The SBS Farms team traveled to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington for the Bluegrass Festival Horse Show and the USHJA International Hunter Derby and Green Hunter Incentive Championships.
Sharon O'Neill's Miss Lucy continued to impress with Jennifer Alfano aboard. The pair placed an impressive eighth in the Classic Round of the $289,730 USHJA International Hunter Derby Championship on August 17. The pair returned the following day for the Handy, where they placed 16th and 14th overall.
Miss Lucy, the 2016 champion with Kristy Herrera aboard, continues to add to her resume even at the mature age of 16. The chestnut Hanoverian picked up impressive Derby placings at the Pin Oak Horse Show in Texas this spring before adding to her lifetime earnings at Kentucky Spring, Country Heir and the Chagrin Hunter Jumper Classic in Ohio.
Jen also guided her own Candid to a solid performance in the Derby Classic Round despite the disadvantage of competing in a torrential downpour.
Miss Lucy and Jennifer Alfano
In the 2018 USHJA International Hunter Derby money-won standings, Miss Lucy and Jen finished fourth with $24,115. That total also helped them solidly into fourth in the USHJA International Hunter Derby Lifetime Standings with $213,425 in prize money. SBS Farms' Jersey Boy, now retired, still holds the lead, with $297,851 in lifetime earnings.
Jen was also recognized center ring prior to the Handy Round as the USHJA honored the past winners of the Championship during the 10th anniversary celebration.
Jen Alfano, third from left, with the past winners of the USHJA International Hunter Derby Championships, from left, John French, Hunt Tosh, Liza Boyd, Kristy Herrera and Tori Colvin.
In the USHJA Green Hunter Incentive Championship, Jen guided Kathy Chiaf's Kindred, Molly Gfroerer's Fortune, Debbie Marks' Fairlife and Sharon O'Neill's Talladega to solid performances and gained valuable mileage in the expansive Walnut Ring at the Kentucky Horse Park.
Kindred qualified for the top 30 Championship Round out of 146 starters and finished in 22nd place, earning $929 in prize money.
