PrintIt’s not every day you go up against your trainers and win, but junior rider Morgan Geller got to enjoy that experience with Fabricio on April 15 in the $10,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby during Week 3 of the Blenheim Spring Classic series in San Juan Capis-trano, Calif.
Geller, 16, trains at Frontier Farm in Lake View Terrace, Calif., with Peter Lombardo and Katie Gardner, and she came back in second place for the handy round competing against both of them. Gardner returned in first place as the defending champion with Carolyn Miguelez’s Parker.
Geller felt butterflies as she prepared to enter the expansive grand prix field. The previous 11 rounds had resulted in numerous refusals and knockdowns. Then John French, a frequent hunter derby champion, almost fell off one of his mounts, Clooney, due to a spook at the first jump, a tall coop with big shadows on the backside.
Color commentator Robert Ridland even remarked that the Scott Starnes course design was the winner instead of any of the competitors.
Fabricio, however, was brave and unfazed by the shadows and spooky jumps.
“I was really nervous,” Geller confessed. “But [Fabricio] does a lot of the USET and equitation classes, and I knew he’d be really brave. I could do the inside turns, and I could make it a little more complicated and get away with it because he’s so practiced. He’s really not too spooky with any of the jumps or the shadows.”
In fact, Fabricio has a bit of an arrogant side according to Geller. The 10-year-old Czech Warmblood’s previous owner, Katie Kelso, had an animal psychic visit to make that assessment.
“The psychic said he had a really big ego, and he thought he was the best, most handsome horse in the barn, and that he liked to be called Champ,” Geller said with a laugh.
With the knowledge that she could take risks, Geller piloted her mount to all the high option fences, including the 4' fence leading out of the grand prix field into the adjacent west grass field, an ambitious choice that few of her
fellow competitors took. Geller rode a daring inside turn from the first fence, an upright coop that rolled back to a high option fence. For the third fence, a two-stride combination, Geller took another inside turn. To finish off their brilliant ride, Geller had a solid hand gallop to the final fence, a 4' oxer, high option fence.
“I did the inside turn from fence 2 to 3 because he was so good in the equitation. I thought, ‘Why not?’ I didn’t really have to, but it’s good practice to just go out and do it, and if it doesn’t work it doesn’t work,” Geller explained.
Geller had confidence that her horse would easily negotiate the 4' height, as they’d entered the high performance hunter division the previous week.
“He’s so scopey, so he just pops right over it,” Geller said. “He does it all; abso-lutely he’s the best.”
Gardner wasn’t so lucky—she incurred two refusals with Parker to drop to 11th place. However, she was proud of her student’s win.
“Morgan is a great student, a really hard worker and always takes our advice when we make her do tough stuff,” she said. “Their partnership has really come a long way.”
Lombardo agreed, saying Geller, who has been his student since he opened Frontier Farm three years ago, has what it takes to become a professional if she decides to pursue a career in the field.
