Derby Winner at Dallas Harvest
THE CHRONICLE - Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

COURTNEY CALCAGNINI was sitting in first place going into the handy round of the $10,000 The Chronicle of the Horse/USHJA International Hunter Derby at the Dallas Harvest Horse Show on Oct. 30. But the 26-year-old was worried-and not because she was leading by a mere 3.5 points.

Last among the riders to go into the ring, Calcagnini fretted that encroaching twilight in the unlit arena at Texas Rose Park in Tyler could prevent her horse, Curtain Call, from seeing the first obstacle.

"There were two options for that jump," Calcagnini recalled, "and both of them were very natural in color. I was afraid the darkness would make them hard to see."

Calcagnini's fears were put to rest, however, when "Lorenzo" confidently galloped across the ring and sailed right over the higher option. At that point, Calcagnini knew the rest of the course would probably ride just fine. She was right.

Lorenzo and Calcagnini swept both rounds (the classic and the handy) for their first derby win, racking up 390 points and besting 36 competitors, including several professionals who were competing before Calcagnini was born.

Tracy Fenney finished second on Clooney (371.5), ahead of third-placed Peter Pletcher on Westview.

Prior to the Dallas Harvest, Calcagnini and Lorenzo had never placed higher than third in a derby, although they finished a respectable 11th at the $100,000 ASG Software Solutions/USHJA International Hunter Derby Finals in Kentucky in August.

Shannon and Hershel Reid of Pilot Point, Texas, own Lorenzo, a 10-year-old Selle Francais. The Reids and their 14-year-old daughter, Taylor, live on a farm just down the road from the 12-acre farm owned by Calcagnini and her husband, Stefano, a reining horse trainer.

Calcagnini and the Reids met in the summer of 2008, when Hershel showed up at Calcagnini's barn. "He asked if I taught lessons," Calcagnini said, "because he'd seen my jumps from the road."

Hershel's inquiry was on behalf of Taylor, who had just started riding English. (The youngster already knew how to ride western, influenced by her mother Shannon's elite-level involvement in National Reined Cow Horse Association competitions).

So Calcagnini took on Taylor as a student and began teaching Shannon to ride English as well. The family acquired a few hunters and started going to shows with Calcagnini. Last February, while Taylor was showing in the Gulf Coast Winter Series (Miss.), Calcagnini was actively seeking a suitable mount for Shannon.

"My goal was to locate the best adult amateur hunter I could find," Calcagnini stated. "We had been looking for three weeks but hadn't found anything."

But during the final day of the final weekend, a trainer advised Calcagnini to look at Lorenzo, who had won champion and reserve in the regular working hunter division on two consecutive weekends in Gulfport.

Canadian show jumping Olympic gold medalist Eric Lamaze had imported the horse as a jumper prospect for a client-but it turned out Lorenzo didn't have the necessary speed.

Calcagnini and Taylor tried Lorenzo, and Calcagnini quickly realized that the 16.1-hand chestnut had all the traits she was looking for in a horse for Shannon. A pre-purchase exam was quickly arranged, and Lorenzo hopped aboard the Reid's van the next day for the trip back to Texas.

It didn't take long for Calcagnini and the Reids to realize what a prize they had in Lorenzo. The gelding is still intended to be an adult hunter for Shannon (and a junior hunter for Taylor), but first, Taylor rode Lorenzo in the children's hunter at several shows-and Calcagnini began campaigning the versatile horse in the regular working division.

In that division on the national scene, Calcagnini and Lorenzo are making their mark: As of press time, Lorenzo was in second place in U.S. Equestrian Federation national standings, having earned an impressive 12 tricolors to date at shows in Texas, Kentucky, Mississippi and Oklahoma. (Two of these tricolors were won earlier this season while the horse was still owned by Shale Harper).

"He has the best mind in the whole world," Calcagnini said of Lorenzo, "a great canter and a great jump. He will jump anything from anywhere. He's a saint. He's really smart, and he's so sweet."

"When we did the derby finals," Calcagnini continued, "I had no idea how he'd be because I started him in the regular working at Pin Oak and Spring Gathering (two Texas shows that are held each March), after just having him for a couple of weeks. But he's been just awesome all year long."

Calcagnini thought Patrick Rodes' course at Dallas Harvest was straightforward, without any traps.

"And Tyler's such a great facility. It had rained really hard the night before, but by the time we did the derby on Friday afternoon, the footing was perfect," she said.

Calcagnini chose all the four-foot options. "They're so easy for Lorenzo," she said. "The first round was plenty difficult enough, but it didn't overface any of the horses or riders."

A loose cluster of four skinny, free standing artificial trees, about 10 feet tall, caused a few spooks. The trees, made of wooden lattice interwoven with cedar brush, were positioned such that riders couldn't avoid cantering through them twice in each round, unless they wanted to risk taking an awkward detour.

"Lorenzo was fine with those," Calcagnini said. "But fence 4 to fence 5 down the diagonal was a rather long five stride, and a lot of horses spooked a bit there."

Riders tackled the long bending line up the middle from fence 6 to fence 7 in distances ranging from 9 to 11 strides.

"That line posed a problem for some horses," Calcagnini observed, "but Lorenzo did it in a nice 10."

After option fence 8, horses were routed through the trees again, followed by a left curve to another option fence.

"That was really hard," Calcagnini admitted, "because you went through the trees, and the horses didn't see the oxer until it was right in front of them. If you had a horses that stuttered or looked a little bit, that made it difficult."

Calcagnini said her horse's consistency helped her win the first round. "He never changed his canter, never went too fast or too slow," she said. "That's how I like to do the derbies, because you can start off with a good solid score."

As usual, the handy round brought back the top 12 horse-and-rider combinations and upped the ante on the degree of difficulty. The tree maze was still there, as were two unrelated trot fences and a large log to walk over.

"Both of the trot fences (7 and 9) were difficult," Calcagnini noted. "The first trot fence came right after an oxer option, fence (6), and right after the trot fence you had to gallop through the trees again, then jump another option fence (8). That was a spot where some horses got lost a little bit. The second trot fence was a tall, kind of spooky wall.

"In the handy round," Calcagnini continued, "a lot of people like to gallop fast. I like to have a nice forward gallop, too, but I also like to be smooth and efficient and make good turns. Lorenzo galloped over the jumps, but he never changed his stride in the handy, either. His trot transitions were really smooth-he never shook his head or opened his mouth. He went right from the canter to the trot and right from the trot to the walk. He's so well-broke!"

Calcagnini keeps Lorenzo at her farm, along with 15 horses belonging to clients and 35 reining horses under her husband's care. "He's a funny horse," she said, because he's very particular about people. He likes the people who are closest to him, but he's not friendly with just anyone. I taught him how to roll up his lip if he wants a treat. He's the coolest horse! His stall is right in the front of our barn, and he talks to everybody. He also demands to be the first one turned out."

Fenney and her husband Mike McCormick trained Calcagnini when she was a junior, after which Calcagnini did a stint as a working student for Texas trainer Colleen McQuay.

Calcagnini confessed it was a "great feeling" to edge out Fenney in the derby, but added: "Both Mike and Tracy are so supportive. They were super happy for me. And I've finished in derbies behind Peter (Pletcher) three times, so (placing ahead of him) was amazing for me too. He's an awesome rider with amazing horses."

Said Fenney: "Courtney rode well at the derby finals, so it's nice that she came here with that same horse and won. She has a great clientele right now that's given her the opportunity to go in the ring a lot, and there's no better experience than that."

Fenney's own experience in the ring at Tyler included a win in the $25,000 Grand Prix of Dallas as well as the runner-up spot in the hunter derby with Clooney, a notable feat in the 37-horse field, considering it was only Fenney's fifth time on the horse's back.

Owner Christian Rogge of Top Line Sporthorse International sent Clooney to Fenney and McCormick earlier this fall. At the Dallas Harvest, Fenney entered the 7-year-old Holsteiner in some warm-up classes "to kind of see what we had" before riding the gelding to a reserve championship in the green working division. Then came the derby.

"When I first got on him," Fenney said, "he was a little bit naughty, but we got that out of the way and he was just perfect in the ring."

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 2010-01-11

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