Timothy Maddrix and Indecision, owned by Wimberly Debono of Birmingham, Alabama, won the $30,000 USHJA International Derby out of 40 horse and rider combinations. After the first round, the pair tied for the lead with Liza Boyd and Clemens, owned by Finally Farm LLC, with 183 points each. Boyd won the option to go last and had the advantage. Maddrix and Indecision wowed the judges with tidy turns and beautiful form, earning a score of 205 in the handy round and exceeding Boyd and Clemens’ total score by 3.5 points to clinch the win. Boyd and Clemens took second place honors.

“We show against Liza a lot, and we’re all really good friends,” Maddrix said. “The first people to congratulate me were Liza and Jack. I really appreciate them.”

Timothy Maddrix and Indecision. Photo by Anne Gittins.

Maddrix complimented Joe Carnicom’s course and was pleased that in the first round. The track went up and down a hill, jumping a railroad tie back into the ring. “We don’t get to do that stuff very often,” Maddrix said. “He was jumping his eyeballs out. He sights in on the jump, and he wants to just go get it.”

Maddrix and “Billy” won the challenge class at the 2017 USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship (Kentucky), but this marks their first USHJA International Derby win. Maddrix describes him as an in-your-pocket type. Wimberly Debono and her mother Helen Montgomery originally bought him as a jumper three years ago. They gave Billy to Maddrix to bring along doing the derbies.

Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Maddrix now calls Birmingham, Alabama, home. He runs M & M Sport Horses with his fiancée Camille Maynard. Maynard won the $10,000 1.35-meter Half Million Jumper Classic, so it was a good week for the barn.

“They do such a great job,” he said. “They have so many horses to get in and out of the rings. You see Tucker on the golf cart with drinks, trying to make sure people are happy. What they’ve put into all these hunter rings—it’s no wonder everyone wants to show here.”

Hector Florentino And Venus Claim $50,000 Country Heir II Grand Prix

Of nearly 30 entries, six horse-and-rider combinations finished the first round of the Nick Granat-designed track of the $50,000 Country Heir II Grand Prix fault-free to qualify for the jump off. Venezuelan Anselmo Alvarado and his own Inesse were the first to go double-clear with a time of 41.53. Next to go in the order, were Hector Florentino and Venus. The duo stopped the timers at 39.50, leaving all the jumps intact to win the class.

“We all liked his courses throughout the week,” Florentino said. “They were smooth and the lines came out naturally. He set the time allowed just right to provoke you to go fast enough but nothing crazy.”

Hector Florentino and Venus. Photo by Anne Gittins.

Venus is a Dutch Warmblood mare (Tangelo van de Zuuthoeve —Pascha W, Julius).

“She belongs to Farms Raylyn Farms and Marilyn Little,” he said. “I knew the mare because Angel Karolyi used to ride her. I made an offer to lease her for an important championship, the Central American and Caribbean Games in July. She’s my kind of ride. She’s a small horse with blood. She is fast and careful. I just have to keep her in the middle of the jump, and all the distances come up really easy.”

At the Central American and Caribbean Games in Bogota, Colombia, in July, Florentino hopes that he will qualify for the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. “The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are the ultimate goal,” he said.