The 2015 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) completed its final day of competition on Sunday with a win for Victoria Colvin riding Heritage Farm, Inc.’s Vaillero in the $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby. Held on the beautiful grass field at The Stadium at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC), the final feature saw a picture perfect day in Florida. The class was presented by Dietrich Insurance and hosted by Tailored Sportsman, sponsored by Charles Owen & Co., Dover Saddlery, The Clothes Horse and Essex Classics.
The first round of derby competition was held in the E.R. Mische Grand Hunter Ring on Saturday, where 51 riders took on the first round course designed by Ken Krome. Two panels of judges scored each round, and riders were awarded extra points for jumping the high options.
The top 25 entries then moved on to the derby field for Sunday’s handy round, jumping Bobby Murphy’s course with natural obstacles, including the table bank and an option to jump through the Devil’s Dyke. Two panels of judges once again scored the contestants, awarding bonus points for high options as well as handiness on course. Judges Danny Robertshaw and Robert Crandall scored the rounds on panel one and Susan Humes and Chance Arakelian on panel two.
At the end of the first round, Kelley Farmer and Mindful found their names at the top of the leader board, but the pair had an unfortunate refusal on the table bank in round two and placed out of the top twelve.
Darcy Hayes rode Danielle Baran’s Say When into the second position on day one with a total of 178. The pair maintained their standing with a handy round score of 182 for a 360-point total. They earned an 80 plus ten bonus points from panel one and an 81 plus 11 bonus points from panel two in the final round.
Vaillero and Victoria Colvin finished the first round with a score of 175 to take the third spot heading into Sunday’s competition. The pair then earned the top score in round two with a 195.5 to bring their total to the winning score of 370.5. The judges at panel one scored a 90 with nine bonus points in the handy round. Panel two scored an 87.5 with nine additional points.
Coco Fath and her own and Hillside Farm’s Chemie Ancar moved from ninth place in round one to third place overall with a first round score of 168 and a second round total of 191. In the handy round, the pair scored an 87 plus nine and an 86 plus nine to bring their tally up to 359 points overall.
Second place finisher, Darcy Hayes, is based in Canada as a trainer at Sorensen Stables in Toronto. Chris Sorensen imported Say When three years ago when the horse was a three-year-old, and Hayes has helped bring him along. Her student, Danielle Baran, purchased Say When and has also had great success with the horse in the Adult Amateur Hunters, including a championship win in WEF 12. The easy-going gelding had no problem moving from the adult division to one of the biggest hunter classes of the circuit.
