Thermal, CA – February 28, 2025 — Nick Haness and Navarino are now three for three on USHJA National Hunter Derby victories at the Desert International Horse Park. With the win in Friday, February 28’s $15,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby – Open, sponsored by Sea Horse Riding Club, Haness and the 7-year-old stallion have kept their perfect streak alive.
“This is his third derby of his life, and he has won now all three of them,” said Haness of Navarino, owned by Brianne Tsakopoulos. “We’re just very ecstatic about his future, his brain, his ability, his style, his technique and how brave he is – just all such great qualities in this horse.”
This time, Haness and Navarino not only took home the top honor, they did so by an impressively large margin, earning scores of 97 and 98 for a total score of 195. Second place with an overall score of 179 (87 + 92) went to Katrina Karazissis and Big Shot, owned by Dulcie Lou Morris. Rounding out the top three with scores of 91 and 87 for a 178 total were Lindsay Ransom and Only Good Vibes, owned by Elizabeth Oliver.
“[Navarino] is just an amazing competitor, and he doesn’t even get nervous one bit in the pressure,” said Haness of the stallion sired by Jenkins, a horse that Haness has also competed to great success. “He came in today with a high score of 97. That’s definitely pressure for round two for the handy round, and he just walked in there and did everything I asked him to do and scored even him a little bit better and got a 98.
“This was quite a nice handy,” continued Haness. “It offered a lot of turns, which is a little bit harder for a horse like Navarino because he’s green. It’s probably the most challenging handy he’s done so far, with all of the aspects of the quick turning back to the jumps. He is such a brave horse, and he gets interested when it gets harder for him. The jumps are really full of bright flowers, which I think was exciting for Navarino because he just jumped better and better and better every jump.”
Following Navarino’s success this winter, the stallion has begun being collected for breeding, and Haness intends to compete him somewhat sparingly.
“The derbies have given him the right amount of confidence, and we’re going to be very selective this year with how much we show him,” said Haness. “We’re not doing too much because he is so confident; he is so natural. I don’t want to overdo it. We’re going to save him for the important and higher prize money events and target those championships later this summer and throughout the rest of the year. Hopefully next year we have a refreshed horse that has good, confident mileage from this year, and we can go to the top!”
For complete results of the $15,000 USHJA National Hunter Derby – Open, sponsored by Sea Horse Riding Club, click here.
