEI Grands Prix and National Grands and actually the last National Grand Prix, he jumped here, we were second in, so I’m glad we were able to get the win today.”
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