Top-tier competition returned to HITS Commonwealth Park in Culpeper, Virginia, over the Fourth of July weekend as hunter, jumper, and equitation riders gathered for the 2025 Showday National. The week was one of multiple in a busy summer schedule at the venue, which highlights national competition with the HITS Culpeper Show Series as well as monthly Virginia Horse Shows Association (VHSA) and The League events. On the penultimate day of sport on July 5, show jumping action came to a head in the $24,500 HITS Grand Prix, where young professional Ashley Worthington picked up her first grand prix win with new partner Diadora.
Worthington was one of 13 horse-and-rider combinations mounted up to contend Juan de Dios Alvarez’s first-round track. In the irons of her own 11-year-old Warmblood mare, Worthington was one of four pairings to find her way onward to the jump-off.
“I have had Diadora for almost a year now; we are coming up on our anniversary,” detailed Worthington, the Maryland native who operates out of her family’s Rolling Acres Farm alongside mother Patty Foster and aunt Mary Lisa Leffler. “We imported her a couple years ago and I ended up buying her back, and we are just so lucky because she has been a great partner for me.”
Ultimately, Worthington and Diadora’s jump-off time of 49.101 seconds and a fault-free effort proved best, taking the top spot over Juliana Thornbecke and Andromeda Z’s clear effort in 54.173 seconds.
“This track was great for us because Diadora has a large stride, so most of the lines were evenly steady,” explained Worthington. “I got to keep her together the whole time and never had to ask too much of her.
“I won my first grand prix when I was super young, but this is our first grand prix win together,” she continued. “The last couple of years I have seen a lot of yellow ribbons, so I was really excited we got the win!”
Thornbecke’s round with her 14-year-old Zangersheide mare took second as the only other clear effort across the jump-off track. A time of 50.489 seconds and one rail down on course for Lizzy Traband and Regina Liu’s eight-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding, Rublin vd Berghoeve, landed the pair the third-place ribbon.
The venue’s hunter rings proved equally as busy as the jumper rings throughout the course of the week, with a total of 30 entries in the $5,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby contending for top prize on Thursday, July 3. Following the completion of both the classic and handy rounds, Kalli Core of Morriston, Florida, secured the win aboard Karakter, a nine-year-old KWPN gelding owned by Donna Rosman. Taking the runner-up title was Ashley Dewoolfson of Warrenton, Virginia, with Joseph Melnik’s seven-year-old Hanoverian stallion, Valandraud Clarion. The class concluded with another top placing for Rachel Kennedy of Brookeville, Maryland, and Sarah Brooks’s nine-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding, Double Down, who topped the $10,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby, presented by Voltaire, during the Commonwealth National. This time they completed the top three in third.
HITS Culpeper will see even more impressive action kicking off July 9, 2025, as the summer heats up with the Cavalier Classic. For full results, please click here.
