Edited Press Release
It was the four-year-olds’ time to shine Thursday morning in the USHJA Young Jumper Championships as 13 top young horses took to the Four-Year-Old First Final to display style and jumping abilities to claim top honors. At the conclusion of jumping, it was Nacho, owned by North Star and ridden by Aaron Perrin, who emerged the winner. The 2018 Dutch Warmblood gelding (Berlin x ) was bred by A.C. Smolders in the Netherlands.
Judged over two days of competition, four-year-old jumpers were put to the test over a course of fences set between .90m and 1.0m in height. Horses were awarded points based on jumping penalties and style points throughout the First Qualifier and the Final to determine their overall scores.
Perrin and Nacho were last on course in the Final, bringing with them a score of 65 from the First Qualifier. After jumping the final round, they added a score of 65.5, for a two-round total of 130.5 and the win by five points.
Reserve championship honors, as well as award for the highest-placing American-bred horse, went to Cuhrious Munny, ridden by Taylor Flury to a score of 125.5 overall. Flury had the ride aboard Aliboo Farm Inc.’s 2018 Oldenburg gelding (Carrasca Z x Up To Date), bred by Muny Sunk Stables Inc.
Just behind on a score of 124.5 was HFF Deep Pockets, a Holsteiner gelding (Diamant de Semilly out of Sienna) owned by High Finance Farm and bred by Nagel Bjoern, taking the third place position with Lauren Ditallo aboard.
Perrin has not had the ride aboard Nacho for long, but has come to know the young horse quickly. “He’s really starting to develop now and has started to get a lot stronger,” he said about the horse’s progression. “He still has a bit to go but I think he will be a really good horse in the next few years and hopefully a top horse for the future. He’s got a great way of jumping, he’s got a very good brain, he’s careful, he’s got a good canter, and he really likes the work.”
The course, set by Germany’s Olaf Petersen, Jr., took the young horses on a tour through the entire Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel International Ring, following three minutes of flatwork to show off the horses and get them accustomed to the atmosphere.
“I just kept on the rhythm and kept him straight,” Parrin said of his plan for the day. “It was a long, twisty course so to keep moving and try to show him off as best I can.”
Parrin, who works for Joan Jacobs and Greg Broderick, is used to campaigning young horses and has several rides among the 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds in the 2022 USHJA Young Jumper Championships. “It’s nice to start when they’re young and have them for a few years bringing them up through the levels,” he remarked. “You get to know the horse and it’s a good way to bond and create a good partnership.”
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Whitethorne LLC always carries a number of high-quality Hunters, Jumpers and Equitation horses for sale or lease in Southern California. All of these horses are personally chosen by Georgy Maskrey-Segesman and her partner in Germany, and represent some of the best competition horses available in Europe for every level of competition in Hunters, Equitation, and Jumpers. Georgy travels to Europe several times per year and together with her partner in Germany, selects the best of the horses available in Germany and Holland and several other countries in Europe, and imports them to Whitethorne Ranch where they are available for sale or lease.
