There are not many places where you can see the best show hunters from East and West, but Devon is that spot in the spring, and both coasts were well-represented this week.
The Grand Hunter Champion, Balmoral’s Only Always, came from California with trainer Carleton Brooks and rider Nick Haness, earning 45 points in the Green Conformation Hunter section, more than any other titleist in the professional divisions.
Trainer Carleton Brooks and groom David Vega with Only Always, Devon Grand Hunter Champion. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
The High Performance Hunter Champion, Cannon Creek, meanwhile, is owned by a Virginia family, the Wheelers, who also took the $25,000 USHJA Hunter Derby with Green Hunter Champion Autograph.
Both horses are ridden by Hunt Tosh, who was named Rider of the Year at the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame dinner Tuesday.
The task of winning the Derby fell on Autograph, after Hunt made a mistake in the double during the Classic Round with Cannon Creek.
Topping a field of 33, he won the Classic round but lost the Handy round to Chappy, ridden by Greg Crolick. The final total was close; 383.500 overall for Autograph, and just 0.500 less for Chappy as the reserve.
“Not being here for two years, to come back this year being able to win the Derby was so special,” said Hunt, referring to the fact that the show wasn’t held during the Covid pandemic.
“Devon is my favorite horse show,” Hunt said. “To come here and peak at the right time kind of shows we’re doing the right thing.”
Autograph, a son of Balou who was the Hall of Fame’s Green Hunter of the Year, hasn’t done many derbies, and in the Handy section, everything was on the line.
Hunt Tosh and Autograph. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
“I got a little nervous, I touched the second jump and thought `I’ve got to try to do everything I can,’” Hunt reported.
“I tried to go a little quicker to the next-to-last jump and gallop the last jump. It was a great class. The horses jumped beautifully, Greg’s horse was amazing.”
This was Greg’s best Derby finish at Devon.
“To me, it’s like winning. It’s so exciting to be here. There’s great energy in the air,” Greg said about being second.
Ken Wheeler came up to Devon early to watch Hunt’s daughter, Maddie, compete in junior classes.
Authentic and Hunt Tosh on the way to hunter derby victory.(Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
“I don’t want to leave my dad’s box empty,” he told Hunt. This was his first Devon without his late father, Kenneth Wheeler, after whom the Wheeler Ring at the showgrounds is named.
Carleton had a definite goal with Only Always: “We’re going to shoot for Devon.”
It was a long way to travel from California, but he explained, “Devon is tradition. I still believe it’s the ultimate. You have to be consistent through the whole division. I think it’s a performance facility, you have to perform.
“It has all the outside distraction. It’s the ultimate. It’s a one-ring horse show. We don’t have those anymore. You are front and center. Devon doesn’t make or break you, but it sure tells you that you are on the right track if you are successful.”
Carleton, who has a colorful way of putting things, noted, “I think a lot of East Coasters still feel we’re cowboys and the sage brush still blows across the road. We do not have as many options to show, so we have to show against each other week-in and week-out, which I think keeps our level up.
“There’s no coasting out there. You can’t just find a casual horse show where you’re the best one for sure.”
Only Always was in Germany when Carleton saw him on a video.
“I watched him jump two jumps and said `Buy him,’” Carlton recalled. He liked his presence and balance, how he cantered away from the first jump. The woman who had the horse called him Carlton (without the “e”) but that may have been part of the sales pitch, the trainer admitted.
“The lady who sent the video is pretty smart. I don’t know if his name is really Carlton or not,” he admitted.
The horse had done a couple of jumper classes with an amateur in Europe, but Devon was a new experience.
“He’d never been in this type of environment before. We gave him time to take a deep breath and just let him hang out.”
Scott Stewart is a Devon perennial; the round silver platter that is the trophy for Leading Hunter Rider is engraved with his name more times (17) than that of any other person.
He did it again of course, collecting additional souvenirs for the Devon corner (complete with dozens of show programs) in the trophy room at his New Jersey home, where he also has two pet steers. (No, he doesn’t eat meat.)
Scott Stewart with his trophy. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
Amanda Steege, who rides the National Show Hunter Hall of Fame Horse of the Year and High Performance Horse of the Year, Lafite de Muze, had a disappointment in the Classic Round of the Hunter Derby when a rail fell from the high side of a hay bales and brush jump.
Aside from that, she had quite a week, also collecting the show’s High Performance Working Hunter Leading Lady Rider Award and the reserve championship in the High Performance Hunter.
The Horse of the Year title was a standout among everything Lafite won because ballots go to champions at the 10 most competitive horse shows, and they decide who should win.
“I think it’s very special to win awards like that, that are chosen by professionals you compete against as opposed to point-based awards. It was a huge surprise and an honor,” said Amanda.
“Lafite is the most consistent horse I’ve ever had,” commented the rider, who has a special bond with the horse, as does her boyfriend, Tim Delovich, and the gelding’s owner, Cheryl Olsten.
Amanda Steege and Lafite de Muze. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)
“He’s a trier; he has an unbelievably large heart and he’s very intelligent and understands what we’re doing out there, that when he walks into the ring he’s supposed to be performing,” said Amanda.
“What he’s able to do goes beyond his talent level, it goes deeper down inside the horse than that. He’s a perfectionist, and he wants to win as much as we want to win, which is an amazing feeling to have as the rider.