Exclusive, owned by Isalou, Inc. and shown by Jimmy Torano, won the USHJA International Hunter Derby presented by Eastern Hay & Grain and Purina Animal Nutrition Sunday at the I Love New York Horse Show, the second week of the 49th annual Lake Placid Horse Shows, presented by Sea Shore Stables, LLC and sponsored by Bainbridge Farms, LLC.
Jimmy Torano and Exclusive. Photo by The Book LLC
Exclusive received a two-round total of 374.5 points from the two judging panels of Rachel Kennedy with Joe Dotoli and Julie Winkle with Tom Brennan to win Lake Placid’s culminating hunter competition. After the first round, Exclusive had been sitting second to LaFitte De Muze, owned by Cheryl Olsten and shown by Amanda Steege, but an impressive score of 197 in Round 2 outscored LaFitte De Muze by five points to give Exclusive the win for the second straight year and make it three years in a row for Torano.
“This is a horse that actually does the 3’3″ amateurs and hasn’t jumped over 3’3″ since we did this class last year,” said Torano. “He’s been doing the amateurs with Daryl Portela who owns him and we just decided to do this Derby yesterday. He came out and jumped really well. He was great in the handy and he was neat everywhere and luckily they gave us the nine bonus points. It was just a great ride.”
Photo by The Book LLC
Steege was equally happy with her horse who finished with a two-round score of 370 after receiving the highest base score in both rounds. “LaFitte is just learning how to do the derby and I didn’t want to push him,” she said. “I chose to do just one of the high options because jumping 3’9″ is already something new for him. I’d rather be patient and bring him along slowly as he’s going to be something really special.”