Thermal, CA – March 7, 2025 – Lily Sonneborn and Nick Haness each arrived at the Main Hunter Ring at the Desert International Horse Park just in time to take home $10,000 USHJA National Hunt & Go Derby wins.
Sonneborn had just made it to Thermal, CA, from her home in Washington, D.C. less than 24 hours prior to when she rode Guess Who to victory in the $10,000 USHJA National Hunt & Go Derby – Junior/Amateur, sponsored by Renaissance.
For Haness, less than two hours after he topped the day’s $49,900 USHJA International Hunter Derby, he brought home his fourth consecutive National Hunter Derby victory aboard Navarino in the $10,000 USHJA National Hunt & Go Derby – Open, sponsored by Vogel.
“I live in D.C. full time, so it was a bit of a trek out here, but it’s so worth it!” said Sonneborn who made the trip from the East Coast on Thursday evening. “I love the show, and I love the area.”
Sonneborn continued, “I loved the course. Hunt & go derbies are so fun because you get to really show off the duality of your horse. You get the classic round for the nice jumping style and then the handy round to really make some tight turns. I liked that [today] there were options for tracks. I took some of the more handy tracks, took some risks, and I think it paid off.”
Sooneborn has been partnered with her winning mount, Guess Who, for just a few months, having acquired the 10-year-old Holsteiner gelding, owned by Andesite Equestrian, earlier this year.
“He has been such a blessing for me. He came from Irene Neuwirth, so he’s used to being in California!” said Sooneborn, who spent the first half of the winter season competing in Florida. “He’s just the sweetest thing ever. He tries so hard in the ring. He really wants to win whenever I go out, and he really takes care of me. I haven’t been jumping 3’6” for that long. So, for him to be my move-up horse, I’m so lucky to have him.”
In addition to her win aboard Guess Who, Sonneborn also took home second place with Spoken, her 10-year-old Brandenburg gelding. For full results of the $10,000 USHJA National Hunt & Go Derby – Junior/Amateur, sponsored by Renaissance, click here.
In the $10,000 USHJA National Hunt & Go Derby – Open, sponsored by Vogel, Haness came to the ring nearly straight from winning the $49,900 USHJA International Hunter Derby to jump straight to the top of another leaderboard.
Aboard the 7-year-old Dutch Warmblood, Navarino, Haness has now earned four derby wins this winter at Desert Circuit. So, even with limited preparation, the stallion knew what to do on Friday.
“To be honest, I missed the course walk and didn’t get to watch much of the class because I was in the International Derby,” explained Haness. “I came over and quickly learned the course. My horse had a very gentle week this week. We skipped the division and just did one warm-up class yesterday and then just thought we’d be ready to go for the derby today. So, I have to say, we were pretty unprepared, but this horse is a magical creature. I completely trust in him; I believe in him, and I think he believes in me, so we had a great teamwork effort today to have a great result.”
Of Navarino, owned by Brianne Tsakopoulos, Haness added, “I think if he were to be a person, he would be like the number one world male model in the universe…He’d be a businessman with a side of male model. He’d be totally confident, walk that runway and just be so full of himself and know that everybody was staring at him. That’s just how he goes. He’s so funny. He’s so confident in himself. He’s a stallion so he definitely on his days off is a little more perky with his friends in the arena. He’s very social, but when it comes down to it, he is a business man. He knows when it’s time to go to the ring. The minute he walks through the ingate, all of those stallion tendencies just disappear. He knows there’s a task to focus on.
Finishing in second place behind Navarino were Simon Schroeder and In the End. To see the final results of the $10,000 USHJA National Hunt & Go Derby – Open, sponsored by Vogel, click here.
