PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
February 1, 2010

THERMAL, CA (February 1, 2010)—The all-new Devoucoux Hunter Derby kicked off with a bang at the 2010 HITS Desert Circuit when one of the top hunter riders in the country, John French, piloted Victoria Komisar’s Over the Moon to the inaugural win in the $10,000 Devoucoux Derby on the West Coast.

French (Gilroy, California) had the highest score in both the first and second rounds of the popular 3' 3"class that featured 29 starters on a course set by John Manning, which included trot jumps and rollbacks to challenge the competitors.

"The new Hunter Derbies show really good initiative on the part of the organizers," said French. "They will enrich the quality of the circuit as a whole. It will become an indispensable stepping stone for younger horses and riders."

French, who has more than 40 horses at HITS Thermal for the six-week circuit, says he enjoys the hunters being showcased each Sunday. "I bet on some weeks there will be 100 (entries) in that class," he continued. "That kind of prize money each week is terrific."

The blue didn’t seem to be enough for French. He rode six horses in the first edition of the Devoucoux Hunter Derby. At the end of the day, he had five of them finish in the top eight of the class, including Laurie Lewis’ Escapade who was fifth.

Also excelling in the new Devoucoux Hunter Derby was Nick Haness of Coto de Caza, California, who rode Catwalk to a second-place finish, and piloted Granada to the yellow ribbon. Swingtime, ridden by Hope Glynn of Sonoma, California finished fourth to round out the top five in a class that delighted both exhibitors and spectators.

"We had a bunch in the class," said Glynn, who has 23 horses at HITS Thermal for the first half of the circuit. "It was very exciting to be able to draw some excitement in the hunter ring. It’s a great format and being able to show in a weekly Hunter Derby is going to be a lot of fun."

This year, the all-new Devoucoux Hunter Derby will be a featured event at both the HITS Desert Circuit and the HITS Ocala Winter Circuit in Ocala, Florida, and represents the 13th division to count for points in the Marshall & Sterling League. In addition to the $10,000 classes at HITS winter shows in Thermal and Ocala, qualifying classes for the Devoucoux Hunter Derby will also be offered at the HITS Culpeper and HITS Saugerties shows this spring and summer. HITS has also invited a select number of additional horse shows in the Northeast to add the Devoucoux Hunter Derby to their show schedules in order to facilitate the growth of the class and to provide further qualifying opportunities for the Marshall & Sterling League National Finals. The Devoucoux Derby Finals will be offered at the 2010 Marshall & Sterling League National Finals on September 16-19 in Saugerties, New York. For a complete list of horse shows offering the Devoucoux Derby for Marshall & Sterling points, please click here.

Hunter riders will get another chance to compete in this special class during Desert Circuit II when the $10,000 Devoucoux Hunter Derby returns on Sunday, February 6.

Show jumping at the HITS Desert Circuit will resume tomorrow with Desert Circuit II. In addition to the next installment of the Devoucoux Derby, highlighting the week for jumpers will be three Pfizer Million Qualifying Grand Prix events, including the first of four FEI World Cup Qualifiers when the $50,000 Strongid® C2 X Grand Prix takes the stage in the covered arena on Saturday night. Top equestrians are expected to compete, including Olympians McLain Ward, Jill Henselwood and John Pearce.