This talented hunter and his rider, Jennifer Alfano, put on quite a show for the top check.

Inside turns and a rolling gallop don’t usually win a hunter class, but Jennifer Alfano’s daring and elegant handy hunter round put her and Rock Star on top of the $20,000 Wrenwood Farms ASG Software Solutions USHJA International Hunter Derby, April 6 in Naples, Fla.

“He’s just such an amazing horse, and we have such a great relationship, that I trust him implicitly to go in there and do whatever it takes,” Alfano said of Rock Star. “I picked up the gallop and just kept galloping everywhere. He stayed right on it.”

Alfano, Buffalo, N.Y., and “Rocky” earned scores of 93 and 95 from the judges and then added two scores of 9 for bonus points for brilliance, making their Round 2 score a 206.

“This is the most beautiful field I’ve ever seen. To jump this course was so much fun,” Alfano said.  “I think the horses love to do something different, and Rocky is truly a show horse. He can tell this is a big event, and he loves it.”

Alfano’s performance proved an unbeatable standard for Louise Serio and Concerto, who had been tied for the top spot after Round 1.

Serio guided Concerto over the handy course with a lot of pace and boldness.  She earned bonus points of 9 and 10, but their scores of 90 and 87 kept them just behind Alfano.

“Jennifer’s horse went gorgeously. I figured I had to really take some chances,” Serio said. “He swapped a few times and made a few mistakes, but I had to take a shot.”

Concerto and Serio, Kennett Square, Pa., are a new combination; she showed him for the first time in the $50,000 ASG Software Solutions USHJA International Hunter Derby on March 20-21 in Wellington, Fla., where they finished fourth.

“He was kind of made for this kind of class. He’s not surprised by anything. He has great scope, and he’s a careful jumper,” Serio said of Concerto, who is trained by Diane and Val Renihan.

Junior rider Samantha Schaefer, Westminster, Md., rode Perfectionist to third place behind the two seasoned professionals.

Rocky and Alfano had claimed victory in the $10,000 ASG Software Solutions USHJA International Hunter Derby on March 15 in Ocala, Fla., and then third in the $50,000 Derby in Wellington.

The course at Wrenwood Farm, on perfect grass footing and in a picturesque setting, harkened back to old-style outside courses. The first round included an Aiken-type brush fence, an option fence of either a 3’6″ split-rail oxer or a 4-foot stonewall, an airy black gate, a two-stride in-and-out of hedges, a coop, and jumping up and down a bank with a fence on top.

The handy course invited inside turns and long gallops to fences and included a split-rail vertical.  Riders had to open a hunting gate to get into the ring and navigate a trot jump. For the handy round, many riders opted to jump the option at the black gate—a curved stonewall covered with ivy.

“You could tell the horses were so happy. The jumps are awesome, and the horses jumped them great; I can’t say enough good things about it. The hunters had gotten so redundant and boring—this is such a fun thing to do,” Serio said.

Molly Sorge