Kim Barone of Loxahatchee, Florida, and Dialicious, an eight-year-old Brandenburg gelding owned by Cynthia Bulwicz, topped the $10,000 WEC Ocala 3’ Hunter Derby. The dynamic pair that have partnered together for four years faced a competitive field of 36 horse-and-rider combinations.
Dialicious and Barone started off the competition well with a first-round score of 88, the second highest score in round one. For the second round, Barone changed her plan.
“I did not plan to be so handy when I walked it, but after watching several riders, I realized I was going to have to be really handy,” she admitted.
“I solidified the daredevil plan that I was avoiding before,” she said with a laugh, “but I think you had to do it to stay competitive. From [fences] five to six to seven, having to go inside, slice the oxer, and inside again was not something that I wanted to do, but I felt like I had to in order to be competitive.”
With that change in plan, Barone and Dialicious earned the highest handy round score of 90, for a two-round total of 178 for the win.
Carlee McCutcheon also delivered great rounds in the class aboard Explanation (Casall x Inken 1), her own 10-year-old Holsteiner mare. Their first round score of 87 and beautiful handy round, which scored 89, gave McCutcheon her second red ribbon of the day after a two-round total of 176.
Lily Toensing of Reddick, Florida, and Adelaide Toensing’s Consanto earned a first-round score of 84. Toensing and Consanto, a 13-year-old Holsteiner gelding, returned for the handy round and received a second-round score of 88 for a total of 172 to secure a third-place finish.
$10,000 WEC 3′ Hunter Derby Results
1 Dialicious, Kim Barone – 88 | 90 | 178
2 Explanation, Carlee McCutcheon – 87 | 89 | 176
3 Consanto, Lily Toensing – 84 | 88 | 172
4 FairFax, Robin Swinderman Mitchell – 86.5 | 85 | 171.5
5 Cypress, Timothy Maddrix – 89 | 81 | 170
6 My Way, Shannon Dickinson – 86 | 83 | 169
7 In the Black, Hanna Toering – 82 | 86 | 168
8 Baron Von Der 1, Samantha Senft – 83 | 79 | 162
9 Silhouette, Lee D. Cesery – 85 | 76 | 161
10 Get Rhythm, Erin McCabe Clayton – 79 | 80 | 159
Photos courtesy of Andrew Ryback Photography.
