Katherine Newman closed out Devon’s Junior Weekend the best way possible—by winning the $10,000 ASG Software Solutions USHJA International Hunter Derby on Almelo.

The class, held under the lights late in the night of May 25, featured a strong field that included professional riders and winners of previous hunter derbies such as Jennifer Alfano and Rock Star, Mandarin and Peter Lombardo and Lazy Sunday and Scott Stewart.  But in the end, it was junior rider Newman’s two flowing rounds on the gray gelding Almelo that topped them all.

“He’s such a special horse.  He loves doing this and I love doing this,” Newman, 16, said.

Almelo, 14, is usually the amateur-owner hunter ride for owner Mimi Abel-Smith, but Newman gets to take over the reins every now and then.  She’s shown him in the junior hunters and won the Virginia Horse Show Association Medal Finals on him last year.  “He’s great at anything.  He’s the kind of horse who wakes up in the morning and says ‘What am I doing today?’” said Newman’s father, Gerry.

Newman and Almelo cantered around Blake Alder’s Round 1 course smoothly, earning scores of 91 and 86.5 from the judges.  That put them into third behind Sandy Ferrell on Independence and fellow junior rider Samantha Schaefer on Perfectionist.  Alder’s course didn’t include any of the natural obstacles that have been unique features of the derbies—such as a bank or gate—but it was full of brush-filled fences and galloping distances.

In round 2, Alfano came back in eighth aboard Jersey Boy, with Round 1 scores of 80 and 82.  But in Round 2, she went all out, executing flowing tight rollbacks and a perfect trot fence.  The judges gave her a 92 plus 8 bonus points and a 97 plus 10 bonus points to make their Round 2 total 207, setting the mark to beat as a total of 369.  On Rock Star, she was sixth after Round 1, but their handy round wasn’t up to their usual standard and scored just a 70 and a 65. 

Mandarin and Peter Lombardo came from California for Devon and made it worthwhile with a very neat and forward handy round, jumping all the 4’ options.  The judges rewarded them with scores of 89+10 and 80+8.  Their total of 356 put them in second for the moment and fourth in the end.

Then, Newman and Almelo cantered into the ring and laid down an elegant, flowing trip over the 3’6” options.  The judges showed their approval, putting them into the lead with an 88+8 and an 89+9, putting their two-round total at 371.5.  “I felt more comfortable doing the 3’6” fences, so I was trying to be as handy as I could to make up for it,” Newman said. 

Ferrell and Independence couldn’t quite duplicate their Round 1 performance, cross-catering around one turn and getting a hard rub.  Their 82+7 and 79+8 gave them a 354 total, which would put them into fifth.  Schaefer made it clear she was going for the win, picking up a strong gallop and shaving the turns.  It backfired a bit when she angled one oxer and rattled the rail.  Her scores of 80+2 and 81 were only good enough to finish up in sixth.

A Welcome Mistake
Little did Carter Ware, 13, know that the drunken whim of some grooms more than a decade ago would result in her first Devon win.  But after she rode Tequila to win the NAL pony jumper classic and earn the pony jumper championship, she was thanking fate.

Ware, of Middleburg, Va., related that Tequila is an aptly named accident.  His dam, Margarita, was a star polo pony in Argentina and one night the grooms on the farm got drunk and decided to breed her to a stallion on the farm.  The result was Tequila, named after the source of the incident.  Tequila, who Ware believes is around 11 years old, eventually made his way to the Middleburg area, where he showed sporadically, and Ware bought him three years ago.

For the first few years, Ware needed to hone her skills before showing Tequila.  But last year, she entered a few classes and then spent this winter showing in Florida in Jacksonville and Ocala.  “Last summer, I had a lot of lessons on him and really started feeling comfortable with him,” said Ware.  Ware went early in the eight-pony jump-off of the classic, setting a time of 30.59 seconds with a clean round no-one could catch.  The points for the win, added to a fourth place in the first class, gave her the tricolor.