On the final day of the 2019 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF), Sunday, March 31, the top 25 hunter combinations returned to the Derby Field at Equestrian Village to vie for the winning honors in the $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby. Victoria Colvin led the all-female podium positions followed by Kelley Farmer in second and Liza Boyd in third, as the trio once again demonstrated why they are household names in the hunter industry.

The second round of the derby was the pinnacle event for hunter riders to close out the winter circuit and only invited the top-scoring competitors from round one of the event.

Ken Krome once again designed a beautiful track on the turf that included three high options and a rollback to a trot fence following fence two. The two panels of judges, consisting of Danny Robertshaw and Robert Crandall for panel one and Scott Williamson and Rob Bielefeld for panel two, had the ability to award extra points for handiness ranging from zero to 10.

Jacob Pope shot to the top of the leaderboard midway through the class with a second round total of 200.00 points and held the lead until veteran hunter rider Liza Boyd piloted Tradition to the lead. Pope’s combined score of 375.00 points was still enough to maintain the fourth place with Forget Me Not Farm’s Unbelievable.

Boyd and Maggie Hill’s 8-year-old Westphalian gelding Tradition (Cornet’s Stern x Larix) accumulated an impressive second round score of 196.50 points and rounded out the top three after a combined score of 376.50.

“This horse did win in Friday’s $15,000 USHJA International Derby Hunt & Go, because Tori and Kelley didn’t show,” Boyd teased. “In all seriousness, he did really perform well, and this is his third time being in the top three of a very competitive class.

“I have to thank Tradition’s owner, Maggie Hill, for encouraging me to show today,” Boyd added. “I wasn’t sure that I had it in me this week, but Maggie has more stamina than anyone, so she talked me into it, and I’m very glad she did because both of our horses went great.”

Final Results: $50,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby

Horse / Rider / Owner

R1 Total / R2 Total | Final Score

1 El Primero / Victoria Colvin / Meralex Farm, Inc.

190.00 / 212.00 | 402.00

2 Consent / Kelley Farmer / Larry Glefke & Kent Farrington, LLC

184.00 / 201.00 | 385.00

3 Tradition / Liza Boyd / Maggie Hill

180.00 / 196.50 | 376.50

4 Unbelievable / Jacob Pope / Forget Me Not Farm

174.50 / 200.50 | 375.00

5 Mostly Sunny / Havens Schatt / Caroline Moran