John French’s Wesley started the year in the pre-green hunter division, but he’s ending it on a much higher note. The attractive chestnut topped the WIHS High Performance Hunter Classic, Saturday afternoon during the Washington International.

It was a battle to the finish, however. Junior ride Cortie Wetherill and Take Away finished with the exact same score, but French, Redwood City, Calif., got the nod in the tiebreaker and led the victory gallop in his former hometown.

The Classic attracted nine starters who qualified for the invitational by virtue of earning championships or reserves in their respective divisions during the week.

French, the show’s leading hunter rider, qualified two mounts for the competition over natural obstacles but chose not to start Scout, his first year green hunter champion, after an offer was made for the horse after his division.

Instead, French put all of his money on Wesley, an 8-year-old warmblood owned by Joan Haseltine, and it paid off.

“He’s really stepped up to the plate,” said French. “He’s come up the ranks really quickly.”

The pair went first in Round 1 and posted an 86 with a bold and confident performance.

Jen Alfano, Buffalo, N.Y., who won the first High Performance Hunter Classic earlier this year in Chicago, qualified two mounts. She and Rock Star, the second year green reserve champions, also scored an 86 to put the pressure on French.

The first round course featured all-natural obstacles, including logs, natural rails, a split-rail fence and ample brush. As under High Performance Hunter guidelines, the ground lines were minimum and the lines were opened up to encourage the riders to gallop.

A few horses were flustered by the unusual fences, including Jessica Springsteen’s Sublime, the small junior, 15 and under, champion. Springsteen handled the situation gracefully, however, and smiled in understanding as she finessed her way around.

The second round, a handy course, featured several options for inside turns, a trot jump and a gallop to the final split-rail fence. The judges also had the opportunity to award bonus points for handiness, and many riders used this feature to move up the rankings.

Riders returned in reverse order, and Alfano, on her second mount, Sting, the green conformation hunter champion, jumped into contention with a solid performance that scored 89.33.

Archie Cox, who had an 83 in the first round aboard White Oak, had the handiest round of the day, and an enthusiastic crowd cheered him on. Unfortunately, his reserve champion regular conformation hunter lost his lead and trotted around one tight turn and fell out of contention.

Wetherill, 17, Malvern, Pa., gave French the closest competition. Aboard his longtime partner Take Away, the large junior, 16-17, reserve champion, Wetherill nailed the handy course, with a brilliant combination of handiness and smoothness. Their scores of 95, 94 and 98 were the best of the handy test, propelling them up to second place with a 178.66.

Alfano and Rock Star began the handy strongly, but the elegant bay tripped over the trot fence and toppled the rail for a 53.

With Wetherill leading the way with a two-round score of 178.66, French had his work cut out for him.

“I knew I had to keep going,” said French smiling. “That junior had an excellent ride and really put a lot of pressure on me.”

French, who grew up 45 minutes from the Verizon Center in Columbia, Md., drew on his early equestrian experiences and wasn’t fazed by the natural fences and galloping courses. He was a little less sure of his green mount, but he trusted him and took a little more care around the rollbacks.

“I grew up hunting with Green Spring Valley and Elkridge-Harford and doing the hunter trials,” he recalled. “It was a little bit hard to turn him, but he was great.”

The judges rewarded them with a 91.66 average for a 178.66, which went to the head of the class.

Schaub Sweeps WIHS Equitation Classic

Maria Schaub continued her fall winning streak by adding the WIHS Equitation Classic victory to her resume on Saturday evening.

Aboard iToon, Schaub, 17, topped the hunter phase with a 91.66 and held her overall lead with an 83.91 in the jumper phase.

In the final phase, when the top 10 riders switch horses and re-ride the jumper course, Schaub maintained the lead with a smooth performance aboard Carolyn Curcio’s Valvert that earned an 88.66 for a final score of 264.24. Even though Schaub had a rail late on the course with Valvert at the second element of the in-and-out, her confident and stylish ride kept her at the head of the class.

Schaub was pleased that she switched horses with Curcio, a fellow student who rides out of Beacon Hill. Schaub was quick to point out, though, that even though Valvert is in her barn, she’d only flatted him once and had never jumped him.

“I’m glad it turned out this way,” she said. “I wouldn’t have wanted to know the horse that I rode in the work-off. That’s what this final is all about, getting on an unfamiliar horse and figuring him out.”

Tina DiLandri’s consistent performances in all three phases was rewarded with the red ribbon. Like Schaub, DiLandri scored an 88.66 in the work-off; she switched horses with Molly Braswell.

DiLandri moved up from third place to second after Braswell, the winner of the jumper phase, dropped two rails aboard DiLandri’s mount for a 72.

DiLandri didn’t leave the Verizon Center without her own blue ribbon, though. Earlier in the day she scorched around the jump-off in the $10,000 Senator’s Cup Junior Jumper class for the win and ultimately the championship. This is her first year in the junior jumper division, and the 15-year-old from Scottsdale, Ariz., was thrilled with her results aboard her mare Chanel. The pair went first in the eight-horse jump-0ff, and their time held.

“I didn’t think it would hold up,” said DiLandri of her winning time. “But then when Clementine [Goutal] went I was shaking. She was so fast. This is my first year of doing the jumpers, and this [championship] is amazing. Doing this is kind of a dream.”