September 26, 2022 
Sunday was a good day for U.S. rider Kyle King. How good?
To start, King qualified for the jump-off on Peter Holmes’ challenging 1.50m $100,000 Grand Prix track with not one but two horses; one of only six riders in the 33-horse field to do so. Then, after a solid round but one down with his partner of a year, Ittolo, King found his stride with far newer mount SIG Chiari, and won the day.
“I really thought it was going to be [Ittolo’s] day. He jumped so well in the first round. Unfortunately, he jumped too high at the third jump, and then I slowed down. I got to feel the track out,” explained King, who had the benefit of going last with SIG Chiari on the shortened course.
“He’s a winner and a nice ride,” he added of SIG Chiari, a 10-year-old OS gelding. “I was happy I found the first jump the way I wanted. Then I could step on the gas, found the second jump, and then I just followed the rhythm.”
King & SIG Chiari’s time of 39.78 seconds was good enough to edge out Canada’s Tiffany Foster and Battlecry (40.91 seconds) in second place, and Ireland’s James Chawke and Howard du Seigneur in third (41.06). According to King, SIG Chiari is just the right ‘type’ of horse to answer the questions asked by Holmes’ careful, second-round track.
“He’s very modern, very light, fast, he can gallop, and he jumps clear a lot,” said King, who also took home a CSI3* tbird victory on Wednesday in the 1.40m class aboard Ittolo.
SIG Chiari has been campaigned by Italy’s Michael Cristofoletti for the last two years up to the 1.45m level, and was shown briefly by Japan’s Shota Ogomori after that. Though King said he’s ridden the gelding a handful of times over the years, he’s only recently had the chance to really get to know him in the ring; this tbird win marks the pair’s first international victory together.
“It’s nice to come home and get this win. I was hungry this week. My team is hungry,” said the Langley-based King. And what’s even better? There may be even more to SIG Chiari than meets the eye. Case in point: After getting his work done early on the jump-off course, the American rider said, he actually eased off the gas.
“I checked up at the end [of the course]. The horse can really gallop and jump. I didn’t feel full gear,” King explained. “It worked out beautifully.”
