Tim Goguen and Character (Emily Ride/Phelps Media Group)

Lexington, Ky. - At the end of Wednesday's Kentucky Summer Classic Second Year Green Hunters, the hotly contested division championship had come down to a tie. Both Character, ridden by Tim Goguen, and Silhouette, ridden by John French, sat tied at 32 points, but with more points earned over fences it was Goguen and Character who claimed the division's top title.

"He went nicely this week. He tried hard and ended up champion," Goguen said of Character, a 12-year-old Westphalian gelding owned by Belhaven Stables LLC of Wellington, FL. "We got him the last week of the circuit in Florida, and he's been pretty consistent. He's a good horse."

Goguen and Character came into Wednesday with a blue ribbon already under their belt from yesterday, and they added the points from a second and third place finish to their cumulative tally. French and Silhouette also started the day with a blue ribbon in the under saddle class to their name, and they added one more win to their list with the victory in the Second Year Green Hunter Handy class.

French originally imported Silhouette, a 10-year-old Westphalian mare, from Germany before selling her to current owner Lyn Pedersen. Pedersen, an Old Greenwich, CT, native, has had Silhouette on the East Coast while French calls the West Coast home, but French picked up the ride again in the fall of 2013 and has been extremely successful with the mare since.

"She's a mare, so she's a little bit sensitive. She has to have a lot of trust in you," French explained. "You have to keep everything kind of calm and confident. You don't have to do anything hard to make her jump well. She's a little cautious - that's a good word for her. She needs that positive reinforcement."

French made the trip to the Kentucky Horse Park with numerous mounts this week in preparation for the USHJA International Hunter Derby Finals, to be held August 14-16 during the Kentucky Bluegrass Horse Show.

"We came for this show, and we'll give them some time off next week and then have them all ready and fresh for the following week," French explained. "It's good to come here and just kind of get a feel for how they're going to be that week."

Also feeling out how her horses will be during Derby Finals is Kelley Farmer. She swept this week's Regular Conformation Hunters with Kensel LLC's Quotable, winning all five of the division's classes.

In the High Performance Hunters it was again Farmer who took the tri-color, this time with Why, an 8-year-old Oldenburg gelding.

Since being purchased from Bridget Hallman by Larry Glefke and Kensel LLC, Why has been ridden by Evan Coluccio much of the time, but Farmer took the reins this week, earning back-to-back blue ribbons in Wednesday's High Performance over fences classes.

"When things are going well, I like to change them around," joked Glefke regarding the rider switch.

"I rode him once when we bought him. I showed him once in Michigan, but I don't know much about him," Farmer said. "I do know that he's big strided; he's scopey, and he's quiet. He was great today." 

"He's probably one of the scopiest warmbloods I know," Glefke added. "He was jumping jumps a grand prix horse jumps out there. I love him; I genuinely love him. I bought him for Kelley and Evan. I thought he would be a great horse to show. Now I am going to put him in the junior division with Kirklen [Petersen]."

The reserve championship in the High Performance Hunters also went to Lane Change Farm, with Evan Coluccio and Cardozo riding away with the tricolor.