She rides Castello to a repeat derby win with a last-minute plan.

Liza Towell Boyd didn’t quite know what to do for the second round of the $10,000 ASG Software Solutions USHJA International Hunter Derby at the Aiken Spring Classic Masters in Aiken, S.C., on April 18.

She was leading after the first round on Castello, but Gary Young and Chase Boggio had upped the ante with brilliant handy rounds and she wasn’t going to win by being careful. As she prepared for her round, she conferred with her father, Jack Towell, and her brother, Hardin Towell.

“I was the last to go, and it was really dark. I remember standing at the in-gate with my Dad and my brother saying ‘What should I do? I need a plan!’ ”

With her father telling her to ride conservatively and her brother shaking his head, trying to convince her to go for it, Boyd walked into the ring, which was no longer illuminated by the afternoon sun, but by fluorescent lights. “I thought to myself as I walked in, ‘you know what? I’ll figure it out!’ ”

As only talented and brave riders like Boyd can do, she made decisions on a jump-by-jump basis.

“I took the first inside turn, and then as I was making the turn focusing on the 3’6″ or 4′ option, I made up my mind to jump the larger one. I also took the inside turn to the split-rail vertical—which was a bit dicey—then jumped the bank,” recalled Boyd. “On the hand-gallop to the final fence I decided that I would jump whichever option I liked the distance to better. If he had rubbed one earlier in the course, I would have gone for the lower of the two oxers, but I have so much confidence in him that I felt safe going for the 4-foot oxer.”

The gutsy ride paid off, as Castello and Boyd earned two scores in the 90s and bonus points of 10 to clinch the win.

Hard To Beat Her

“I knew I would have to put in a great round with no mistakes in order to win,” said Boggio, who was clearly thrilled with the red ribbon he earned aboard Graphiq. “But Liza is an amazing rider and really hard to beat!

“In the second round I went for all of the harder options, except for the last jump. I tried to do most of the inside turns in order to earn as many bonus points as I could because I knew that we would need a big score in order to beat Liza,” said Boggio, 15.

Boyd’s win—a repeat of her triumph in the same class last year with Castello—was all the more impressive since she doesn’t ride Castello on a regular basis. She just meets up with the talented gelding for derby classes.

In 2008, Castello was sent to Boyd in Aiken to compete only in the derby and that risk paid off in spades with the win. So a year later, owners Jennifer and Roger Smith decided to test their luck again.

Castello lives with Gary and Judy Young, who train the horse. “[The Youngs] have a wonderful program at their barn, so I knew that the horse would be coming to us fit and ready to perform,” explained Boyd, who resides in Camden, S.C. “Castello came on Wednesday for a Saturday class, so I had plenty of days to school and flat him.”

The last time Castello and Boyd entered the ring together was at the $50,000 ASG Software Solutions USHJA International Hunter Derby held March 27-28 in Wellington, Fla., where they finished fourth.

Playing It Safe

While Boyd is a veteran of big classes like the derbies, Boggio, still rides as a junior. But the Canton, Ga., native didn’t allow his youthful demeanor to stand in the way of making a chase for the top spot.

“My trainer, Bobby Braswell, told me to just get through the first round without any big flaws, which is why I opted for the smaller options in the first round,” said Boggio, who also trains with Christina Schlusemeyer.

Boyd erred on the side of caution in Round 1 as well. “Since one of my junior students, Sarah Ward, was winning having done the 3’6″ options, I felt safe doing the 3’6″ as well,” Boyd said of her strategy.

A tricky spot for many riders came early in the course in the form of a skinny oxer with hay bales stacked underneath. “You had to really sit back and ride to it,” said Boyd. “Horses were either spooking at it or jumping it super careful.”

After the hay bales, riders rolled back to a log jump with no standards, then were presented with the option of doing the bank or a two-stride in-and-out made of two coop jumps with lots of ivy and greenery.

“The in-and-out was quite ugly. It was set so that the horse couldn’t really focus on it because they were looking at the bank. And, if your horse was not a good bank jumper, the judges were sitting right there able to see everything,” Boyd added.

Prior to Saturday’s class, riders were able to practice the bank with their mounts in a series of supervised schooling sessions. “If you did your homework, you were fine. The nice part about bank jumps is that the horse is not going to hit them and knock them over!” said Boyd with a laugh.

“The bank was a bit tough,” admitted Boggio, who also piloted his new horse, Premonition, around the derby course to finish just out of the ribbons. “But it did help being able to school it the day before.”