March 6—Gulfport, Miss.

Martien van der Hoeven only came to Gulfport, Miss., for one week this winter, but he made it worth his while when he rode Cellino to the top of today’s $10,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby.

That derby specialist spends most of his time in a paddock and enjoying light hacks in a field at home, only getting his mane braided when there’s a big derby on the schedule. And today Cellino’s experience came in handy today, helping him top the field of 35 to take the blue for Julie Thompson.

“I think this class in particular is always difficult,” said van der Hoeven, The Woodlands, Texas. “We’re not on grass very often, and it doesn’t really have any correlation to the hunter ring down below. It’s a whole new environment. To me, this class involves a touch of strategy: you have to survive the first round, and in the handy you can do a bit more.”

Seven on the start list had to head back to the barn early, thanks largely to refusals at a natural plank off a curve, and a vertical set between two huge hedges.

“It’s really not something that we jump a lot,” said van der Hoeven of the vertical. “Not a lot of courses have a natural jump. I think it was easier this year than in the past because they used brighter rails. The last couple years there was a darker rail that really blended in. Also, it was the only place on course where the jump came up quick.”

Most of the course over the expansive grass grand prix field at the Harrison County Fairgrounds in Gulfport included unrelated distances, with pair of two-stride combinations, one set vertical-vertical and the other vertical-oxer. The day kicked off right around freezing, and a few horses were clearly feeling their oats on Day 2 of the unseasonable cold snap. Van der Hoeven even put the normally extremely mellow 12-year-old Hanoverian on a lounge line to get some bucks out.  

“He’s so simple,” said van der Hoeven. “He’s been to derby finals every year; he’s shown indoors, outdoors, and knock on wood, he’s reliable. Really the thing that we’re starting to juggle this year is keeping him interested. Normally he does the high performance [hunters] and is a good competitor, but I changed it up this week and he did some jumper classes. Not for any specific training reasons, just to spark his interest.”

For Round 2 van der Hoeven kicked Cellino up to a healthy gallop right from the get-go, and tightened the turns, eager to gain on leaders Courtney Calcagnini and Bowie.

“Courtney had quite a good score and had done all the high options,” he said. “I felt like I wanted to be competitive enough to make it hard enough that it wasn’t just a give away.”

So van der Hoeven consulted with assistant trainer Alex Ansteth and they decided which high options were worth the risk, edging out Calcagnini and her high performance hunter, with White Lightning and Callie Schott finishing third.

Cellino will head back to The Woodlands, Texas, for a week off, then he’ll gear up for derbies during the last two weeks of the Pin Oak series in nearby Katy. 

Check out photos from yesterday’s open hunters, and visit Horse Shows Online for full results.