Just call John French the king of the hunter derby. The poster child of the 2008/2009 USHJA International Hunter Derby season with the charismatic Rumba, French has kicked off the 2010 season with a bang.

At the HITS Desert Circuit on Feb. 12 in Thermal, Calif., he rode Crown Affair to the top of the $10,000 The Chronicle of the Horse/USHJA International Hunter Derby and claimed second with Cruise. The class was held in the evening, under the lights of the expansive Grand Prix field.

Crown Affair, a 14-year-old veteran of the hunter rings, led the class from start to finish. “He’s super scopey, and the bigger the fences are, the better he is, so classes like this are good for him because it gives him something more to think about,” French said. Crown Affair belongs to Gail Morey and her Yellow Dog Farm. Morey shows Crown Affair, a stallion, in the amateur-owner hunter, 36 and over division. Since she started riding with French last year, she’s turned Crown Affair’s reins over to him for a few special classes.

Round 1 was a flowing, galloping course with just four 4′ options and one unusual fence–a split-rail snake jump. Crown Affair and French posted Round 1 scores (86 plus 9 and 86 plus 5) that couldn’t be beaten and returned for the handy round in the lead over one of French’s other rides, Cruise, and also Melissa Dodderidge on Bentley. Dodderidge put the pressure on French with another elegant round on Bentley to score 82 plus 6 and 81 plus 6, but he was up to the challenge.

Aboard Cruise, a second year green horse that French sold to Jessica Singer last year, he put in the second round to beat, posting an 85 plus 6 and an 86 plus 6. Singer rides with Archie Cox, and Cruise is usually shown by Teddi Mellencamp in the green conformation division. But French reunited with him just for this week and the horse’s first hunter derby. “He’s unflappable,” French said. “He’s not strong—I like the ones you can really put your leg on and push.”

But in Round 2, French was also able to show off Crown Affair’s lovely gallop and effortless jump. He sliced the rollback turn to the in-and-out and defined the word handy for double scores of 89 plus 7 and the blue ribbon.

Round 2 had a simple track, with wide sweeping turns and plenty of room to gallop, but it also had a tricky question. Riders had to gallop right from the in-gate up a forward seven-stride line, then turn to a bounce combination made of small split-rail jumps. Then, they circled back to the right, and had to walk their horses through the gap in the bounce. Immediately picking up the canter, they proceeded straight to a natural panel jump. All of the 12 riders in Round 2 picked the 4’ option here. The remainder of the course was long gallops and tight turns.

“Bounces are not my favorite, so I was very glad there was a related distance to the bounce,” French said with a laugh. “But I knew I could just really go on and gallop with [Crown Affair.]”

Just after French in the victory gallop was another stallion, C. Quito, and Jessie Lang. Lang rides the elegant gray for owner Margot Snowdon of Jackson, Wyo. C. Quito has been winning consistent ribbons in the regular conformation and regular working hunter divisions at the HITS Desert Circuit this year. Lang and C. Quito’s Round 2 scores were in the 90s—enough to boost him into third place.

There were 39 horses on the starting order for the derby, but three scratched. Last years derby standout, Rumba, is showing at the HITS Desert Circuit with his new owner, Destry Spielberg, and her trainer, Erin Duffy, but he was not entered for the derby. Speilberg showed Rumba in the children’s hunter, 13 and under, division the first week of the circuit, then moved up to the large junior hunter, 15 and under, division for weeks 2 and 3, where they were consistently in top ribbons. Duffy shows him in the regular working hunter division.