Wellington, Fla.—March 24

On Friday in the $15,000 Marshall & Sterling/Great American USHJA International Hunter Derby, Chris Payne’s mount Reign performed well, but he wasn’t as confident as he could have been on the grass derby field. So when the weather prompted organizers to delay the $50,000 Yeti USHJA International Hunter Derby an extra day Payne knew the change would work to his advantage.

“On Friday and he was good, but he was nervous because he hasn’t gone on the grass or anything,” said Payne, Cincinnati, Ohio. “I was kind of happy that they put it on Sunday so it gave him another day over here [at the derby complex] to take a deep breath. He’s not a nervous horse; he’s usually very relaxed about his job so it was nice to have an extra day for him to hang out here, take a deep breath, the footing was perfect. It really made it fun.”

Assistant rider Tommy Villa flatted Reign in the morning in the derby field to get him comfortable there, which paid off when he felt very comfortable on the grass. And when it came time to show, Reign put in a commanding first round performance with scores from judges Rob Bielefeld, Todd Karn, Bob Crandall and Bobbie Reber that stretched up to 95, one of the highest scores the 11-year-old stallion (Cassini Gold—Solina, Ulft) has earned.

For the handy course, designer Ken Krome, after discussion with the judges, changed the last jump to an oxer so riders could show off a nice gallop to the last. Coming back second-last in the handy, Payne did just that.

“My mindset was to just really try and keep it a little bit open,” said Payne, who, along with David Belford, runs New Hope Farm. “They changed the last jump and the judges were looking for something a little bit open, and I like to ride a little in a box. I’m not a throw-caution-to-the-wind kind of rider. I had to kind of talk myself into kind of keep it a little loose and let him gallop around the course.”

That second round boosted him to the top of the class over Laksano (Jimmy Torano) and Unbelievable (Jacob Pope) who tied for second. Torano also won the inaugural Wirthman Hunter Trainer award, presented by Steve and Debbie Stephens in honor of the late Jeff Wirthman and given to the trainer with the best performances across all the international hunter derbies at the Winter Equestrian Festival this season.

Reign was purchased by Lisa Levine of Provence LLC as a young horse with an eye toward the derby field, but Payne has taken his time getting into the classes.

“When we got him I was doing him in the 3’6” greens. He’d be champion so I’d be like, ‘He’s so good I don’t want to wind him up on Saturday for the derby.’ So we kind of put the derbies off for a while because he was doing so well in the hunters. But he’s come to that place where it’s time to get in the derby ring and do it some.”

Reign already has plenty of accolades to his name, including a win at the Platinum Performance USHJA Green Hunter Incentive Championship (Kentucky) in 2021, a championship at the National Horse Show  (Kentucky) last year and a big win in the $150,000 Hunter Grand Prix (Kentucky) in 2022. Now Payne has his sights set on contesting more derbies—he named Devon’s (Pennsylvania) edition in particular—and a top finish at Platinum Performance USHJA International Hunter Derby Championships (Kentucky).

“He’s really been quite good to bring along,” said Payne. “He’s a very settled horse. For a stallion he’s not stallion-y at all—that’s why we kept him a stallion. He walks in rings and he’s very comfortable. He doesn’t look at things outside the rings, he doesn’t look at the jumps. He has beautiful mouth, he has beautiful balance, he’s really quite nice to ride. He does prefer his left lead so the handies can get a little questionable in that sometimes I do lead changes where I’d rather not. He’s kind of grown in to do his right lead a lot more which really helps me in the handies.

“He’s kind of come up through the ranks,” Payne added. “He’s a very smart horse, he’s very athletic. In my mind I find him to be the epitome of a hunter because he’s a beautiful mover, beautiful horse, and he jumps in beautiful style. I think the grass is really fun for him because he could open his stride up and he has such a beautiful gallop, and he’s scopey that the high options are [easy]. He was so relaxed out there today.”

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