Riders who brought their "A" Game to Sunday's Opening Day at the 42nd Hampton Classic were rewarded financially, with all fifteen fault-free rounds finishing in the money in the $30,000 Boar's Head Jumper Challenge presented by Dan's Papers.

Topping the leaderboard of the 60 starters in the one-round, 1.40 meter speed class was Great Britain's Amanda Derbyshire with Lady Maria BH, an 11-year-old Holsteiner mare owned by Gochman Sport Horse LLC, who has been Derbyshire's partner for just two years. The pair shaved seconds off their time by leaving out strides to finish in a time of 58.467 seconds.

"I had the advantage of going quite late in the order, so I was able to watch a lot of the class," said Derbyshire. "There were a lot of options to leave strides out down the lines, and Lady Maria has such a large stride. That's always an advantage. She's a fast horse, and she's very versatile. I can take her in a speed class, and she will try her heart out, or I can take her in a little bigger class and she never tries to not jump the jumps. You can turn up and you know she's going to try and make it to the other side."

Also drawing the advantage of a late starting position was second place finisher Brianne Goutal of Royal Palm Beach, FL, with the 21-year-old Onira owned by Remarkable Farms. 

The crowd gave a resounding cheer watching Goutal cross the timers in 59.121 seconds, as it had been announced this would be Onira's final competition before retirement. 

Goutal could not help but smile when asked about retiring him when he still finishes so well in the top competitions. "I guess it is bitter sweet," she said. "He's done so many big classes, he has won so many classes and everything I did first I did them with him. The equitation finals, my first grand prix, my first World Cup Finals. I'm really proud I've had him for so long, he is 21 and retiring on a day like today where it's against 60 horses and still has a real chance of contending. He has really been an honor to have." 

Rounding out the top three was Ireland's Richie Moloney with Slieveanorra, hot on Goutal's heels with a time of 59.246 seconds.

Source: Press release from Hampton Classic Horse Show // Picture  © The Book LLC