Triple Crown • Derby Day Success
Special Win for Sidenote
EMO Stables’ Sidenote, ridden by Jason Berry of Verona, Virginia, won the $5,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby, presented by the Heisley Family Foundation, with an overall score of 179.5.
According to Ernie Oare, “This was pretty special. Ted [Sidenote] is Betty’s ride, and she’s won so much with him. The course was just beautiful on top of the hill in the Sandy Gerald Arena and Jason did such a nice job.”
Betty Oare added, “I always say, Ted must have fallen from heaven to end up with me. He is the sweetest horse, and we’ve just won everywhere together.”
She continued, “I haven’t been able to jump since I broke my hip last year and this is the longest I’ve ever been out of commission. I did ride him in an under saddle class this week and won, but I’m still not ready to jump. I’m having so much fun watching him go. We’ve had a lot of fun and success, and I hope there will be more hunter classes for us in the future. I’m working to get back because I love it too much just to give up,” she added.
Betty and Ernie reflected on how they first came across Ted. “I called Sally Lamb to see if she had a fox hunter for me. She said she might, and we could ‘check him out if we could catch him’,” Betty laughed. The Oares did, in fact, ‘catch him’, and Betty enjoyed hunting him and then, after schooling at the Barracks, decided that he would be a good Adult horse.
“You search high and low for a horse like this. He’s very sweet and doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. He knows me, and knows when the treats are coming,” she laughed. “He’s an amazing horse and he’ll never go anywhere else,” she added.
Idle Hour, owned by Bonnie Rhea Adams and ridden by Katherine Schmidt Butler of Richmond, Virginia, earned second place with an overall score of 178.
EMO Stables’ Avila, also ridden by Berry, finished in third with an overall score of 176.
Ernie Oare commented, “This was her third horse show doing 3’9”, and she did just great. She’s pretty special. We’ve always wanted an International Derby horse and we hope that is what she will become.”
Jessica Collins’ CR Sonador, ridden by Ashley Foster Worthington of Brookeville, Maryland, finished fourth overall after earning a combined score of 172.5.
Absolutely, owned by Lynn Rice and ridden by Miranda Scott of Silver Spring, Maryland, earned fifth place with their overall score of 172.
Daisy Bishop’s Mamacita, ridden by Alan Lohman of Poolesville, Maryland, finished in sixth place with a score of 169.
Icadello, owned and ridden by Samantha Karp of Great Falls, Virginia finished in seventh with a score of 167.5. Karp also was awarded the EMO Leading Amateur Rider Award.
Style, owned by Annabelle Brown and ridden by Payton Flanders of Lothian, Maryland earned an eighth place with a score of 166 and was also awarded the Hollins University Leading Junior Rider Award.
Karen Robinson Dickman’s First and Goal, ridden by Jessica Gulden of Toano, Virginia, finished in ninth with a score of 165.5. Bailey Schram’s Quew De Kreisker Z, ridden by Megan Young of Jacksonville Beach, Florida, finished in tenth with a score of 164.5 and Fortitude, owned by Katrin Urban and ridden by Nicole Motes of Parkton, Maryland, finished in eleventh with a score of 163. Isabel Flynn of Chevy Chase, Maryland and her own Cahla Cool wrapped up the class with a twelfth place and a score of 162.
Course designer Nancy Wallis said, “I designed the course with lots of options and I was happy to see not one horse had a rail in the National Derby. The horses went really well, and it looked like everyone had a great time.”
For more information, please visit horseshowsonline.com.
Photo credit: KMK Photos
Jason Berry, Betty and Ernie Oare and Javier Ayala are in the winner’s circle. Javier Ayala was awarded the Champion Shavings Groom’s Award.
Photo credit: KMK Photos