In one of the closest jump-offs ever at the Indio Desert Circuit, Richard Spooner of Glendale, California, and Nicole Shahinian-Simpson of Westlake Village, CA, faced off over the eight-jump course and held the crowd spellbound to the final announcement of the clock. Spooner, riding Southshore, a nine-year old Hosteiner/Thoroughbred gelding owned by Eldorado 29, went first, galloping to the last jump and through the timers in 47.996 seconds. Shahinian-Simpson, on El Campeons Circa Z, a nine-year old Selle Francais stallion, took the shorter inside track to the last jump, cantering slower than Spooner, but then blasted to the timers, clocking in at 47.779—two-tenths of a second faster to win the Cosequin $50,000 Grand Prix.

Shahinian-Simpson and Spooner were the only riders out of a field of 37 that completed the 15-effort course fault-free and went on to the jump-off. Designed by Leopoldo Palacios from Caracas, Venezuela—who has been tapped to design the courses for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia—the challenging course offered plenty of options for turns, but with time allowed at :90 seconds, riders had to beat the clock as well as stay clear, and that took its toll on Peter Pletcher of Magnolia, Texas, riding Extra, a thirteen-year old Hanoverian mare owned by Pletcher/Holmes, who jumped clear but at 90.226, received a quarter second time fault and did not make it into the jump-off, settling for third.

Riders were not only competing for the win in the $50,000 Cosequin Grand Prix, but also to qualify for the World Cup, to be held in April in Las Vegas this year. The last four World Cup Qualifying Classes in the U.S. are being held at the HITS Desert Horse Park and 30 riders in this event had declared their horses as World Cup Horses. There are three more World Cup Qualifiers to go in the 2000 Desert Circuit-$75,000 Bayer/USET Grand Prix of Indio, February 13; $50,000 Rio Vista Grand Prix February 27; and $150,000 Ford Grand Prix of the Desert, March 12