Augusta Iwasaki and Magic In The Making Cast a Spell in $25,000 USHJA Platinum Performance International Hunter Derby, presented by Copper Fox
Week four of the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival, presented by B&D Builders, came to a close on Sunday, this time with hunter competitors taking up the afternoon spotlight. The $25,000 USHJA Platinum Performance International Hunter Derby, presented by Copper Fox, hosted the week’s top hunter riders as they showed up and showed out across Andy Christiansen (ECU) designed courses. Twenty-year-old Augusta Iwasaki of Calabasas, CA, and Magic In The Making came out on top with a combined two-round score of 368.
The class consisted of a classic round with the top-12 returning for the handy round, which was evaluated by two panels of judges. Panel one included Tammy Provost and Connie Stevens, while panel two’s scores came from Meg MacCallum and Kim Williams. Iwasaki sat on top in the classic round on a score of 186 and remained in the blue after scoring a 182 in the handy round.
“I haven’t been riding him for very long and this is our second international derby together,” commented Iwasaki. “It was really fun to test out his handy round capabilities before we go to [Platinum Performance/USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship] in a few weeks.” “He’s as brave as it gets. He hasn’t been doing this long and I’ve never had him spook at anything or be nervous in any situation. I also think his canter and the way he goes across the ground is so beautiful.”
Magic in the Making, owned by Redfield Farms, is an up-and-coming eight-year-old Selle Français gelding (by Diamant de Semilly) that also earned the Platinum Performance Hunter Horse of the Week title. The mount wasn’t always destined for the hunter arena after being imported as a jumper, however, with talents that spoke for themselves, he quickly took to hunter ring expectations.
“He started out with one of our clients and we were thinking of maybe making him an equitation horse,” she explained. “Then we started doing him in some hunter classes just to get him acclimated and we realized he was really good at it. After that, we changed our tune a little bit.”
Speaking to Sunday’s course, Iwasaki noted, “There weren’t any crazy opportunities to be extra handy in this course so I was trying to be as tidy as I could; he is really good at slicing the jumps and I think it makes him jump even better.”
The afternoon’s event brought more success for the Iwasaki & Reilly family as their own 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare Small Safari (by Vigo D’Arsoulilles) earned second place with professional Jacob Pope of Columbia, MD, aboard. Pope piloted the mare home on a two-round total of 367 points after accumulating a 178-point score in the classic round and 189 points for his efforts in the handy round. Pope wasn’t done however, and rounded out the top three with his second of three mounts, Combat. With a classic round score of 178 and a handy round that earned him an additional 182 points, he and the Kisma Equestrian-owned nine-year-old Holsteiner gelding( by Cornet Obolen) totaled their two trips with a final score of 360 points.
Pope had one more title to claim to close out his week in Michigan as he and Don Stewart’s seven-year-old Belgian Warmblood stallion, Your Welcome BC (by Toulon), rode straight to the top of the leaderboard in the $10,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby, presented by Fayetteville Farm. Against 14 well-seasoned entries, the busy young professional navigated two flawless rounds to finish with a total score of 189 points.
With a whopping 38 pairings vying for the blue ribbon in the $5,000 Junior/Amateur National Hunter Derby, presented by Makoto Farm & Walkenbach Equestrian, Lisa Williams rounded out Sunday’s hunter derby action. Totaling a two-round score of 183.5 points, she and her own 10-year-old KWPN gelding, Jupiter Rubie Noir (by Vigo D’Arsouille), received the lion’s share of the prize money.
Highlighting the final afternoon of GLEF IV, charity ticket partner, Food Rescue – Goodwill Northern Michigan, was presented with $3,865 from general admission ticket-sale proceeds as part of Traverse City Horse Shows Charity Ticket Program.
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