Jersey Boy Banks Another Derby Win In Wellington

Wellington, Fla., April 2

Jersey Boy and Jennifer Alfano came to the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival for one reason and one reason only: to win the $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby. And sure enough, Alfano and Jersey Boy will bring another blue rosette back to Buffalo, N.Y., for SBS Farms.

PUBLISHED

April 2, 2011
8:22 pm

WORDS BY

Mollie Bailey

Wellington, Fla., April 2

Alfano scored a victory in the feature class of Week 12 of WEF over Becky Gochman’s Empire and Scott Stewart, with Holly Orlando piloting her new ride, Sailor’s Valentine, owned by Westerly Farm, to third. Louise Serio rode Rock Star to fourth for Bright Star 158.

“All week here, he definitely felt like he was on,” said Alfano. “From the first jump, you can usually tell with him. Tonight, he felt amazing. You can feel his energy, which sometimes is a bad thing.”

Watch her handy round on the USEF Network.

No one quite knew what to expect heading into the handy round of the $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby. Riders had nervously watched Bobby Murphy and Skip Bailey spend the afternoon building several ponds in the International Ring, and they knew the course made use of both the field’s bank complexes. The jumps were big; there were two separate hand gallops instead of the usual one; the course was long; the class ran at night; and the ponds were a little unnerving. In short, the course was very, very hard.

Murphy and Bailey brought back the Puissance wall and a reconfigured version of the s-hedge from yesterday’s classic course, as well as the straw Aiken. Riders hand galloped the Aiken, then had to get their horses back for the jump up the tabletop bank a few strides later. Competitors selected between two sets of hedge in-and-outs, and had plenty of options to show off over finding tighter turns between ponds, jumps and decorations.

“I think definitely the hand gallop to the bank, and then the jump off [were very difficult],” said Stewart. “That I think was the hardest part. Then the gallop to the last jump—for some reason, most of the horses wanted to go by it or jumped it awkwardly. I don’t know why. It was sort of hard to focus.”

For such a serious course, the start list for the second round included an awful lot of derby newbies. A few series regulars like 2010 $100,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby Finals runner up Summer Place (Maggie Jayne), Declaration (Stewart) and Rock Star (Serio) found a spot, but most of the horses on the list were relative newcomers, or only occasional competitors in the derby arena. Even seasoned pairs ran into a disproportionate amount of trouble.

Regular derby winner Kelley Farmer came back fifth on her top-ranked mount, Praise, but he dislodged a brush box, then stopped at the in of the in-and-out of hedges a few fences later.

Summer Place and Maggie Jayne looked ready to pick up a check, but the horse spooked at a pond, then fell to trot, regaining his canter just in time for the next fence. Junior superstar Victoria Colvin fell from third to 12th after Inclusive got fresh jumping down the bank and the distance to the next fence a few strides away didn’t come up perfectly.

With five mounts, Stewart was by far the busiest rider of the evening. His night turned out to be uncharacteristically mediocre, despite Empire’s second-placed ribbon. His regular contender Declaration, owned by Fashion Farms, was undone by the tabletop bank where he stopped out. His first year mount, Dedication, came a little unglued early in the course, then opted out of the last fence. Stewart let him take a deep breath, then cantered the first fence, an inviting vertical with a hedge, to retire. Ken Berkley’s former grand prix jumper Carlos Boy, not known for his shows of exuberance, perked up in the ring and, in Stewart’s words, “tried to buck me off to the last fence.” A newer ride for him, Cooper, laid down a lovely trip, and as the crowd started to show their appreciation over the last oxer, caught the top rail with his hind feet.

Stewart wasn’t shy about voicing his thoughts about the evening. He considered that the course ended up doing his horses more harm than good.

“I was a little disappointed in the course,” said Stewart, who focuses on the traditional divisions but contends occasional derbies and placed second at the Finals on Summer Place in 2010. “Not taking anything away from Jen, she rode great and the horse went great, but I thought it wasn’t a true hunter course. First year horses maybe shouldn’t have gone in the class. I was this close to not going with my first horse. I was a little disappointed with the designer and what he put forward to us with the table and all that. I didn’t think it was really a fair test for most hunters.”

By the time Jersey Boy returned to the ring, the crowd had seen a few good rounds, but no one had laid down an exceptionally bold, mistake-free trip. Yet.

Second from last, Jersey Boy struck up a serious canter at the start, took a tight turn to the first fence, then laid down a spot-on trip. He kept his ears perked as he sailed around the course finding tight turns, powering over the hand-gallop fences and easily negotiating the banks. Judges Kitty Barker and Danny Robertshaw (who officiated with Paddy Downing-Nygard, John Barker, Jim Clapperton and Scott Fitton) rewarded her standout performance with the high raw score of the competition, a 97. The other two judging panels honored their bravado with scores of 10s for handiness.

The game chestnut has made a career of winning the derbies, and he won this edition two years ago. The last two years he’s won the George Morris Trophy as the high point winner in the USHJA International Hunter Derby Series.

With just a 1.5 point lead heading into the final round, Stewart and Empire rode a lovely handy round—Stewart’s best trip of the day, despite it being that stallion’s first year showing. They also earned a matching pair of 10s for bonus points and finished just off Alfano’s mark by 7 points.

For her part, Orlando, Wellington, Fla., couldn’t have been happier to finish third behind Stewart. She just took over the ride on Sailor’s Valentine from Louise Serio at the start of circuit, and she’d never even watched a derby, let alone ridden in one, before today.

“I’m so glad it went well! Maybe I’ll stop,” she said.

Other news from the scene

-Normally Saturday evening competition at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center has jumper riders working late, but this week top show jumpers like McLain Ward, Jimmy Torano, Darragh Kenny and Todd Minikus enjoyed watching the hunters have a go.

-Kim McCormack reunited with her ASPCA Maclay Finals and Pessoa/USEF Medal Finals winner Sundance for the big derby, where they leapfrogged from 18th to fifth after an equitation-finals worthy handy round. She’s currently a student at University of South Carolina.

-Adult amateur jumper riders took advantage of a rare opportunity to ride on the grass field at the The Stadium. Susan Horn topped the $1,500 Paddock Cakes Adult Modified Jumper Class on Phenix de Coquerie, and Elizabeth Lamotte claimed her second consecutive victory on Katharine in the $1,500 Masters Jumpers class.

Catch up on yesterday’s classic round here.

Top 12 results follow. Check here for more results.

Horse/Rider/Handy Panel 1/Handy Panel 2/Handy Panel 3/B1/B2/B3/Height Bonus (x3)/Round 2 Total/Overall Score

1 Jersey Boy/Jen Alfano/97/92/95/9/10/10/4/325/513

2 Empire/Scott Stewart/95/91/92/8/10/10/318/507.5

3 Sailor’s Valentine/Holly Orlando/86.5/83/90/7/8/9/4/295.5/472.5

4 Rock Star/Louise Serio/79/89/86/4/10/6/4/286/466

5 Sundance/Kim McCormack/88/90/85/9/7/9/4/300/465.1

6 Carlos Boy/Scott Stewart/84/85/84/7/7/5/4/284/452

7 Sienna/Patricia Griffith/83/76/84.5/6/5/7/4/273.5/451.5

8 Francesca/Maggie Jayne/82/81/76/9/9/6/4/275/441.75

9 Gogol/T.Lyman Whitehead/82.5/79/80/5/3/7/3/264.5/436.5