CONTINUING his recent run of consistent form, James Chawke recorded a runner-up finish in the two-star $90,000 HITS Del Mar Classic 1 Grand Prix at Del Mar on board his ever-reliable partner Daido Van’T Ruytershof Z.

From a start list of 30, 13 combinations jumped without fault in the first round to proceed to the jump-off, where six of them completed double clear rounds.

Chawke and his mount jumped clear again, breaking the beams in a time of 49.01. They just couldn’t catch Keri Potter (USA) on Kalimera Van De Nethe Z, whose time of 47.16 was good enough to claim the $27,000 winner’s prize. Chawke had to settle for $18,000 for his second-place finish.

The HITS (Horse Shows In The Sun) Del Mar Summer Classic 1 fixture near San Diego in California ran from August 19th to 23rd and included two-star classes alongside a variety of show jumping and hunter classes.

The $31,020 HITS Del Mar Winning Round class on Friday saw Antrim’s Christopher Megahey place eighth on board Casian S.

While there were no double clears in the class, the best nine combinations proceeded to the second round, where four of them jumped clear. Israel’s Kaitlin Campbell rode COSM Hesed to win the class with the fastest second-round time of 40.15 seconds.

The day’s $10,000 1.35m STX Open speed class saw Chawke placing second with Laconda 50, when they jumped clear in a time of 82.90. They were only bettered by Michelle Berry on Kaboem HH Z in 80.10.