Liza Boyd’s not the type of rider to leave anything at the in-gate when she trots her derby partner Brunello into the ring for the handy round. So when she lay second heading into the final round of the $10,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby at the Aiken Spring Classic Masters, she put in a round that left no doubt who the winner would be.

“We have a saying around here: Leave it to Liza,” said commentator Danny Robertshaw.

Sure enough, Boyd’s bold second round clinched the top spot on her birth-day weekend, April 20-24, aboard Bru-nello, whom she owns with Janet Peterson.

Not that it was easy. The 23-horse entry list included the likes of Kelley Farmer, who brought a trailer full of top hunters to Aiken, S.C., to vie for a cut of the derby cash. Farmer left with plenty of loot, claiming second (Praise), third (Taken), fourth (Crown N Scepter) and 10th (Bases Loaded).

J.P. Godard kept both courses relatively straightforward, making use of the expansive Derby Field by setting many long broken lines and unrelated distances. Stacked cordwood, fresh foliage and natural fences—such as a picket fence with no standards and split rail verticals over straw bales—gave the course a rustic feel. The highest fence on course, an optional oxer, was set at 4’4″.

It was the kind of derby course that judge Kim Dorfman likes to see.

“It lets you be as brilliant as you want to be,” said Dorfman, who officiated with Randy Roy, Scott Fitton and Frank Willard. “It’s a test of the younger generation who were raised counting strides. This way you have to go out there and find your way and jump your way out of it. It’s a great course for making riders.”

The top 12 riders returned over the eight-fence handy round, where Godard incorporated the ring’s three-stride, 18″ tabletop bank as an option. Riders could also elect an in-and-out over a pair of gates that Godard described as “commanding.” The course included a trot fence and lots of opportunities to show off with tighter turns around decorations and fences. It finished with a hand gallop over a choice of two oxers headed toward the in-gate.
The bank caused no problems—many riders had practiced it in a warm-up class the day before—but Alise Oken and her veteran amateur-owner partner Take Away chose the in-and-out and suffered a refusal at the first element.

“I tried to make it a real option,” said Godard of the bank.

“If you weren’t going to do the bank, you still had a tough question there. There were options for the green horses and enough places to let the good ones show off.”

Daniel Geitner took advantage of those options on his two greener mounts, then rode Damocles, also owned by Peterson, more boldly to fifth.

Farmer had set the standard in the first round with Larry Glefke’s Crown N Scepter, riding him to the highest mark of the classic round: a 92. Brunello trailed by 5 points heading into the handy round, but Boyd rose to the challenge.

“In the first round I let him get just a little flat, and he rubbed one fence,” said Boyd, Camden, S.C. “I went in for the second round really conscious of keeping him between my hand and my leg, and he really kicked into gear. I was able to get a good gallop early and slip inside a few really tight turns.”

That big gallop sealed the deal for Willard.

“When she marched right in that ring and galloped the 4′ to 4′ line right to the start in a stride fewer than everyone else, it was hers to lose,” said Willard, Oak Ridge, N.C.

“That horse isn’t the most beautiful, but when you see him turn and gallop a 4′ fence on a loose rein you forget all that. Liza raises that horse up 10 points. She does things on him that simply can’t be done.”

The judges rewarded her with marks of 94 and 92 and matching bonus points of 10. Farmer’s final round on Crown N Scepter wasn’t quite as brilliant as her first, and they settled for fourth. But she had consolation in Glefke and Dr. and Mrs. Selma Gardner’s Praise, a recent convert from the jumper ring, who stepped up to second.

This victory marks Brunello’s sixth derby win and just his second derby start since the $100,000 The Chronicle of the Horse/USHJA International Hunter Derby Finals (Ky.) last August. Boyd only brings out the 13-year-old Hanoverian gelding of unknown breeding 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 [Ward] and his relationship with Sap-phire. 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. I do him in an occasional jumper class, and my work-ing 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.”

Boyd also obsesses with proper mental preparation, as well as proper equine preparation.

“It all starts with that, and I’m so lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful people,” said Boyd who trains at her family’s Finally Farm. “My dad [Jack Towell] and brother [Hardin Towell] are so positive, and we get each other pumped up. I find that you really feed off the energy of the people who are around you.”

A Very Good Thing

When Carole O’Brien lost her longtime hunter Glenhaven suddenly in 2005, her husband knew the only thing that would cheer her up would be a special horse to bond with. So he called their then-neighbors at Crooked Willow Farm and asked if they had anything that looked like a hunter. Lucky for O’Brien, that horse, Good Thing, turned out to be an ideal distraction for her at the time—and a very special hunter who would partner with her to ribbons far into the future.

They earned their latest tricolor at the Aiken Spring Classic Masters in the amateur-owner, 36 and over, division.
“He’s a one-in-a-million horse,” said O’Brien. “He’s a great jumper, and an easy jumper, and by now he’s just rock solid. In the handy where there’s a big impressive jump right from the in-gate, I know I can just canter up to it on a loopy rein, and he’s going to make it look great.”

For O’Brien, the best part of the com-petition wasn’t her own win but watching Harold Chopping ride her Westpha-lian (Williams—Fairness) to the reserve title in the 3’6″-3’9″ performance hunter division. No one besides O’Brien had shown the horse since she started with him, and as her normal trainers Ron Danta and Danny Robertshaw weren’t on hand earlier in the week, she recruited Chopping to put on his saddle.

O’Brien moved to Aiken—which she calls “horse nirvana”—from Colorado two years ago, and she’s been taking advantage of the equestrian lifestyle. Good Thing turned 17 this year, so he spends more time exploring the trail system near his farm than in the show ring. O’Brien’s bringing along two younger horses with the help of Trina Green and Dustin Ball when she’s not travelling around the country judging hunters and jumpers.

“I don’t travel with the horses all that much anymore, so I’m lucky because this show is very special to me,” she said. “I like to go places where the jumps are big and beautiful—it really makes him jump so well. The footing’s always good, and he loves the derby field. It makes it really special.”

Seeing Hard Work Pay Off

Hallie Anderson couldn’t have asked for a much better trip to the Aiken Spring Classic Masters. She and Mariatchy De Cluis claimed the children’s hunter, 14 and under, championship, and she picked up blue in the Taylor Harris National Medal along the way.

Mariatchy De Cluis even threw a shoe midway through his final trip, but he still scored the highest mark of the round to clinch second in the NAL/WIHS Children’s Hunter, 14 And Under, Classic.