Top hunter combinations kicked off a brisk morning at HITS Post Time Farm in Ocala, Florida, on Friday, January 10, 2025, with the debut of the $5,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby in the venue’s main hunter arena. The event was the second of the national derbies held during the all-new Post Time Premier I and II, managed by WEST Horse Shows. At the finale of the two rounds, it was junior rider Christine Moody, 16, who ultimately took the win aboard her partner Ballentine’s F with an overall score of 177 points.
With a stellar performance in the opening classic round, Moody, who hails from Flora, Mississippi, took the pinnacle position heading into the handy round after posting a base score of 84 points and tackling all four high options to total in 88 points. That put her comfortably ahead of the next closest contender ahead of the second round. As the final rider on course over Tim Hott’s handy track, Moody put forward a consistent top effort, earning 85 base points and four high options to tally another 89 points to her score and secure the win.
“I’ve had him for about a year and a half now, and immediately he was so amazing,” enthused Moody of the 10-year-old Westphalian gelding by Balous Bellini. “We typically do the derbies and the junior hunters, but he can also do the equitation. He does everything; he’s so amazing.”
The win marked the first blue ribbon at the HITS Post Time Farm showgrounds for Moody, who had never attended the venue before the first week of the Post Time Premier.
“We were here last week, and this was our first time ever being here,” she stated. “It has been so amazing, and the footing in all of the rings has been great. It has been so nice to come here and have all the horses feel at home right away.”
Pittstown, New Jersey’s Emma Hall paired her classic round score of 82 with a whopping 88 points earned in the handy round aboard her own 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding by Diarado, Dicasto, to finish with a 170-point total and take home the red ribbon. Reagan Waggoner, of West Chester, Pennsylvania, rounded out the top three aboard Dare To Dream Team’s eight-year-old Zangersheide gelding by Nahum D’Equit, Excel Star Imagine, combining her scores of 80 and 87 for a total of 167 points.
Hunter derby competition closed out the day in the Hunter Three arena at the venue, as the $500 The League Bit O’ Straw 2’6” Hunter Derby took center stage. Over a one-round hunt-and-go track, the win came from Poughkeepsie, New York’s Ashley Libolt and Leslie Laredo’s 13-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare by Elvis ter Putte, Mona Lisa van het Meerdaalhof.
Hunter horses and riders will once again have their opportunity to shine as the ten-week HITS Ocala Winter Circuit gets underway on Wednesday, January 15, 2025.
