USHJA On Course Episode 33

USHJA: Welcome Back to USHJA On Course. I'm Terisé, and I'm back with our annual Hunter Week recap.

The Platinum Performance/USHJA Hunter Championship Week, featuring the Platinum Performance/USHJA Green Hunter Incentive Championship and 15th annual Platinum Performance/USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship, got underway August 13 through 17 in Lexington, Kentucky.

More than 300 of the country's top Hunter horses and riders took to the Kentucky Horse Park’s Rolex Stadium for five days of competition with over $600,000 in prize money on the line.

New this year, the 3’6” and 3’9” Green Hunter Incentive Championship competitors kicked off the week on Tuesday. A record 82 entries contested the day's first round, with the top 30 horses returning with a clean slate for the championship round in the afternoon. Starting off another great week in what has been a banner year for the California-based rider, Nick Haness piloted Circa, owned by Glade Run Farm, LLC, to the championship honors with a score of 277.

Nick Haness: Circa is a very special horse to me. I imported her when she was 5 years old and graciously sold her to the family that owns her now, the Karet family under Tom Wright and the Glade Run Farms. And so it's been very rewarding to be a part of her journey, and that makes it extra special for me. I do catch ride a lot of horses and she's one that I sort of have a special bond with. So it makes these victories even more special.

I came into the second round with the mentality of “give it your best shot.” You know, you start over from a clear, clean slate for round two. So I know that she's capable of putting in a winning round. I had to randomly go first once it got to the Tier I riders and that kind of threw me for a little bit of a loop. I was like, “Oh boy,” but if you go first and you lay it down, I feel like it can work out in your benefit. Although I doubted myself and I secretly told my friend Kate Conover, “Going first, you can't win.” And I proved that that was wrong. So I apologize for that comment. But I was very excited about the feeling that the mare was giving me going around the course.

I was told by Tom Wright, who's a great trainer and horseman, that I was too slow to the first jump in the first round, and I don't make the same mistake twice. So I went in and just picked up a good gallop, and from that point forward, she was amazing.

She's not mare-ish in many ways, but she knows when it's important. She knows when it's a special show. We don't show her a whole lot. We try to target the bigger events with her because she's so naturally talented and she doesn't need to practice too much. But she's a funny mare for sure and she has her little things about her. You know yesterday warming up in this ring, she was not a fan of people riding up her tail, so we just sort of cut it short yesterday and saved her for today. And when she's in there by herself, she's a full competitor and an amazing partner and very, very much wants to please her rider and her team. She's amazing that way.

USHJA: Frosted, owned by Rindy Dominguez and ridden by Jennifer Hannan, claimed reserve honors on a 272.5.

Jennifer Hannan: Frosty is just kind of a class act all the way around. He's a stallion but you would never know and everything about him is just a pleasure, honestly. He tries his hardest every time and he's a great competitor.

USHJA: Animated, ridden by Daniel Geitner and owned by Janet Behling, rounded out the top three with a 271.5.

Daniel Geitner: My horse Patrick, that’s his barn name, is just a sweetheart. He trail rides. He loves a venue like this. He'll get a little bored in a small ring, but a venue like this where you can gallop, he's right at home and it's pretty neat. I imported him as a 6-year-old, sold him to my neighbor, she showed him and developed in the last few years, and he just came back into my life. That was pretty fun to have.

USHJA: Next up was the championship for 3’ and 3’3” horses, which saw 144 combinations compete from Wednesday to Friday. The “bye format” introduced in 2023 returned this year, with the 30 horses qualified for the final round made up of the top 10 horses from the first round, the top 10 horses from the second round, and the top 10 horses based on cumulative scores. Making it a clean sweep of the Green Hunter Incentive Championships, Nick rode Odette, owned by John and Stephanie Ingram, to the win on a score of 278.5.

Nick Haness: The past few days was magical with this horse. Odette is a very unique animal. I've probably never come across a mare as smart and as easy as she is. I think that the format is wonderful that we could show the first day. She went great for us. We were able to skip a day and come back in the third round fresh on a clean slate and just give her every opportunity to have the best performance today.

She's a mare that does not require a lot of training or practice. She's pretty much a natural freak all on her own. So the less that we do, the better. And this week really panned out in our favor in a great way.

I loved the course. It really benefited an ambidextrous horse. There was a lot of jumps, left lead, right lead, a two-stride on either lead on every side of the arena, some long bending lines, and some gallops. Some jumps to gallop, which is one of my favorite things to do: to show off a nice loose gallop, especially to the signal oxer. But I think that today had a little bit of an interesting moment in that the weather shifted for a little bit and there was some lightning and some storm rolling in. As you know, horses can change their temperament regarding the weather. So that was always on my mind for a brief moment. But once I went on course, I kind of tuned out the lighting in the background and just focused on the job at task. And it was actually really fun, I have to say. There was a lot of pressure on my shoulders, on Odette, but once I went in the ring, it just kind of felt like an old partnership just coming together like it does every day.

The Green Hunter incentive program in general is just so exciting and great for our industry, for the Hunter sport, for the owners to want to purchase and develop horses from a young age and let them develop through the ranks. And these Championships are something that we strive for when we buy these horses from Europe or if they're bred in America. And we raise them through the ranks and they're ready and prepared for this big venue, it's just so exciting to showcase that on such a national scale and a large scale. And the feeling here in the Rolex is so exciting. I think that the live stream throughout America, people are tuning in from all over, watching this, learning from it. The people in Europe are watching us learning what Hunters should go like so they can find more and produce them and sell them to us.

It's such a great program for these horses to have something special for them. I always say it's like the Olympics for the Hunter sport, more so for the Derby [Championships] this week, but on the on the younger horse scale, this is their mini version of that format. And it's really nice as riders to have people support us as professionals on these horses to develop. And there's great prize money and publicity. And it's an exciting time for the industry in that regard. And we just hope these horses can continue on through the ranks as they develop and potentially one day do a Derby [Championships] or blossom with their owners in the future.

USHJA: Kate Conover claimed the reserve and third ribbons with LSMB, LLC's Straight On and Shadow Ridge Farm's Courtside.

Kate Conover: He went great the first day as I tied with my copilot/friend here, Nick. It was great. He’s a quiet horse and it was nice that he didn't have to go both days because I felt today he was just as crisp as he was the first day.

This course did require horses to be ambidextrous. So he's very left and right leaded, which was nice. Out of the double, you could take your lead and really show flow. And he's got such a big, beautiful canter that I felt like I could really show that off today on the course, which was nice.

USHJA: The Green Hunter Incentive Championships utilize a rider ranking system to offer an additional 20 percent of the prize money to Tier II riders. Tier I riders are those who are ranked first through 45th in prize money won in the program over the previous year. All other riders are considered Tier II.

This year, 3'6''/3'9'' Tier II riders competed for an additional $20,280 while the 3'/3'3" rider vied for an additional $48,798. Tier II rider Jacob Pope rode Iwasaki & Reilly's Small Safari to finish 10th overall in the 3'6''/3'9'' section and earn an additional $6,084. The highest scoring 3'/3'3'' Tier II rider was Dorothy Douglas, riding MTM Gift of Gab for Anne Moody. The pair finished sixth overall and was awarded an additional $14,639.40.

USHJA: After the morning’s Green Hunter Incentive Championship, course designers Ken Krome and Meghan Rawlings reset Rolex Stadium for the afternoon's International Hunter Derby competitors. With 13 jumping efforts and four high option fences, the Classic Hunter Round course saw 93 competitors put in their first effort for the $268,920 purse.

The 15th Platinum Performance/USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship concluded Saturday afternoon with the exciting Handy Hunter Rounds. The top 20 horses from the Classic Round returned to contest the shortened course as part of the Tier I Handy Hunter Round. The top 20 horses ridden by a Tier II rider, determined by the amount of money earned over the previous competition year in International Hunter Derbies, were also invited to compete in the Tier II Handy Hunter Round for 20 percent of the total prize money.

Even with a break for weather before the final 11 horses took to the ring, there was more to celebrate at the conclusion of the Championship than just 15 years of top competition. For the third time, Hunt Tosh and Cannon Creek led the victory gallop, becoming the second pair to do so. With wins in 2010, 2021, and 2022 already under his belt, Tosh made history as the first rider to claim the title four times.

Now an International Hunter Derby Championship veteran, Cannon Creek, owned by The Wheeler Family, stood out in the crowd, securing a two-round score of 580 to collect their third win, along with a tricolor and $45,415.21.

Hunt Tosh: It's awesome to win four times, actually. Liza and I have been competing for our entire lives, and she won three in a row. I wanted to get three in a row last year, but I didn't. So now I have to do it two more times so I can catch her record! But no, it's great.

The horse went beautiful. We got nervous with the storm and all that, whether we were going to show tomorrow morning or tonight or what was going to happen. We almost had a night class again. You know, with the class staying in the daytime, I think it took a little bit of pressure off. You never know exactly what it's going to be like, the environment under the lights and stuff like that. But it turned out to be a great class. I thought it was perfect. Obviously.

I mean, I can't say enough good things about him. He was great. I went on Autograph earlier, had the end jump down. A pretty careful jump. That was something I took a minute and made sure I had a nice, clean jump there.

You know, it’s a different kind of course. You have some different options. You could do it over here with the vertical oxer and the trot jump. My horse like right lead a little more, so I chose a little different pattern that way. The last jump, to be honest with you, I was a little nervous. I didn't want to have it down. I don't think it looked great. I didn't like it that well. I thought it was a little too much pressure on him, but I was like, “don't knock this jump down because it's going well.” He is a great horse.

USHJA: Jumping to reserve honors was another rider to have topped the championship three times on the same horse, Liza Boyd. The South Carolina rider rode Crooner Brimbelles Z, owned by Crooks Show Jumping, to finish four points behind Hunt on a score of 576.

Liza Boyd: I thought the rain delay kind of changed the flow of things, but the grey horse that I show has a lot of experience and he came back.

The footing actually was remarkable how quickly that the puddles went away and I thought it was a great course. Like Hunt said, I did a different pattern that worked for the lead that my horse lands on. You know, I don't have the relationship with my horse that Hunt has. I started showing him in May, John French actually was the first one to ever show him as a Hunter. Lauren Crooks, Crooks Show Jumping, had him and Lauren's pregnant. And she said, “hey, how about you take him, do him in some derbies, let Elle show him.” He actually goes really well for Elle, she does him in the Junior Hunters. And she said, just do him through Derby [Championships]. And then we'll see, maybe he'll like that job. And he clearly did. So he's a little horse with a big heart. I'm glad to be back in this class again.

USHJA: The top 20 riders designated as Tier II, meaning they ranked 41st or lower on the 2023 Rider Money Won list, were eligible for an additional 20 percent of the prize money, totaling $53,784. Those Tier II riders that qualified for the Tier I Handy Round were eligible for both purses.

Taking home an impressive $33,152.46 as third place overall and the Tier II champion was Scott Stewart and Daydream, owned by Gochman Ventures, LLC. The pair rose from ninth in the Classic Hunter round to finish with a 567 overall.

Scott Stewart: She's incredibly easy, which is what I need because I've had some bad history in this class a few times. So she really took care of me yesterday. I'd made a little mistake and she covered it up, but she's just an awesome horse every day. Just big scopey jumper. The Gochmans were nice enough to let me show her and ride her. And I did the Derby at Upperville for the first time. And I did one couple of weeks ago at Princeton, where she won. She does it really easy and can do the big options easy, so that was my main criteria for having a horse and going back in the class. So on her I feel very confident doing it.

USHJA: On Saturday morning, riders that did not qualify for either Handy Round could compete one more time in the $10,000 Derby Challenge. Halie Robinson and Tangled Up In Blue topped the class, collecting a total of $3,000.

And that's a wrap! After five days of competition and over 600 rounds, four new champions were crowned. We extend a special thank you to all of our sponsors, supporters, members, and task force members who celebrated the week with us.

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