Lexington, KY. – August 16, 2024 – The annual Platinum Performance / USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship returned to the Rolex Stadium on Friday afternoon during the Bluegrass Classic. Ninety-one elite horse and rider combinations gathered for the championship event to vie for a spot in the top to 30 to advance to Saturday’s Tier One Handy Round. At the end of the day, Amanda Steege and Lafitte De Muze topped the field with a score of 294 with three scores in the mid-90s. She was followed by Liza Boyd and Ondine D’Orleans, who was awarded a score of 292.5, and rounding out the top three was Brian Feigus and Four Acres who earned a score of 290.
After the morning’s Green Hunter Incentive Championship, course designers Ken Krome and Meghan Rawlings reset the ring for the afternoon’s International Hunter Derby competitors. With 13 jumping efforts and four high option fences, the course was set for the judges Rob Bielefeld, Robert Crandall, Shane George, Mark Jungherr, Brian Lenehan, and William Sparks to sort the 91 competitors and pull out the top 30 to return for Saturday’s Handy Round.
Entering the ring thirty-fifth, Lafitte de Muze and Steege, of Califon, New Jersey, took the lead early on in the round. The veteran pair, now competing in their seventh Championship together, sit first heading into the Handy Round on a score of 294.
Amanda Steege and Lafitte De Muze
“I didn’t know I was going to win but I know Lafitte so well now that I told Liza this morning after I rode him ‘I feel like he’s so on it’ and I had total confidence that he’s got it today,” commented Steege. “It’s so nice to know a horse this well that when you’re trotting or cantering around before a class, you already know he will be there for you.”
The longtime partnership moves up the ranks each year in this Championship. Last year, Lafitte de Muze and Steege placed third in the Classic Round and were seventh overall in the 2022 Championship. The pair were also the 2021 winners of the World Championship Hunter Rider Peter Wetherill Palm Beach Hunter Spectacular.
“He has been winning all the major hunter classes throughout the country including the Hunter Spectacular in Palm Beach, the Pro Challenge at WCHR Capitol Challenge, and the National Horse Show Classic,” she continued. “The one he has not won yet is the Derby Championships but we’ve been slowly and steadily improving each year. We are just happy to be back competing here again.”
Boyd, of Camden, South Carolina, aboard Neil Sites’ Ondine D’ Orleans moved into second place on a score of 292.50. While this partnership only started in February, Boyd is no stranger to the pressure of the International Hunter Derby Championship Handy Round—she became the first person to win the class three times from 2013-2015 and remains the only person to do so on the same horse, Brunello. Boyd is also quite accomplished in the International Hunter Derby rings being ranked as the third in lifetime rider money won in the program, cashing in a total of $690,623.
Liza Boyd and Ondine D’Orleans
“I thought it was a very inviting and fair course with a nice flow to it,” Boyd said about the course design. “Everything matched and starting the course to the finish, it felt really in rhythm and I think the course designers did a lovely job making all of the strides work.”
Rounding out the top three was Colts Neck, New Jersey, rider Feigus aboard Marita Zuraitis’ Four Aces. Feigus has quite the track record this year in International Hunter Derby classes including winning both at HITS Ocala Winter Series. His mount is also accomplished in the International Hunter Derby Program and is ranked second in the 2024 competition year for money-won in the program, pulling in $26,000 to date.
Brian Feigus and Four Acres
Feigus appreciated Krome’s and Rawlings’ course design, stating that it allowed the judges to focus on true Hunters, while also being an inviting course for all.
“I liked that the course was inviting for any horse, whether you had a massive strided horse or a smaller strided horse,” Feigus said. “I liked the fact that on day one, the course was not only inviting but was a true riding test of the quality of horse and rider. It really allowed the judges to judge Hunters, and it allowed them to separate out the horses whose styles were the best.”
The final championship round of the Platinum Performance/USHJA International Derby Championship will take place on Saturday morning in the Rolex Arena with the Tier II riders. To learn more out the Bluegrass Classic and the Kentucky Horse Shows please visit www.kentuckyhorseshows.com.