April 23, Aiken, S.C.

Liza Boyd found a perfect way to celebrate her 32nd birthday: riding Brunello to the top of the $10,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby at the Aiken Spring Classic. She had to face some fierce competition to get there, especially from Kelley Farmer, who brought a trailer load of horses to Aiken, S.C., to take a run at the title.

Farmer still left with plenty of loot, having picked up second (Praise), third (Taken), fourth (Crown And Scepter) and 10th (Bases Loaded).

“We have a saying around here,” said Danny Robertshaw, when he congratulated Boyd on her performance. “Leave it to Liza.” 

She’s earned that reputation. This show has always been a lucrative one for Boyd. It’s the second year in a row that Boyd and Brunello snapped up the blue in the derby—which manager Rick Cram announced will run with a $20,000 purse next year, pending USHJA approval.

“This huge ring here is great, and he always does well in a big field,” said Boyd, Camden, S.C. “Our ring at home is a little graded as well, so all of our horses are used to it being a little hilly.”

Golf carts and spectators lined the Derby Field at the Highfields Event Center to watch 25 horses contest the first classic round. Course designer J.P. Godard built inviting rustic obstacles, like split-rail verticals over straw bales and a standalone picket fence, all decorated with fresh pine. The top 12 riders returned over the eight-fence handy round, which gave riders the option of either jumping up and down the Derby Field’s table bank, or picking an in-and-out over a pair of natural gates. The course included a trot fence and options for tighter turns around decorative cordwood and other fences. The track finished with a hand gallop over a choice of two attached oxers, headed toward the in-gate.

Unlike two weeks ago in the Wellington Hunter Derby, the bank in Aiken caused no problems—many riders practiced the element yesterday in a warm-up class. To be safe, Alise Oken opted to take the in-and-out on her veteran Take Away, but he dug in his heels the first time around, clearing on reapproach.

Farmer’s new convert from the jumper ring, Praise, made use of the footspeed he practiced in his former career to earn matching handy bonuses of 10 apiece to earn red in his second derby. Farmer rode the Keswick (Va.) winner Taken through the tightest of turns to Fence 7 to score a 90 and 88 to bounce way up the leaderboard to third, but that same bold turn on the equally seasoned Bases Loaded backfired when the gelding had that vertical down. Crown And Scepter, who came back on top after Round 1, couldn’t match his spectacular effort in the handy and settled for fourth.

Daniel Geitner advanced all three of his rides to the second round, giving his younger mounts, Renior Z and Zodoro, tactful rides and finishing highest (fifth) on the more seasoned Damocles.

But it was Boyd who stole the show. Boyd returned in a three-way numerical tie for second in Round 2, but the tiebreaking judges’ higher mark had that pair lying just ahead of their competitors. Brunello looked relaxed and confident from the moment he entered the ring, clearing the higher oxers with room to spare, confidently negotiating the bank, nailing the trot fence and showing off plenty of pace to the last fence.

“I was debating whether to go inside [the jump in the way] to the last jump,” said Boyd. “Finally my father said, ‘Liza, you’re good at galloping. Go in and show them what you can do.’ So I went around, and we really galloped that last fence.”

This marks the 13-year-old gelding’s sixth derby win, and just his second derby start since the $100,000 USHJA International Derby Finals (Ky.) last year. Boyd just brings out the horse she co-owns with Janet Peterson for bigger classes and spends the rest of the time catering to his every need.

“It’s all about keeping him happy,” she said. “I’ve had to give a lot of thought to that and to what it means to have one special horse. I think a lot about McLain and his relationship with Sapphire. He said in an article for the Chronicle how it’s like a marriage and you have to keep it fresh. I try not to ride him all the time, for example. My working student, Laura McNair, rides him a lot, because I can be such a perfectionist, which he doesn’t need. He and his groom Alberto Ramirez are both kind of grumpy, which is why they get along so well.”

Top 12 results follow, and visit Horse Shows Online for full results from the Aiken Spring Classic.

Top 12 results:

Horse/Rider/R1 J1 score/R1 J2 score/R1 height/R2 J1 score/R2 J2 score/R2 bonus/R2 J2 bonus/R2 height

1. Brunello/Liza Boyd/88/84/4/94/92/9/10/4
2. Praise/Kelley Farmer/85/87/4/88/86/10/10/4
3. Taken/Kelley Farmer/78/75/4/90/88/10/9/4
4. Crown And Scepter/Kelley Farmer/92/85/4/78/79/10/8/3
5. Damocles/Daniel Geitner/89/83/4/76/85/5/8/4
6. Zodoro/Daniel Geitner/87/86/0/86/87/7/5/0
7. Massimo/Chase Boggio/78.5/78/3/76/77/6/7/4
8. Argentos/Amanda Forte/79/79/2/77/80/3/6/3
9. Renoir Z/Daniel Geitner/80/80/0/79/78/5/3/1
10. Bases Loaded/Kelley Farmer/83/79.5/4/50/50/10/9/4
11. Take Away/Alise Oken/88.5/83.5/3/40/40/0/0/2
12. Cool Blue/Lucille Oken/75/82/2/45/35/0/4