Amanda Steege and Lafitte de Muze Lead 2024 Platinum Performance/USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship After Classic Round

Lexington, Ky.—Aug. 16, 2024—The fifteenth Platinum Performance/USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship Classic Round was held on Friday, August 16, in the Rolex Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. Amanda Steege and Lafitte de Muze claimed the blue ribbon, with Elizabeth Boyd and Ondine D' Orleans picking up the reserve honors. Rounding out the top three was Four Aces ridden by Brian Feigus.

After the morning’s Green Hunter Incentive Championship, course designers Ken Krome and Meghan Rawlings reset the ring for the afternoon's International Hunter Derby competitors. With 13 jumping efforts and four high option fences, the course was set for the judges Rob Bielefeld, Robert Crandall, Shane George, Mark Jungherr, Brian Lenehan, and William Sparks to sort the 91 competitors and pull out the top 30 to return for Saturday’s Handy Round.

Entering the ring thirty-fifth, Lafitte de Muze and Steege, of Califon, New Jersey, took the lead early on in the round. The veteran pair, now competing in their seventh Championship together, sit first heading into the Handy Round on a score of 294.

"I didn't know I was going to win but I know Lafitte so well now that I told Liza this morning after I rode him 'I feel like he's so on it' and I had total confidence that he's got it today," commented Steege. "It's so nice to know a horse this well that when you're trotting or cantering around before a class, you already know he will be there for you."

The longtime partnership moves up the ranks each year in this Championship. Last year, Lafitte de Muze and Steege placed third in the Classic Round and were seventh overall in the 2022 Championship. The pair were also the 2021 winners of the World Championship Hunter Rider Peter Wetherill Palm Beach Hunter Spectacular.

"He has been winning all the major Hunter classes throughout the country including the Hunter Spectacular in Palm Beach, the Pro Challenge at WCHR Capitol Challenge, and the National Horse Show Classic," she continued. "The one he has not won yet is the Derby Championships but we've been slowly and steadily improving each year. We are just happy to be back competing here again."

Boyd, of Camden, South Carolina, aboard Neil Sites' Ondine D' Orleans moved into second place on a score of 292.50. While this partnership only started in February, Boyd is no stranger to the pressure of the International Hunter Derby Championship Handy Round—she became the first person to win the class three times from 2013-2015 and remains the only person to do so on the same horse, Brunello. Boyd is also quite accomplished in the International Hunter Derby rings being ranked as the third in lifetime rider money won in the program, cashing in a total of $690,623.

"I thought it was a very inviting and fair course with a nice flow to it," Boyd said about the course design. "Everything matched and starting the course to the finish, it felt really in rhythm and I think the course designers did a lovely job making all of the strides work."

Rounding out the top three was Colts Neck, New Jersey, rider Feigus aboard Marita Zuraitis' Four Aces. Feigus has quite the track record this year in International Hunter Derby classes including winning both at HITS Ocala Winter Series. His mount is also accomplished in the International Hunter Derby Program and is ranked second in the 2024 competition year for money-won in the program, pulling in $26,000 to date.

Feigus appreciated Krome's and Rawlings' course design, stating that it allowed the judges to focus on true Hunters, while also being an inviting course for all.

"I liked that the course was inviting for any horse, whether you had a massive strided horse or a smaller strided horse," Feigus said. "I liked the fact that on day one, the course was not only inviting but was a true riding test of the quality of horse and rider. It really allowed the judges to judge Hunters, and it allowed them to separate out the horses whose styles were the best."

The fifteenth Platinum Performance/USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship concludes Saturday afternoon, August 17, with the exciting Handy Hunter Rounds. The top 30 horses from the Classic Round will return to contest the shortened course and are eligible for 80 percent of the prize money as part of the Tier I Handy Hunter Round.

The top 20 Tier II rider-and-horse combinations—those ranked 41st and lower on the 2023 Rider Money Won list—are designated as Tier II and will also return to compete for the Tier II title. Tier II riders that qualify for the Tier I Handy Hunter Round will count as part of that round's qualified riders, meaning their horses will only jump once but can earn money in both sections. Currently leading Tier II and sitting in ninth overall is Scott Stewart with Gochman Ventures, LLC's Daydream.

Additionally, the $10,000 Derby Challenge will be held in the morning, allowing horses and riders who did not qualify for either Handy Hunter Round to compete one more time for a substantial amount of prize money. Saturday morning will see 48 combinations compete in the Derby Challenge.

The USHJA thanks the sponsors who helped to make these championships possible including Title Sponsor Platinum Performance and Official Sponsors CWD, Nutrena, and Parlanti International. Thanks also go to Official Broadcast Provider ClipMyHorse.TV and Livestream Sponsor Windsor Stables; Championship Official Sponsor Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital and Pharmacy; Supporting Sponsors Essex Classics, RingSide Pro, Human Touch, Horseflight, American Hanoverian Society, and Top Line Communications; Award Sponsors Equine Equipment and Boy O Boy Bridleworks; Challenge Round Supporters Ken and Ceil Wheeler; Exhibitors’ Party Supporters John Ingram and Laura Karat; and Rider Bonus Awards Ron Danta and Danny Robershaw.

The USHJA also thanks Show Manager Hugh Kincannon and the entire Kentucky Horse Shows team for their assistance with the Platinum Performance/USHJA International Hunter Derby Championships.

Wall-to-wall live streaming coverage presented by Windsor Stables is available at no additional cost to members at ClipMyHorse.TV. Additional coverage will be available in the upcoming issue of In Stride.

For more information about the Platinum Performance/USHJA International Hunter Derby Championships, visit ushja.org/IHD. For online results, visit ushja.org/hunterchampionshipweek.

Photos: Shawn McMillen Photography

Platinum Performance/USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship Classic Hunter Round Results

Horse | Owner | Rider | Score