Crown Affair may be on his “fare-well tour,” but the 16-year-old stallion showed he’s not quite ready to hang up his horse shoes yet by claiming the $10,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby title at the Showpark Ranch & Coast Classic, held May 13 in Del Mar, Calif.

John French and “Crown” came into the derby as the defending champions from last year, but their chances for a repeat victory didn’t look good when they tied for 10th after the first round.

However, French said Crown needs a little mental stimulation to spark his interest at this point in his career, and the Holsteiner (Cor De La Bryere—Andante I, Capitol I) likes nothing better than a hunter derby handy round in an expansive grass field.

“I had a lot of moving up to do, so I started off a very tight turn to fence 1, and I galloped across the middle and thought, ‘OK, you’re in a jumper field,’ so the third jump I turned super tight to,” French said.

“Then I cantered down to the snake jump. Most did eight strides there, but I cut across in the seven.”

After the split-rail snake fence, Crown Affair cantered up the hill of the bank and had a flawless trot jump before continuing to an optional high oxer bending line to a double combination and finishing on an extremely sharp slice to the final oxer of the course. French’s handier approaches earned him a total of 14 bonus points, the highest number awarded by the judges.

“The last jump was kind of a funny turn. You had to come at a big angle, but he jumped it really well. A lot of people were a little bit conservative, but I was lucky enough to move up that much,” French said.

Crown came to the Del Mar Horse-park simply to perform in the derby. Over the years he’s earned plenty of tricolors in the professional divisions with French and in the amateur-owners with Gail Morey of Yellow Dog Farms in Menlo, Calif. French and Morey agreed he’s got nothing left to prove, so they decided to make this his final year of showing before retiring the stallion to the breeding shed.

“This win means a lot, and he won it last year, so you just always know he’s going to deliver,” Morey said.

“I have to admit that I never expected him to win it because he came in so low, but the handy is definitely his forte.”

Morey opted to sit this show out so Crown would stay fresh for the derby.

“He’s kind of bored in the regular hunter rings,” Morey said. “Our assistant trainer [Alexis Shaw] did him in the [Del Mar National Horse Show Open Equita-tion Championship] last week to mix it up and keep it more interesting for him in the hopes that he would do exactly what he did today. I love it when it works.”

The Start Of A Long Career

While Crown is coming to the end of his showing career, Come Monday, the second-placed horse ridden by Christa Endi-cott, appears to have a future full of promise. Judge Jimmy Torano had high praise for the mare, calling her the best horse in the class.

“Whether it was [judges] Don [Stewart] or Betty [Oare] or myself, if you ask anybody who we’d want to ride, that’d be it,” he said.

“In my opinion, she’s as good as it gets. Everything about that horse: good mover, jumps slow in perfect style and high, and doesn’t rub the jumps. Not one quality is missing.”

A few minor rider errors and Come Monday’s inexperience kept her from earning the win, but she finished just 2.5 points behind Crown. The 8-year-old Holsteiner (Cassini 1—Imperial 1) didn’t earn as many handy bonus points because of the conservative approaches taken by Endicott.

One small bobble happened at the trot fence when the mare jumped “five feet in the air all of a sudden,” Endicott said. Still, she was glad Come Monday maintained a trot to the base of the jump and had no problems going up and down the hill on the bank. Until recently, both horses belonged to Morey. She bought Come Monday in Florida over the winter and planned to keep her, but she changed her mind at the HITS Desert Circuit in Thermal, Calif., and sold her to Davlyn Farms.

“I don’t regret selling Come Monday. I love seeing her continue with her winning ways,” Morey said. “I think I would regret it if they weren’t happy and it wasn’t working out, but they are, and she’s doing so well and getting some mileage.” Endicott took over the ride from French, who had great success with the mare in the first year greens at Thermal, winning four tricolors and the reserve circuit championship.

Endicott has enjoyed similar accomplishments since she started showing Come Monday in March. She’ll con- tinue riding her in the open divisions for the 2011 show season, and then Tammy Williams of Davlyn Farms plans to exhibit her next year. Endicott, a trainer at Pegasus Show Stable in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., alongside husband Michael Endicott, had no misgivings about entering Come Monday in her first USHJA International Hunter Derby.

“She feels awesome, as solid as a rock, a really confident mare,” Endicott said. “She’s got a super brain, a really solid citizen. She’ll also go on to be a regular working hunter and great derby horse, and [Davlyn Farms] will always promote her to do those things, as well. Obviously she’s a great first year horse, but she’s scopey enough to do the 4-foot, easily.”