Natalie Rae Medlock & Luciano Earn Top Honors in $7,500 USHJA National Hunter Derby – Jr/Am, sponsored by Round Meadow Farm

Photo © ESI Photography

For Immediate Release:

THERMAL, Calif. – February 28, 2020 – Natalie Rae Medlock (Orange, CA) and her own Luciano shared their second derby win in a row after earning top honors in this week’s $7,500 USHJA National Hunter Derby – Junior/Amateur section, sponsored by Round Meadow Farm, with scores of 89 and 94. Cathy Morris-Schmitt (Greenwood Vlg, CO) and her own Andover earned reserve honors with scores of 94 and 84. Samantha Cristy (Sammamish, WA) and For Adventure, owned by Cristy, rode for third place with scores of 87 and 89.

Photo © ESI Photography

Medlock has owned the eleven-year-old gelding for four years now. “I imported him […] and I’ve just brought him up from the smaller hunter divisions to here [the National Derbies],” explained Medlock. “We currently compete in the 3’3” A-O Hunters.”

Medlock sat in the third position heading into the Handy round and credits the win to her teammate: “I think he [Luciano] held it together for me; there weren’t a ton of places for inside turns, so I wanted to take the couple risks we could and stay solid,” Medlock shared.

The pair will continue to compete at Desert Circuit Week VI and will be back Week VII to compete in the $5,000 USHJA National Derby again.

About the Desert International Horse Park

With nearly 1.3 million square feet of competition and riding space, the Desert International Horse Park is one of the largest equestrian facilities in North America. Offering multiple weeks of world-class equestrian competition from October through March, the facility is a destination location for thousands of equestrians, their horses, family and friends for several months annually. Competitors from all over the world travel to Thermal, CA to not only compete but to enjoy everything the desert has to offer.