2016 Horse Of The Year Awards

Cross Creek Farms is excited and incredibly proud to announce a few awards that have been received by our very own CCF-bred young horses!

Competing in the young jumper division in 2016:

CCF Hibiscus Coast (Durango La Silla – CCF Fisher King) finished as USHJA Zone 8 Horse of the Year Champion for the 5-year-old Young Jumper division, as well as placing third in the nation.

CCF Hibiscus Coast and Natasha Traurig | Carol B. Parker Photography

Stablemate CCF Savusavu (Ocean I – Andiamo) took HOTY Reserve Champion under Zone 8.

CCF Savusavu and Natasha Traurig

CCF Yasur (Ocean I – Andiamo)  completed the year as HOTY Champion for the 6-year-old Young Jumper division under Zone 8.

CCF Yasur and Michelle Parker | Carol B. Parker Photography

And CCF Caramel (Durango La Silla – Charisma 57) placed fourth in HOTY standings for Zone 10 and eighth in the nation for the 7-year-old Jumper Division.

CCF Caramel and Michelle Parker | Owned by Dana B. Nemeth | Carol B. Parker Photography.

We are greatly looking forward to 2017, and especially excited to preview the next group of talented CCF young horses during the upcoming Winter Circuit.

Happy Holidays!

Michelle Parker and Cupilor Capture the Title!

Michelle and Cupilor receiving their well-earned Markel Insurance 1.40m Grand Prix Series Title during the Las Vegas National Horse Show, CSI4*-W.

Michelle Parker secured her title as leading rider of the Markel Insurance 1.40m Series! In nearly every single qualifying grand prix this year, Michelle and Cupilor finished in the top eight placings, heading to Las Vegas with a lead of 441 points and a great chance in the final class of the series. With $61,850 offered for prize, the Markel Insurance Grand Prix Final exhibited 25 horse and rider combinations, 11 of which would further to the jump-off. Below is a video of their jump-off round, taking the win by a full second and proving their leader board title.

Turn and Burn, Baby!

Stablemates, Vancouver 45 and Doriena, also competed at the Las Vegas National Horse Show.

Vancouver’s Speed Round

Doriena’s Speed Round

Videos here showing 9-year-old Vancouver taking home a sixth place finish, followed by an eighth placing with 8-year-old Doriena, in an extremely fast $40,000 FEI Speed Stake.

Stay tuned for more year-end results and awards, and updates on our up-and-coming young horses. Happy Holidays from the Cross Creek West team!

Showpark All Seasons Summer Classic, 2016

Well, coming off of a week of numerous classic wins, the Young Jumper Championships did not go quite as planned; however, we are happy with the performances of our horses, nonetheless!

CCF Yasur | PC Carol Parker

The Finals

Natasha Traurig participated in the 5-year-old section of the Young Jumper Finals with CCF Savusavu and CCF Hibiscus Coast. Though normally accomplishing effortless clear rounds, “Savu” had an unlucky rail in Round One, and two unexplainable rails in Round Two; therefore, leaving without a place in this year’s Championship standings. Our “Biscuit,” however, had a different story to tell, accurately demonstrating clean rounds in every qualifying class. Ultimately advancing to the tie-breaker jump-off between the top six 5-year-old jumpers with three faultless rounds, Biscuit tried her very best, but an unfortunate rider mistake around a turn in the jump-off concluded their final standing with a sixth place.

Michelle Parker rode CCF Yasur in the 6-year-old section of the Young Jumper Finals. Guiding a fresh “Pele” to a clean Round One, the pair walked back to the barn sporting a blue ribbon and first place standing. An unlucky rail in Round Two sparked the pressure to be as impeccable as possible in the final round on Sunday. A good boy, Pele kept his feet up while following Michelle’s precise guidance to a fault-free final round and ninth place overall finish in the Championship. Among our 7-year-olds that participated in the Young Jumper Championships, CCF Caramel and Eureka simply had some unusual tough luck, both having faults in each round of the final. Easy to say, we cannot win them all! And we are pleased enough with the progression of our young horses.

CCF Hibiscus Coast | PC Carol Parker

In other news …

Doriena and Michelle continued their success this week! A fault-free and fast jump-off placed the pair at the top of the 1.45 Jumper Class on Wednesday, and took home a seventh place finish in Saturday’s $20,000 Interactive Mortgage Horses 10&U Classic. And, of course, Cupilor could not complete his second week at Showpark without Grand Prix ribbons. Thursday’s $25,000 1.40m Markel Insurance Grand Prix was filled with 52 entries, and offered a challenging 14 horse jump-off. Cupilor’s slightly rambunctious attitude in the jump-off created a turbulent turn and a resulting rail, finishing with an eighth place. Two days later proved to be a little more lucky for Cupilor and Michelle in the $50,000 Showpark All Seasons 1.50m Grand Prix. Over a difficult course and tight time-allowed, only four out of 34 combinations returned for the jump-off – Cupilor being one of them after a brilliant first round. Taking the risk to gallop after Will Simpson’s quick time, Michelle rode slick turns and was ahead of the game until the very last jump, where Cupilor barely touched the adversary yellow rail of the wide oxer coming home. A fourth place finish, but proud moment as Cupilor continues his consistency at 1.50m Grand Prixs.

Cupilor | PC Carol Parker

Considering the weekend’s conclusion, the show exhibited a quieter atmosphere. We decided to trailer in our CCF 4-year-olds for a little adventurous outing to get them all more accustomed to horseshows. With ease and interest, hunter prospects Salsa and Solito are practically ready to begin their show career, while jumper prospect Chipotle continues his education and is coming along quite nicely. We are looking forward to the future for these youngsters!

Catch us in a week at Blenheim’s Fall Tournament!

Showpark Summer Classic, 2016

Cupilor to the win of the $25,000 Markel Insurance Grand Prix

What an amazing and successful week the Cross Creek West team had at Showpark’s Summer Classic! We certainly left with many top placing ribbons, and high hopes for the next show week ahead.

Cupilor | PC: Sara Jorgensen

Cupilor

Michelle Parker continues to develop Cupilor’s Grand Prix record in winning ways. Thursday’s technical 1.40m track, designed by Anthony D’Ambrosio, proved to be a test for 49 horse and rider combinations in the $25,000 Markel Insurance Grand Prix. Out of eight combinations to return for the jump-off, Michelle secured the win by taking the advantage to leave out strides where possible and making slick, efficient turns. Cupilor, again, took home a top ribbon, finishing fifth in Saturday’s 1.50m $50,000 Grand Prix of Showpark. With only one unfortunate rail in the first round, Cupilor and Michelle still left with a pink ribbon and a place in the money.

 _{Press Release: http://showpark.com/?page=press&article_id=435}

Doriena | PC: Sara Jorgensen

Doriena

This eight-year-old mare is a fresh face at Cross Creek West. Owned by Idyllic Imports, Doriena came to CCW just a few weeks ago and is proudly offered for sale. With this week being only the second horseshow for the pairing, Michelle and Doriena are proving to be quite a team already, leading the victory gallop on Saturday’s $7,500 Interactive Mortgage Futurity 10&U Series qualifier. Another track set by D’Ambrosio, this class exhibited a course of fences starting at 1.35m in height and finishing at 1.40m. Only two advanced to the jump-off – Michelle and Doriena being victorious with the only double-clear performance!

Contuz

The YJC Competitors

We considered this week to be a preparation show for our many young horses that will take part in the West Coast Young Jumper Finals, featured next week at the same venue. Simply put, our five, six, and seven-year-olds certainly did not disappoint in results. Assistant trainer Natasha Traurig has been developing two five-year-old Cross Creek Farm homebreds, Hibiscus Coast and Savusavu, for almost a year now since working for Michelle Parker. She has made quite a team with both spunky CCF “kids,” demonstrating clear rounds in almost every young jumper class entered. This week, CCF Hibiscus Coast won two blue ribbons in the five-year-old jumpers, while CCF Savusavu proved his growing maturity by earning the champion ribbon in the YJC Classic – being his one and only class of the week! Six-year-old CCF Yasur added to our ribbon collection under Michelle’s piloting, freshly winning one of his young jumper classes this week after some time at home. Michelle also rides and trains the seven-year-old Eureka, a little mare with tons of scope, who has shown success in both the hunter and jumper arena at such a young age. With already a win in the seven-year-old jumpers this week, Michelle guided Eureka on a brilliant track to victory in her YJC Classic over the weekend as well. We are greatly looking forward to the week ahead for our Cross Creek youngsters!

This week was completed with a second place finish for Michelle and Vancouver 45 in the $5,000 1.35m Jumper Classic. Our tackroom setup is decorated with some brightly-colored ribbons and we are more than ready for Showpark’s All Seasons Summer Tournament!

Cupilor – Up and Coming

PLAY VIDEO Sacramento 6 yo Suitability

Congratulations to our baby superstar, Cupilor, who continues his winning ways, most recently topping the 2013 West Coast Young Jumper Championships in the six-year-old division. He had all fault-free rounds and defeated the only other clear horse in the final round jump-off by about 3 seconds. Michelle found Cupilor at Branscomb Farm when he was a four-year-old and fell in love with him. She’s been bringing him along slowly and carefully, but still takes home the blue ribbon more often than not. Cupilor is allergic to wood and knows the game. He has all the scope and we expect great things from this youngster as he matures.

Socrates de Midos

Socrates de Midos

Socrates de Midos was imported by Michelle in 2008 from Europe as a grand prix prospect, and from the get-go he proved himself to be a worthy campaigner. Within just a few months of his arrival he had already earned two Grand Prix blues, including a prestigious Oaks/Blenheim event where he had the only clear round in a field of talented horses.

Year after year he has continued to garner prizes on the grand prix field. This year alone he has laid down at least 13 clean first rounds in California grand prix competition. He has multiple prizes to his credit and still continues on his careful way. Just this month at Sacramento he placed 3rd out of 60+ horses in the $33,000 Grand Prix on Thursday, and returned again Saturday night to jump double-clean to score a 4th place, again in a field of more than sixty horses.

PLAY VIDEO Round 1 Sacramento

PLAY VIDEO Jump Off Sacramento

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CCF Caramel – Congratulations!

CCF CARAMEL

Congratulations to Dana Nemeth on the purchase of the impressive young mare, CCF Caramel, bred by Cross Creek Farms. This gorgeous redhead flaunts a world class pedigree. Her dam, Charisma 57 (deceased), was herself a grand prix jumper with multiple placements. Charisma 57 was sired by Contango who also sired the World Champion Dressage Horse Ravel. Caramel’s sire, Durango La Silla, is a son of top producing jumper sire Darco, the father of McLain Ward’s international superstar mare, Sapphire.

So our Caramel has an illustrious family tree to live up to. She will be getting some show mileage at the smaller schooling shows over the spring and summer.

Congratulations, Dana, and best of luck!

* Sept. 2013 UPDATE *  Caramel debuts in the International Jumper Futurity at Showpark in the four-year-old division – high placings! Very proud of her!

PLAY VIDEO First time free jumping

PLAY VIDEO IJF 4 year olds

A New Year

Congrats to Michelle and Socrates de Midos for their appearance on the cover of the 2011 Celebration issue of Horse ShowBiz Magazine! Not only did they adorn the cover, there was an accompanying 4 page feature story with lots of pictures starting on page 68 of the magazine. You can access the entire issue below. When it opens up you can type 68 inside the nice little white window at the top and it will take you directly to the article.

Horse ShowBiz Magazine

Now the new year is well underway and Cross Creek West is in the throes of last-minute packing, preparing for the HITS Circuit in Thermal starting this week. A string of talented up and coming horses are going to test their mettle in the desert; Socrates de Midos, Reina, Xel Ha, Clintord, Solomon’s Pride, Tocayo, Sir Jones and Cupilor all taking their turn in the jumper rings.

Also congratulations to the proud new owners of Lassila de Moyon and Cameo, both now settled in to their new home in Florida. Best of luck with these quality horses.

Cover Girl Again!

Prize lists for the upcoming HITS winter shows are ready for publication, and look who’s on the cover for the 2012 Arizona Winter Circuit prize book!  Here’s Michelle aboard Lassila de Moyon (Santiago) en route to a win in one of last year’s Arizona Grand Prix competitions.

In 2010 Michelle was also on the cover of the Arizona prize book aboard Socrates de Midos.

Photo Credit:  The 2012 HITS Desert Circuit, 2012 HITS Ocala Winter Circuit, and 2012 HITS Arizona Winter Circuit prize lists.  Photo courtesy of client.

R.I.P. Wisby D

Sadly, on Thanksgiving Day, Michelle’s old campaigner Wisby D was humanely euthanized after suffering a spinal injury. Twenty-seven years of age, Wisby had been enjoying his years of retirement at Michelle’s mom’s Cross Creek Farms in Tucson where he shared the barn with other former Grand Prix competitors including Rigoletto B, Treffer, and Acapulco – top mounts all.

But Wisby held a special place in our hearts. Purchased sight unseen from Europe except for videotape and a recommendation from trusted mentor Frank Selinger, Wisby was a hot and ready horse who tested Michelle’s skills as a rider but rose to the occasion with some memorable performances. Michelle won her very first Grand Prix aboard Wisby during the 1998 HITS Desert Circuit, where they topped the field in the $75,000 Bayer/USET Grand Prix of Indio.

He went on to more Grand Prix wins and multiple placings, but the highlight of his career had to be his outstanding round in the 2000 Spruce Meadows Shell Cup Derby. A fiercely demanding course, in its history up to that date only eleven horses had ever completed the Derby fault-free.  Wisby and Michelle laid down a 4-fault round to the cheers of a crowd of some 50,000 spectators and took home a healthy share of the purse.

Sometimes, instead of rising to the occasion, he blew a fuse and all chances of a prize.  Most notably, in the million dollar duMaurier at the Spruce Meadows Masters, he started out brilliantly but after rubbing a jump he ran away with Michelle in his hackamore which led to a refusal that almost unseated her.  The next morning she woke to find her photo in full color on the front page of Canada’s nationwide newspaper, the National Post, more or less the equivalent of USA Today! After that he always wore a bit with his hackamore!

We will miss his inquisitive face and ever hopeful quest for treats, but we will always remember him gratefully as the “breakthrough” horse who jump-started Michelle’s Grand Prix winning career.

VIDEO: 2000 Spruce Meadows Shell Cup Derby

VIDEO: 1998 $75,000 Bayer/USET Grand Prix of Indio

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