Twelve-year-old Grady Lyman bested some of the top professional riders of the HITS Dessert Circuit when she and Flirt won the $5,000 Devoucoux Hunter Prix this weekend at HITS Thermal (Flying Horse Photography)

Thermal, CA - Grady Lyman of Rancho Santa Fe, California won Sunday’s $5,000 Devoucoux Hunter Prix riding Penelope Murray’s Flirt, rising to the top of a class of 52 contenders. The youngster created something of a sensation when she placed second, behind Sonoma Valley Stables’ Hope Glynn, in the first $5,000 Devoucoux Hunter Prix of the 2013 HITS Desert Circuit on January 27.

This time, the roles were reversed – Lyman scored 87.5 in both rounds of the class, for a total of 175, while the Petaluma, California-based Glynn placed second on Helen McEvoy’s Rio Ultimo, with a combined score of 174.5, and third on Georgy Maskrey-Segesman’s Winter Rose with a combined score of 173.

Bridgeport Farms’ John Bragg came in fourth, putting Lyman in the enviable position of beating her trainer. “It was kind of funny because after the first round, I lead him by .25,” said Lyman. “My friend and I had been joking about how he always beats us and hopefully one day we can beat him, and I thought, today might be the day!” And it was.

Bragg was riding his own Cansas, a six-year-old horse he bought in November in Germany for Lyman to ride next year in the Junior Hunters. “I’m very proud of her,” said Bragg. “She and Flirt were the Week V Champions in the Small Junior Hunters 15-and-under, so it’s been a great week.”

Karrie Rufer was fifth riding Morning Star’s My Way to a combined 171.