The first day of competition at the 2022 Marshall & Sterling Insurance/USHJA National Championships at The Las Vegas National CSI4*-W culminated in Katie Taylor-Davidson taking the top two spots in the $25,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby open section. In Bocca Al Lupo walked away with the champion tricolor, while Charismo earned reserve.
Taylor-Davidson, Mission Viejo, California, performed well enough in the classic round of the night’s top hunter competition at the South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa’s Arena & Equestrian Center in Las Vegas to return for the handy round on all three of her mounts. Sitting in second was Theodore Flash with a 92, followed closely by Charismo in third with a 91, then eventual winner In Bocca Al Lupo in fourth with 90.5.
Katie Taylor-Davidson rode In Bocca Al Lupo to the top of the $25,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby on Nov. 15 in Las Vegas. Andrew Ryback Photography Photo
The top 12 returned to the ring for the second round, where the leaderboard shuffled significantly. Tacking on a 92 to In Bocca Al Lupo’s first-round score, Taylor-Davidson and the 7-year-old German Sporthorse gelding (Vulkato—Askada B) owned by Mare Eyfee LLC claimed the class with a 182.5 overall.
“He’s pretty spectacular. He will jump anything from anywhere, and he loves to perform,” Taylor-Davidson said of her winning mount. “For the first round, I made sure to open his stride up a little bit because he wants to get a little bit behind the leg. I got a little gallop going, then got him on his rhythm. Then for the handy, I practiced some tight turns and a couple of trot jumps before I went in.”
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Moving up a spot and securing Taylor-Davidson the top two in the class was Charismo, a 7-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Casiro I—Ontario I) owned by Iverness Ridge. The duo posted a 90 in the handy round, finishing with a 181, 1.5 points behind her top placing.
Third place went to Skylar Wireman on Kaliman, who posted a 91, the second-highest score in handy round, to finish third on a total score of 177. Taylor-Davidson’s final ride, Theodore Flash, also owned by Mare Eyfee LLC, finished ninth.
The 2022 Marshall & Sterling Insurance/USHJA National Championship continues through Nov. 20 with live streaming coverage of all classes on USEF Network. Live results are available on ShowGroundsLive.
