Grabbing a two-round score of 172, Harold Chopping (Southern Pines, NC) and Halston, the 2013 Hanoverian gelding (Harvard x Queen) owned by Rick Gabel and Carole O’Brien, dominated the $2,500 USHJA National Hunter Derby at TIEC during Tryon August 1. In second, Isaac Leffkowitz (Ocala, FL) and Ever So Clever, a 2011 Swedish Warmblood gelding of unknown breeding, scored 171 for Fat Chance Farm, while third place was awarded to Ashley Conkle (Wellford, SC) and Olivia Kuo’s Rebel de Vizy, the 2005 Cheval de Selle gelding of unknown breeding, on a score of 162. The class tested 17 entries over the Dean Rheinheimer (Sheridan, IN) course design, and Chopping sat in first place heading into the handy round.
“Halston doesn’t have a lot of experience doing classes like this, especially the Handy round,” Chopping acknowledged. “Knowing that we were going to jump this National Derby, I spent a little extra time at home working on trot jumps, rolling back to oxers, and landing on leads. I thought he pulled it off beautifully! I was thrilled.”
Chopping reflected that the course was fair, but “challenging enough. The first round was very fair with some bending lines and riding tests where the horses had to be good at focusing on the jumps. It was challenging, but not overdone at all. The lines rode appropriately, the distances were good, and the high options were in fair places.