The HITS Del Mar Sunshine Classic kicked off several weeks of thrilling competition at HITS Del Mar on the week of July 9, 2025. The venue brings top hunter, jumper, and equitation competition to Del Mar, California, with class offerings from the beginner to the grand prix level. As the first week of the beloved summertime series, the Del Mar Sunshine Classic brought the heat and the action in both the jumper and the hunter rings. Taking the top call in the week’s pinnacle event, Brazilian Olympian Cassio Rivetti piloted Russian Roulette to a winning finish in the $80,000 Purina Grand Prix.
A neighbor of the HITS Del Mar Horse Park, Rivetti is a regular face of the summer series. After successfully tackling Cedric Longis’s (FRA) first round track, Rivetti was one of seven pairings good enough to proceed to the jump-off course.
“I have owned this horse since he was three years old with a partner in Europe,” explained Rivetti of his eight-year-old Selle Français gelding (Kaiser van het Lambroeck x Hoop 111). “He developed him until he was seven, and then he came to the U.S. last year and we immediately knew he showed great potential.”
Proving to be up for a challenge, the gelding produced a winning time of 41.176 seconds with another fault-free effort over what Rivetti claims is his biggest course to date.
“Everything was new for him today because he is very young; we have never even jumped him at this height,” he detailed. “It was a very fair course — not too tough — and a great experience for him. He performed very well.”
Just a touch off of the time, Michelle Parker (USA) piloted Cross Creek Farms, Inc’s 16-year-old KWPN gelding Easy Does It (Eurocommerce Dubai x Unistar) into second place as they clocked in a time of 41.331 seconds. The third place in the victory gallop went to Elisa Broz (USA) and Hidalgo LLC’s 10-year-old Oldenburg mare Vivoucenta PS (Vivant x Chacco-Blue) after producing a fault-free effort in 42.209 seconds.
As action heated up heading into the weekend, the spotlight shone on the hunter ring Friday afternoon on July 11, as top hunter combinations put the finishing touches on their warm-up for the $10,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby. Performing impressively over the hunt-and-go format, the win ultimately went to Tina Yates of Wellington, Florida, and Finesse Sport Horses LLC’s eight-year-old Warmblood gelding by I’m Special, MTM Idolized. Hot on the pair’s heels was Lindsay Ransom of Cardiff, California, who captured both the second and the third place positions with Wonderful and Arctic Fox, respectively.
The best of the up-and-coming hunter stars will take over the venue at HITS Del Mar during the week of July 24 as action resumes with the highly anticipated Adequan/USEF Junior Hunter National Championship – West. For full results, please visit showmangementsystem.com.
