The stage was set at HITS Ocala on Friday afternoon, December 20, 2024, in the Main Hunter Ring for the featured class of the day, the $2,500 USHJA National Hunter Derby. The Derby highlighted an action-packed week, as the HITS Ocala Holiday Festival included top hunter, jumper, and equitation competition. After an exciting handy round, David Wilbur and Ademaro van Encanta clinched the victory.
Seventeen horse-and-rider combinations donned their formal attire as they set out to earn a piece of the prize over the beautiful course set by designers Tim Hott and Doug Russel. Riders first completed the 11-fence classic round, with the top twelve combinations returning to challenge the handy course. Wilbur laid down an impressive first round, which earned an 83.5, plus four high option points, and landed him in the second-place position heading into the handy round. With everything to play for, Wilbur’s handiness in the second round paid off, putting him atop the leaderboard with a combined score of 173.5.
“I thought the handy was a really fun course,” said Wilbur. “There were a lot of doable inside turns, but there were also a lot of spaces to go around, so you weren’t forced into doing anything. My horse was really on it, so I thought he felt ready to try some of the inside turns.
“He’s a wonderful, kind, and sweet horse,” he continued of Amy Porchetta’s eight-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Adagio de Talma x Catoki). “This was his first week back showing since September. I’m only his part-time rider, but I get to do him at the horse shows, which is really fun. Melissa Feller, who stays home for the winters, has done a lot of work with him at home and has made him really awesome.”
Wilbur, who trains out of Emil Spadone’s Redfield Farm in Califon, New Jersey, and Ocala, Florida, is no stranger to the excitement of the Main Hunter Ring at HITS Ocala, with the Redfield Farm team making HITS Ocala their home away from home every winter.
“We do a lot of HITS shows,” explained Wilbur. “We definitely wanted to do these two weeks in December to get the horses acclimated and see all the new rings. HITS has done an amazing job, and it keeps getting better and better. There aren’t many main hunter rings in the whole country as impressive as this one.”
Just a point and a half off of the win with a total of 172, young professional Anna Leighton and her own 15-year-old Warmblood gelding (Jazz x Cocktail), E-Jazz, secured the runner-up position. Junior rider Katelyn Martin and her own 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Cartani x Carthago), Relevé, claimed the third-place prize with a total of 171.
After a brief pause for Christmas, the excitement at HITS Ocala will return on January 1, 2025, kicking off 12 thrilling weeks of nonstop competition.
