Lexington, Ky.—Aug. 15

Just how good is Tori Colvin? One only needed to watch her classic round today with Dicoblue PS in the Platinum Performance USHJA international Hunter Derby Championship. From the moment she picked up the canter to when she landed off the final fence, she kept a nice loop in the reins, gently guiding the gelding around.

Colvin knew it was a good round, and she broke out into a wide smile after the final fence. When the scores came in from judges Scott Williamson, Mike Rosser, Jeanne Marie Dunford-Miller, Tammy Provost, Abby Blankenship and Lynn Forgione, it was clear they felt the same, awarding her base scores of 96, 95 and 96. When the four high option bonus points were added in, it gave her a total of 299 for a definitive lead going into Saturday night’s handy class.

“I know him really well,” she said of the 11-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Diarado’s Boy—Chactine, Chacco-Blue). “He’s a super sweet animal, and he always loves to go in and compete. He never really—knock on wood—puts a foot wrong. He just wants to do well. He’s a trier.”

Meghan Rawlins and Ken Krome set a big course today of 13 jumps ranging from 3’6″ to 4’5″, and while “Blue” jumped Colvin loose in the tack over the last, she was thrilled with how he tackled what was dubbed “a marathon of a course.”

“It was quite long,” she said of the course. “But every jump he jumped higher, which is a little unusual, but he felt great. He didn’t feel like he really got tired, so that was great. The course rode beautiful.”

Colvin has been riding Blue for two years now, so she’s gotten to know him really well. But he was for sale earlier this year, so she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to keep the ride for derby finals. Then John and Stephanie Ingram (who owned her first derby champion Cuba) purchased Blue, and they had her keep the ride—however things are a bit different, as he’s now based with their trainer Tom Wright. Colvin and Blue reunited earlier this week for the Platinum Performance USHJA 3’6″/3’9″ Green Hunter Incentive Championship, where they were second.

“I wasn’t able to show him for a short period of time, a couple weeks,” so it was nice to be able to get back on him and show him in a bigger venue once [before today],” she said. “I was a little nervous. I don’t usually get nervous, but in the first round of the incentive I was a little nervous—I’m not sure why—but it got my nerves out, so that was good.”

Colvin admitted she wasn’t quite sure what to expect in Saturday’s handy round, which takes place in the evening. If she has a good night, she will have won the championship four times with four different horses.

“I did a handy round in Ocala [Florida] at night, and he seemed to handle that quite well,” he said. “He’s a little newer; that was his first night class, this would be his second. Knock on wood he’s great.”

Jennifer Hannan sits five points behind on Colvin on a 294 on a derby finals newcomer Cellestino. The 10-year-old warmblood by Cornet Obolensky was brought up by Lauren Patterson and amateur Amy McGee before Stephanie Bulger purchased him last fall and gave Hannan the ride.

“He’s great,” she said. “He was a jumper, and I think he turns really well, and so he’s looking for the jumps. It’ll be our first night class, so we’ll see what the course presents.

“I was honestly really happy with my round,” she added. “I think I was able to gallop the whole round from start to finish, and that was my goal. And everything really came out of stride, so I’m pretty pleased.”

Sitting in third on a 290.75 is Amanda Steege on Laffitte De Muze. The pair won the classic round last year.

“He felt amazing,” she said of the 14-year-old Belgian Warmblood (Darco—Everlychin De La Pomme). “I actually think this is one of the best rounds of his career, and there’s not one thing I would’ve changed.”

The pair lost the class last year after “Lafitte” spooked at the raucous applause as he landed from the last jump, so she asked the crowd to be more patient with their cheering Saturday, but said she was looking forward to the evening class.

“There was pressure today,” she said. “I feel like now I’m fine; I’ll be relaxed tomorrow. … I’m really looking forward to it. Lafitte is excellent in the handy. I think this class, historically, has a lot of changes during tomorrow night’s event. It’s not normal that our horses just walk in for a night class and do the handy, so I’m really excited that I’m doing that on a horse that has a lot of experience.”

The handy round will start at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. The Tier II riders who qualified for the Section B handy will go first, and then it will go straight into the Section A handy for the overall championship. A minimum of 20 riders will compete in the Section A handy.

Watch Colvin’s winning rounds, courtesy of USHJA:

Results

Be sure you’re following along with the Chronicle on Facebook and Instagram @Chronofhorse. You can also read full analysis of hunter championship week in the Sept. 26 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse magazine.