March 17, 2013 – After 9 weeks of competition HITS Ocala closes out another great winter circuit in sunny Florida with the Ocala Winter Celebration’s $100,000 Sullivan GMC Truck Grand Prix, presented by Great American Insurance Group.

Spectators gathered around the Grand Prix ring on Sunday afternoon ready to watch some of the biggest names in show jumping put on an exhilarating event. 48 horse and rider combinations maneuvered around a course, designed by Florencio Hernandez. Made up of 14 obstacles that included 3 double combinations, the course was trickier than it looked. Numerous riders put in beautiful rounds clear of jumping faults, but fell short on time and received time faults due to mere seconds. The time allowed proved tough to beat and onlookers began to wonder if there would even be a jump off.

The bar was set high and you could feel the tension, but Andre Thieme stepped into the ring aboard his 9-year-old Oldenburg mare Contaga 3 and rode an impressive double clear round, putting them into the lead. When Michael Hughes followed with a double clear aboard MacArthur the crowd erupted into a frenzied excitement. Suddenly we had a jump off and it kept building as Lisa Goldman, Callie Morgan Smith, Aaron Vale, Megan Wexler, and Patty Stovel gave it their all to join them. Catharina 9 and Quonschbob, two additional mounts piloted by Thieme, also advanced to the jump off, where the pressure was on to see which pair would come out on top and claim the grand prize.

But it was just Andre Thieme’s day as Contanga 3 brought him home clear with a time of 50.51 seconds, claiming first place victory. The mare was very alert and responsive throughout both rounds and you could tell Thieme was in perfect sync with her. Their win was the result of great effort and teamwork.

Aaron Vale and Zippo II were right behind them with 51.73 seconds putting them into a solid 2nd place as Megan Wexler and Cadence had a fantastic time of 48.72 seconds, but were caught by a cheap rail at the end that locked them into 3rd place. Adding to his Triumph, Thieme and Catharina 9 placed 4th with 51.48 seconds and Michael Hughes rode MacArthur to 5th place with 51.66 seconds, wrapping up the top 5.

– EverythingEq.com