Brady Mitchell and Cornet Blue PS Win USHJA National Hunter Derby

Brady Mitchell (Wellington, FL) and Cornet Blue PS attempted their first USHJA National Hunter Derby at Tryon Spring 3, producing two scores of 91 from the judges for a winning total of 182 points in the $10,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby in the International Stadium. Timothy Maddrix (Mountain Brook, AL) scored a class-record 94 in the handy round to earn reserve and a total score of 181 aboard Cypress, Missy Nolen’s 2011 Warmblood gelding of unknown breeding. Wengen, the 2013 Warmblood gelding (Casdorff x Fanfarone) owned by Kate Preston and piloted by Riley Hogan (Warrenton, VA), was named to third on a two-round score of 175.

Mitchell and the 2015 Hanoverian stallion (Cornet Obolensky x Chaccina) owned by Everlong LLC were one of 33 horse-and-rider pairs to navigate the Andy Christiansen, Jr. course, with the top twelve scoring 81 or higher to contest the handy round. In just the horse’s first week showing as a Hunter, whose first trot jumps ever took place in the show pen and the warm-up ring, Mitchell revealed, his potential as seen by owner Ann Thompson is already clear:

“This is just the horse’s first week ever showing as a hunter. We’re ecstatic. This horse is owned by Ann Thompson, who’s obviously a huge supporter of Grand Prix horses in this country, so it’s kind of cool. Ann sent [Brian Moggre and team] this horse to see what they thought of him this winter; she’s owned him since he was three. They thought he was a hunter, and they asked me to come over.”

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Mitchell also saw potential in the Hunter division, and reports that while “they’ve been chipping away at it” at home, he’d never competed until Tryon Spring 3 at TIEC, where he brought home a win right before his derby debut Friday, stepping easily into his role, Mitchell emphasized. “He feels like he knows what he’s doing. He’s awesome. He’s a stallion and he’s really, really well bred. It’s interesting, like he has all the goods: he’s brave and careful with a beautiful canter, style and he’s beautiful looking. We’re just really excited about him.”

Riding a new ride and leading after the classic round, Mitchell considered a conservative handy strategy until he saw Maddrix lay down a top score, he admitted: “I had to have a really, really good round, and take all the risks [to win]. So, we turned inside everywhere possible. And that was his first trot jump ever, in the ring. His first one other than that was in the schooling area!”

Mitchell intends to let Cornet Blue PS take full advantage of his first year, competing in the greens and perhaps doing a few national derbies, but sees him as a “real international Derby contender” in the future. In the meantime, choosing to break normal habits to travel to TIEC seems to have worked out splendidly, he recapped:

“This is not a normal stop for me,” acknowledged the Wellington, FL resident. “We actually don’t leave Florida that often anymore. I’m helping some people right now that come and show here, and with it being a WCHR week here, it made sense for me to bring a group of horses, and I have to say it’s been a nice event for me to bring some young horses and get some experience under their belt. It’s so nice to ride out in that big ring, with the big grandstand and everything. It feels like something that’s good experience building for the horses. So, that’s what brought us here, and I was thrilled,” he concluded.

For full results from the $10,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby, click here.