The centrally-located Sonoma Horse Park VIP provides an ideal vantage point for spectators, who, along with the judges, watched the two-round Derby that was scheduled over two early evenings. The judging panel on Day One was Patrick Doyle and Carl Dena, while on Day Two for the Handy Round, Paddy Downing-Nyegard and Carl Dena presided. Just over 40 horses galloped in on Thursday evening. A competitive group, a score of 82.5 was required in order to return to the Derby Round on Friday evening, with the top score of 91 (88 + 3 high options) going to John Bragg and Lukatoni (Pamela Moellenhoff, owner). The John Manning courses included turf-covered poles, a large log, skinny birch rails, a chipmunk-winged gate, and combinations going away from, as well as towards, the in-gate. The footing was fabulous and the horses jumped well. Hope Glynn had three mounts in the top twelve, Olivia Hellman's Woodstock, Liza Richardson's DaVinci and Karen Trione's Corriendo Tau, the last earning a score of 89 on both days, finishing 3rd overall. Karazissis had two, Endeavor (owned by Linda Gatti Sears) and Tip Top. Bragg also returned on two: Ann Thornton's Early August and the Classic-winning Lukatoni, who with an 89 on Day Two, finished 2nd overall by one point. After Glynn on Woodstock and Karazissis on Endeavor each had an unlucky rail in the Handy, the high scores started rolling in. Buddy Brown was impressive aboard Sloan Lindemann-Barnett's Balios Z, earning a 92, and a 174.5 overall, which ultimately moved him up from 12th to 5th. As one of the only juniors in the top twelve, the young and talented Nina Vogel rode Jamestown like a pro. She scored an 87 and finished 7th overall. Katie Gardner piloted Chrush (owned by Q of E Farms) to a 90 score and finished 4th overall. Although not earning top Handy scores, two other gorgeous and scopey top twelve must-mentions are Missy Froley riding the classic bay hunter Double Play (owner, Phoebe Clement), and Mariano Alario atop Celestial (owned by Elizabeth Robbins). Both horses jumped beautifully. Similar to last week, the winning horse also hails from Mary Morrison's Ivy Gate Farms out of San Juan Capistrano, CA. Karazissis came up North to ride the horses for Morrison, clearly the right choice, and she was also able to fit in quality time with friends and family. Last week her sister watched her win, this week a friend she's known since kindergarten, who now lives in Santa Rosa, was there to cheer her on. “Yes, it's been a very worthwhile trip,” said Karazissis with a smile, as she described Tip Top. “He's actually green and doesn't go to the horse shows much. He shows in the 1st Year division and has competed in a couple of Derbies. He is brave and jumps the high options with ease.” She had a strategy for the week that paid off. “I recommended that we show him in the High Performance division this week. The first day he was figuring it out, but the on the second day he jumped great,” she explained. “He was much more rideable after that. The High Performance helped him focus and he just got better and better as we went around the Handy.”
The centrally-located Sonoma Horse Park VIP provides an ideal vantage point for spectators, who, along with the judges, watched the two-round Derby that was scheduled over two early evenings. The judging panel on Day One was Patrick Doyle and Carl Dena, while on Day Two for the Handy Round, Paddy Downing-Nyegard and Carl Dena presided. Just over 40 horses galloped in on Thursday evening. A competitive group, a score of 82.5 was required in order to return to the Derby Round on Friday evening, with the top score of 91 (88 + 3 high options) going to John Bragg and Lukatoni (Pamela Moellenhoff, owner). The John Manning courses included turf-covered poles, a large log, skinny birch rails, a chipmunk-winged gate, and combinations going away from, as well as towards, the in-gate. The footing was fabulous and the horses jumped well. Hope Glynn had three mounts in the top twelve, Olivia Hellman's Woodstock, Liza Richardson's DaVinci and Karen Trione's Corriendo Tau, the last earning a score of 89 on both days, finishing 3rd overall. Karazissis had two, Endeavor (owned by Linda Gatti Sears) and Tip Top. Bragg also returned on two: Ann Thornton's Early August and the Classic-winning Lukatoni, who with an 89 on Day Two, finished 2nd overall by one point. After Glynn on Woodstock and Karazissis on Endeavor each had an unlucky rail in the Handy, the high scores started rolling in. Buddy Brown was impressive aboard Sloan Lindemann-Barnett's Balios Z, earning a 92, and a 174.5 overall, which ultimately moved him up from 12th to 5th. As one of the only juniors in the top twelve, the young and talented Nina Vogel rode Jamestown like a pro. She scored an 87 and finished 7th overall. Katie Gardner piloted Chrush (owned by Q of E Farms) to a 90 score and finished 4th overall. Although not earning top Handy scores, two other gorgeous and scopey top twelve must-mentions are Missy Froley riding the classic bay hunter Double Play (owner, Phoebe Clement), and Mariano Alario atop Celestial (owned by Elizabeth Robbins). Both horses jumped beautifully. Similar to last week, the winning horse also hails from Mary Morrison's Ivy Gate Farms out of San Juan Capistrano, CA. Karazissis came up North to ride the horses for Morrison, clearly the right choice, and she was also able to fit in quality time with friends and family. Last week her sister watched her win, this week a friend she's known since kindergarten, who now lives in Santa Rosa, was there to cheer her on. “Yes, it's been a very worthwhile trip,” said Karazissis with a smile, as she described Tip Top. “He's actually green and doesn't go to the horse shows much. He shows in the 1st Year division and has competed in a couple of Derbies. He is brave and jumps the high options with ease.” She had a strategy for the week that paid off. “I recommended that we show him in the High Performance division this week. The first day he was figuring it out, but the on the second day he jumped great,” she explained. “He was much more rideable after that. The High Performance helped him focus and he just got better and better as we went around the Handy.”