Hunter competition during HITS Championship week at HITS Hudson Valley in Saugerties, New York, came to an exciting conclusion on Sunday, September 8, with the inaugural $100,000 ClipMyHorse.tv Hunter Classic. The class represented the culmination of not only an incredible week of top sport, but of an amazing summer season. Exhibitors and spectators alike gathered around The Ring to witness some of the nation’s top hunter horse-and-rider combinations. In the end, it was Brian Feigus of Morriston, Florida, who realized he did not need any extra cards up his sleeve as he piloted Four Aces to the top prize.
Riders in the exciting new class were invited to participate, bringing the best of the best in the discipline to compete head-to-head. Each pair contested the single classic hunter round set at 3’6”, overseen by three judging panels. Judges Chris Wynn and David Beisel represented panels one and two and were positioned in different locations around the arena, while MaryLisa Leffler, Linda Andrisani, and Keri Kampsen represented the third panel observing the round from the ClipMyHorse.tv livestream on a monitor. Scores from each panel were then added together to yield a final mark and placing.
Kerry Kocher designed an elegant and flowing classic hunter track for the 20 horse-and-rider combinations to contest, but as they have proven since the start of their partnership, Feigus and Four Aces are a hard act to follow. Laying down a trip worthy of three scores in the 90’s, the Florida native and the nine-year-old Holsteiner gelding by Acodetto 2, owned by Marita Zuraitis, received the three highest marks of the class, earning a 92.00, 93.00, and 90.00 to effectively close the book on the competition with a 275.00 point total.
“We’ve had more success in our time together than I’ve had in my entire career, and it’s kind of crazy to me to look at where we are today,” admitted Feigus. “He is truly a special animal that always wants to do his job and perform, and today was all him.
“I really didn’t think we would end up in this spot after coming off of yesterday’s qualifier,” he continued. “I tend to do better in a handy course because I tend to be a bit controlling for flowing courses like this, but he rode the best he’s ever gone today. It was a great feeling, and he was so brilliant that I almost just didn’t know what to do!”
In an equally impressive feat, the second place finish came from none other than 14-year-old J.J. Torano of Southwest Ranches, Florida. Fresh off a summer-long hot streak, including his first grand prix win and the victory in the Dudley B. Smith Equitation Championship at the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival, Torano once again delivered a performance well beyond his years.
Combining scores of 91.00, 90.00, and 89.00 for a total of 270.00 across the track with Disney, a seven-year-old Zangersheide gelding (Lyjanero x Goodtimes) owned by Isalou Inc., Torano was not only one of the highest scoring riders in the field, but also by far the youngest.
“This is probably the best show of my life so far,” enthused Torano, who also won a multitude of jumper classics over the weekend’s busy schedule. “To be in the ribbons in a class like this feels really good. We only got this horse at the beginning of May, and he had been an eventing horse prior, but he’s got an incredible brain and he knows his job even though he’s only seven years old.”
A mere half of a point off of Torano’s score, Jennifer Jones of Clinton, New York, rode Maui to a total of 269.50 to round out the top three trio. She and the eight-year-old Oldenburg gelding owned by Maegan Nicholson concluded with scores of 90.00, 91.50, and 88.00 for their prestigious position on the podium.
“I started riding this horse in July when I went to Kentucky,” detailed Jones. “I showed him three times there and then after they let me bring him here, so I was really excited and told [HITS COO] Joe [Norick] that I finally had a horse for this class. Maui is just really one of those ready-to-go, nice, easy, superstar horses. I knew if I rode him well today, he was going to jump well and we’d probably have a good chance.”
For HITS’s Joe Norick, who was the visionary for the new class, the day’s events proved to be a bright sign of things to come.
“I would love to see more juniors and amateurs compete in this class because I think this is the future of the 3’6” division and it’s a new way to showcase hunters,” he expressed. “”We just were able to run that class in an hour and twenty minutes, and I think we saw some of the best rounds we’ve seen all year. It meant so much to us for this class to be special, because the hunters should be just as special as any other ring. It’s one day of your life, but it’s a good one.”
For full results from the $100,000 ClipMyHorse.tv Hunter Classic, please visit www.showmanagementsystem.com and catch up on any action you may have missed at https://www.clipmyhorse.tv.
