One less stride in a miraculously appearing spot gave Darragh Kerins and Double H Farm’s Night Train both redemption and the victory in the $125,000 Purina Mills Grand Prix at the HITS-On-The-Hudson III, held June 3-7 in Saugerties, N.Y.

The Irish-born horseman’s defeat of rival McLain Ward on Sagamore Farms’ Phillipa came by a whisker, with Kerins turning in a clear trip in 39.55 seconds over Ward’s round in 39.62.

Those mere fractions of a second earned Kerins not only the $37,500 winner’s check for Double H, but also a sense of satisfaction after he failed to defend his 2008 victor’s title at the $100,000 Budweiser Grand Prix of Devon (Pa.) against Ward two weeks prior to HITS.

“He’s won plenty of times,” Kerins said jokingly of Ward’s history. “I’ve beaten him on a couple of occasions, but he’s been on a great roll over the past six months.”

The Saugerties grand prix ring is large, and Brazilian course designer Guilherme Jorge laid out a “big track, but one that wasn’t technical,” said Kerins, 34. “[The course] was very open and had lots of space to gallop between jumps. That suited my little horse, who is very fast.”

Night Train is a 15.1-hand, 10-year-old chestnut Zangerscheide gelding, but his lack of height wasn’t detrimental. He jumped clear even where the larger horses faltered.

“The last jump in the first round was a very tall, skinny vertical, which caught a lot of people,” Kerins said. “The strength of my horse is his heart. He gives 110 percent every day he comes out.”

Eight horses advanced to the jump-off, and Kerins and Night Train were the fifth to go, just behind Ward and Phillipa.

“I knew [Ward] was very fast, and I knew Night Train had to be at his best to beat him,” Kerins said. “So I planned to go as fast as possible.”

He also was aware of speedsters Todd Minikus on Callie Seaman’s Alaska and Michelle Spadone on Morgan Hill Partners’ Melisimo, who were right behind him. Ward and Phillipa, who won Friday’s $25,000 HITS Grand Prix, didn’t make it easy on Kerins, but they did leave the door open a smidge.

“He was a bit conservative to [the triple bar at the finish],” said Kerins, who is based out of Double H Farms in Ridgefield, Conn. “There was a big gallop from the second-to-last jump, an oxer, and then a left-hand turn to the triple. So my plan had been that if I was clear up to the oxer, I’d take a real shot at the last. I just kept looking at the bar, and thanks be to God, a stride [that could be dropped] turned up.”

Night Train chugged gamely on to the wire, stopping the clock just .07 seconds faster than his rival. Third-placed finisher Spadone on Melisimo were the only others in the jump-off field of eight who managed a fault-free trip.

Although their Saugerties performance marked the 10th grand prix win in the two years Night Train and Kerins have been together, it was not their biggest victory. The pair won at Devon last spring and also topped a World Cup qualifier in Tampa, Fla., this past winter. They also placed 25th in the Rolex FEI World Cup in Las Vegas, Nev., in April, and they helped Ireland finish second in the  Nations Cup class in Wellington, Fla., last winter.

Griffith Goes For Broke

Querido, the winner of the $10,000 HITS Saugerties Hunter Derby, “wants to be a hunter,” said rider Patricia Griffith. “He has that really beautiful canter, great balance, an even temperament and a slow, elastic jump.”

Heritage Farm Inc. owns the 6-year-old Belgian Warmblood.

“He was so brave, even when you’re going to those funny looking jumps,” Griffith, White Plains, N.Y., said. “He pricked his ears and went right to them. The harder they were, the more he ballooned over them. I think we were the only ones to jump the four-foot coop.”

The judges rewarded her maneuver with the leading score of 90 in the first round, “which I think was my best ever with him,” said Griffith.

She and Querido were among the 12 to return to the deciding round, the handy, where course designer Rian Beals gave riders a choice of combinations on a track that included a trot jump, brush boxes, hay bales and logs.

Confident in Querido’s jump, Griffith opted for a harder option over the initial two oxers. She then took a vertical to a tight inside turn, then came off a trot jump to hand gallop to the last obstacle, a coop. The judges awarded them with a score of 90 again.

“That was a place you could show off, and I knew he would do it well,” she said.

A Classic Win For Curcio

“It was pretty awesome,” said Carolyn Curcio, 19, after her win on her own Blast Off in the $10,000 High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic.

“‘Blast’ was at the top of his game, and it was also really nice because of all my friends being there,” Curcio added. “It was a pretty special feeling.”

One of the 15 riders to earn their way up from the initial 35-entry field, she had time to watch nine of her rivals go before she and her dark bay gelding stepped into the arena.

“I saw Marley Goodman [on U-2], and she was extremely fast. Chelsea Moss [on Lorena 90] was even faster,” said Curcio, West Islip, N.Y. “I knew I’d have to go all the way to the wall to beat her.”

Blast, a 9-year-old Dutch Warmblood, is quite deft at leaving out strides, so Curcio dropped one to the second vertical and made a tighter turn than Moss did after the third jump. It was only after she walked out of the ring that Curcio learned she’d beat Moss’ time.

“I was so surprised, because in the past Blast and I have been known for getting time faults or having slow jump-offs,” she said. “I knew Lorena 90 would be hard to beat, and I was so happy I had accomplished it.” Spadone and R. Mable K.Z. slipped into second place, leaving Moss third.

Although Curcio and her gelding had made their third grand prix appearance a month earlier, placing well at the Garden State (N.J.) Junior Essex Troop feature, she and trainer Robin Fairclough opted out of the grand prix at HITS.

“We’re looking toward [the North American Junior and Young Riders Championships (Ky.)], so we wanted to be a little bit conservative and build confidence,” she said.

Curcio is currently a sophomore at Drew University (N.J.) and is considering a career in the immigration law field.