Allegro Proves An All-Around Winner At The Blenheim Spring Classic

This jumper and equitation mount proves he’s got what it takes in the hunter ring too.

Jocelyn Neff didn’t enter Allegro in the $10,000 ASG Software Solutions USHJA International Hunter Derby on April 10 during the Blenheim Spring Classic III thinking she would take home the big prize. The 16-year-old entered her USET Talent Search Medal mount just to take a break from the pressures of the equitation and jumper rings.

But Neff and her handy partner proved they could be competitive even outside their comfort zone, winning the class over Peter Lombardo and Jane Fraze’s Mandarin. Jenny Karazissis posted a typical bold ride aboard Tonia Cook Looker’s Aragon to jump up from fifth to third.
“Because he’s done all the jumpers the 4-foot options are really easy for him,” said Neff. “He’s a beautiful horse—my mom calls him ‘poetry in motion.’ He’s so perfect for this class, just very intelligent and brave. He’ll always forgive me if I do something wrong.”

Allegro’s game attitude and unflappability earned him the edge over plenty of veteran show hunters for the outdoor class held on the grass fields at Oaks Blenheim in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. In the first round competitors had to jump out of the ring and into an adjoining one, through an element the announcer dubbed the “tri-angle of doom” after the casualties inflicted by the unusual element.

Riders selected which rail of the two legs of the triangle to attempt, riding into the second field over the other leg in either one or two strides depending on the panel. In the second round riders also had the option to ride the element as a bounce, which Neff selected, helping her earn 8 bonus points from each panel of judges.

“That was definitely the hardest part of the course,” said Neff. “We practiced in the warm-up ring, jumping from the ring out onto the grass, and ‘Silver’ didn’t care.”

The win tasted especially sweet to Neff as it marked Silver’s return to the show ring after a nine-month hiatus following a tendon injury. The pair contested a few derbies last season after her trainer Karen Healey pointed out that the horse jumped well enough to make a name for himself in the hunter ring.

“We kept doing all right, even when I would make mistakes,” recalled Neff. “This time we really went for it. When we were walking the course trying to decide which options to do Karen said, ‘no guts, no glory’ and told me to take the hardest route, and I did.”

While Neff has enjoyed dabbling in the derbies—she compared the experience to the difficulty of an equitation final without any of the pressure—until this win she never considered aiming toward the final in Kentucky. But the derby has reinvigorated her interest in the hunters, and she plans to contest another class during the Memorial Day Classic (Calif.).