Riders in the hunter, jumper, and equitation disciplines made their way back to HITS Commonwealth Park in Culpeper, Virginia, as the 2025 HITS Culpeper Show Series resumed at the iconic venue. The week marks the beginning of the second half of competition in the summer series, which hosts six nationally-rated competitions from April through August. The venue also plays host to six Virginia Horse Show Association (VHSA) and The League, presented by Marshall and Sterling Insurance, events throughout the warmer months. Show jumping action during the week’s Winston National event came to a head as just over a dozen entries contended the $24,500 Virginia Maryland Tractor Grand Prix. As she has done multiple times before, Grace Long, ofWarrenton, Virginia, captured the win aboard Keina.
Oscar Soberon’s opening track proved to be a fair and still-challenging course, advancing a total of seven horse-and-rider combinations onward into the jump-off. Five of those duos finished the class fault-free, but it was Long’s blazing fast time of 33.703 seconds on Sandra Ruiz’s 10-year-old KWPN mare by F-One USA that stole the show.
“Grace Long always delivers a super ride,” explained Keina’s owner, Sandra Ruiz. “For the jump-off, our plan was to be clean and to be faster than the rest. Keina has a big stride and covers the ground easily, so she is deceptively fast.
“We’ve had Keina for a year and a half and she has a beautiful jump,” continued Ruiz. “She has incredible scope but still needs more experience at the 1.45m height, which is what we are working toward.”
Juliana Thorbecke, of Poolesville, Maryland, landed just over a second off of the pace with a time of 34.894 seconds on her own 14-year-old Zangersheide mare by Aganix du Seigneur, Andromeda, to earn the runner-up position. Rounding out the all-female podium, Madison Brayman, of Wellington, Florida, and Wendy Brayman’s nine-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare by Chacco’s Rubin, DSF Constellation, landed in 35.199 seconds.
Hunter competition culminated on Friday, August 15, with competitors vying for top prize in the $5,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby. Fourteen pairings tackled the track in the venue’s main hunter ring, but at the class’s completion, Adam Edgar, of Washington, D.C., and Diana Cumming’s 13-year-old Holsteiner gelding by Nerrado, Necofino, emerged victorious. Putting forward two award-winning rounds, Joy Janouskovec, of Whitsett, North Carolina, earned both the second- and third-place positions. Piloting Brick City, Townsend Farm and PKP Holdings LLC’s eight-year-old American Warmblood gelding by Arizona ODF,, Janouskovec earned the runner-up position, while she also took third place Robin, Townsend Farm and PKP Holdings LLC’s 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding by Je T’aime Flamenco.
Hunter, jumper, and equitation sport will return to HITS Commonwealth Park on Wednesday, August 20, 2025 as exhibitors get set to compete in the Constitution Classic. For full results, please visit showmanagementsystem.com.
