Holly Shepherd of Grand Bay, Alabama established herself as the Derby Queen when she pulled a hat trick Friday morning, taking the top three placings in the $10,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby on a course designed by Nancy Wallis of Lambertville, New Jersey. Shepherd held the top two highest scores after the first round with Loretta Patterson's Triompf with a score of 183 and Helen Gilbert's White Lightning with a score of 163. Tim Maddrix of Birmingham, Alabama and Alina Dumitrescu's Shutterbug sat in third position after earning a first round score of 162. Amanda Forte of Glenmoore, Pennsylvania sat in fourth with Rebecca Patterson's Vecchia Murano with a score of 161 and Shepherd and Barbara Risius' Longstreet were on their heels with a score of 161.50. Shepherd held the lead with Triompf in the Handy round after posting a score of 203 for a combined total of 386 which would win the class. White Lightning earned a second round score of 190 and a combined 353 which would award them the second place ribbon. Longstreet earned a second round score of 192 and combined with their first round score of 161.50, moved them into third place. Dergin Park, owned by Henrietta Hall and ridden by Sarah Invicta Williams of Santa Fe, New Mexico finished in ninth place in the first round with a score of 154.4, but after earning a Handy round score of 192, moved up to an overall fourth place finish with a combined score of 346.5. Isabelle Potts' Fusagers Carma, ridden by Jordan Gilchrist of Flower Mound, Texas, had an eighth place finish in the first round with a score of 156 but their Handy round's score of 187 and combined 343 moved the pair up to a fifth place finish overall. Maddrix and Specialty sat in the third place position after the first round, but after posting a second round score of 174.5, would find themselves moving into sixth place overall. Forte and Vechia Murano moved from third position to seventh place overall, after earning a second round score of 175 for a combined total of 336. Shepherd and Margaret Camp's Cascaron finished twelfth in the first round with a score of 149, but after earning a second round score of 183 and a combined total of 332, moved into eighth place overall.
