A highly competitive field of 17 horses from across Canada will contest two Hunter Derby classes at this year’s Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. The $15,000 Braeburn Farms Hunter Derby will be held Sunday, November 6th at 1pm ET, and the $25,000 Knightwood Hunter Derby for the Lorna Jean Guthrie trophy will be held on Tuesday, November 8th at 7pm ET.
A star-studded field includes not only the best derby horses in the country, but several past Canadian Hunter Derby National Champions, Eastern Champions and 4 winners of Grand Prixs in 2016!
Riders to watch include 2015 Canadian Hunter Derby National Champion, regular Grand Prix rider and 2016 Grand Prix winner Erynn Ballard on a new highly competitive horse, Hide Away.
The 2016 Eastern Champion, Say When, owned by Danny Baron will be piloted by Darcy Hayes. Say When competed in last year’s USHJA Derby Championships with great results and was also 2nd in the $50,000 International Hunter Derby at WEF. Hayes will also be riding the Eastern Reserve Champion, Crush, who was the 2016 Ontario Amateur Owner Hunter Champion with Cawthra Burns.
Two time National Champion Ryan Roy will compete Bayridge in his sixth national finals. The pair are the winningest combination in Canadian Hunter Derby History and trained by Randy Roy.
Other talented and successful riders include Cawthra Burns, Muffie Guthrie, Sam Pegg, Sam Walker, Isabelle Lapierre, Carly Campbell-Cooper, and more.
Jump sponsors have once again generously supported a top level set of derby jumps, presenting several new jumps, refreshed old favorites and the black Riviera gate w/swoop rail that is always the same.
More from Horse Sport:
