Alfano and Jersey Boy won the Handy Round and the Overall in the International Hunter Derby (ChicagoEquestrian)

Wayne, Ill. - Chicago is a great place to show in the summer and the weather did not disappoint today for Equifest II’s Derby Day at Lamplight Equestrian Center.  Sunny skies and a nice breeze made for a pleasant day for riders and spectators. The feature classes were the $15,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby and the $5,000 National Hunter Derby.  Lamplight Equestrian Center sponsored a derby champagne brunch for all exhibitors and spectators and for those who couldn’t attend, the event was also live streamed via USEFNetwork.

The derby course was designed by Allen Rheineheimer and featured a horseshoe shaped split rail two stride and a trot jump going the other way with brush decoration between. The course also had an oxer, oxer two stride off of a galloping seven strides and another oxer, oxer, bending line. The course was decorated with brush and green grasses throughout.

Twenty-three riders took to the field for the International Hunter Derby at 9:00am. Judges Leo Conroy, Jeff Wirthman, Pat Bostwick and Fred Brown decided the order of return by the scores they issued. Winning the first round was Kelly Farmer and Why, owned by Glefke and Kensel LLC.  The pair scored a 90 and 91 plus four high option jumps for a total first round score of 189 for the win.

Farmer had all six of her horses make the handy round, four of them at the top of the pack. She returned first on Scripted, but an unfortunate fall of both horse and rider, kept Farmer out of the handy round altogether.

Jennifer Alfano and the well renowned hunter, Jersey Boy, took the lead in the handy round with a second round score of 195, almost thirty points ahead of any of the other handy rounds. The pair laid down a tidy round with tight inside turns and the gallop they are known for to earn the high score.

Kyle Dewar and Jennifer Sprenger’s Ulex moved up the ladder with their handy round, scoring a 168 with accurate short turns.  Caitlyn Shiels and Helen Lindsay’s Granted Wish scored the next highest score of 164 followed by Tiffany Hammack and Lance Williamson’s Aarhus with 159 in the horse’s first International Derby.

In the end, it was Alfano and Jersey Boy, owned by SBS Farm, with the highest combined score to take the top prize back to Buffalo, NY.  Alfano and Jersey Boy are gearing up for the USHJA International Hunter Derby Finals in Lexington, KY. This was their last derby before the finals August 14-16th at the Kentucky Horse Park. The famous pair won the derby finals in 2012 and were voted the 2011 National Show Hunter Hall of Fame Horse of the Year, as decided by the most prestigious professionals of the equestrian sport.

“We don’t jump him between shows,” said Alfano. “We never train him, he trains us! It’s tough to keep him fit because he just isn’t a fan of flatwork.”

“I feel horrible about what happened to Kelly today,” added Alfano. “It just wasn’t the same without her today.”

Finishing in second was Caitlyn Shiels and Granted Wish with third to Evan Colluccio and Unspoken owned by Glefke and Kensel LLC.