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.
For complete results, click here.

JJ Torano Claims Dudley B. Smith Equitation Championship Title
Fourteen-year-old JJ Torano of Wellington, FL, was the first to don a blue ribbon in the Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel International Ring on the final day of week four at the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival, presented by B&D Builders. After scoring his first grand prix win earlier in the week, Torano guided Favorite Edition Z to top call in the coveted Dudley B. Smith Equitation Championship on Sunday.

“I was definitely feeling good after winning the grand prix on Friday, and I always feel like I have a good chance at winning if I’m riding him,” detailed Torano of The Lucky Four Group’s 12-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding, Favorite Edition Z (by Favorit Ask). “He went great for me; he has been foot perfect since I’ve had him. I can’t think of anything he hasn’t done for me since starting our partnership.”
The class consisted of three challenging rounds of competition judged by Tammy Provost and Samantha Schaefer. After two jumping rounds, the top three in the standings were invited back for a test over Andy Christiansen’s (ECU) track that included a trot fence, hand gallop, halt and counter canter questions. Torano delivered consistently across all three rounds, returning in second place for the final test.
“After the trot jump in the test, I landed the correct lead and did a flying change to the counterlead on the inside turn, I think that’s what really put me on top today,” Torano explained of his winning round. “We practiced a lot of things that could be in the test in the warm-up, but most importantly John [Brennan] and Missy [Clark] told me not to go crazy with it. They said to play it semi-safe going back in second place, so I did just as much as I needed, and it worked out.”

Torano is starting an already successful equitation career under the direction of Brennan and Clark’s North Run based in Vermont, alongside Torano’s father and U.S. grand prix rider, Jimmy, of JET Show Stables based in Florida.
At the completion of the test, Las Vegas, NV, native Ariana Marnell was named in third aboard North Run’s 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, Ironman (by Vittorio). Schuyler Dayner of Odessa, FL, who had been leading at the beginning of the test, accepted the second-place ribbon on Don Stewart’s nine-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding, Talk (by Thunder vd Zuuthoeve), leaving JJ to take home the blue ribbon.
For JJ, the class marks what he hopes is just the start of a prestigious equitation career with Favorite Edition Z as he looks towards indoors and various equitation finals in the fall. Competition will resume at the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival on Wednesday as elite young riders from across the globe gear up for another exciting year of the FEI North American Youth Championships.
For full results, click here.
Grooms Celebrated at GLEF
The grooms of the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival, presented by B&D Builders, were showcased in a Groom’s Class, presented by Meadowview Farm, on Sunday. Eleven grooms showcasedhunter or jumper mounts for evaluation of horse turnout, attention to detail and preparedness for competition.

In the jumper section, Juan Daniel Garcia Dominguez and Monaco took the top call. Dominguez grooms the Dapple LLC’s 6-year-old Selle Français gelding for various divisions including the Young Hunter Six and Under division as well as the 6-Year-Old Young Jumpers. Dominguez’s barn-mate Deigo Jesus Sandoval Cardona earned the winning honors for the hunter section, also with Dapple LLC’s seven-year-old Hanoverian gelding, Saint Tropez, who competes primarily in the Green Hunter divisions.

For full results, click here.