In real estate, it’s all about location, location, location. In the hunter derby ring at the Summer Fort Welcome, it was all about rotation, rotation, rotation for Nicole Bourgeois.
The Oregon‑based professional brought four mounts forward in the Amy Brattebo Real Estate Canadian Hunt and Go Derby Open 3’6″ on Thursday, riding all four to 100 scores and into the top six. It was a masterclass in consistency.
First in the ring, Bourgeois’s kicked off the competition with July’s back-to-back derby winner at tbird, Mc Queen, and jumped to a score 100. It was ultimately good enough for sixth. Her scores continued to rise with her second and third rides—Nantucket Bay, 107, and Vino Bianco, 108. Bourgeois closed the class on Stout and narrowly missed out on a podium sweep with a score 105, edged out by Quinn Partridge (USA) and By the Numbers’s 106.
The Hunt & Go Derby format is a single‑round competition that seamlessly blends the Classic and Handy hunter rounds into one uninterrupted trip, rewarding handiness, adjustability, and boldness. Bourgeois and her winning mount Vino Bianco (aka “Zoe”) navigated the winding 13‑effort course with seamless flow, executing inside turns, bold pace, a smooth trot fence, and all four high options. But it was her inside turn from the fence two to three that she says clinched it.
“Zoe did that really well,” Bourgeois said. “She’s really good at slicing [fences] like that. And she’s also just such a handy horse. She and I have had many years of togetherness at this point, so we are kind of on the same page always.”
Vino Bianco, owned by Hilary Sosne, was fresh off a break before returning to the ring this week at tbird. “She actually hasn’t shown since Thermal because her owner just had a baby. This is her first show back in action, getting ready for her mom to take over shortly.”
Of the variety across her string, Bourgeois added: “Three of those horses I’ve ridden a ton and then the horse I was second on, Nantucket Bay, it was my first derby on him. So I had a lot of seasoned ones and then I had one that I have never shown up until this week—it was kind of nice to have a little bit of a different [challenge].”
The Amy Brattebo Real Estate Canadian Hunt & Go Derby series concludes September 11 with the Finals at tbird’s Harvest Celebration.
Amy Brattebo Real Estate Canadian Hunt & Go Derby Open 3’6″
| Rank | Horse | Rider | Nation | Owner | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VINO BIANCO | NICOLE BOURGEOIS | USA | HILARY SOSNE | 108 |
| 2 | NANTUCKET BAY | NICOLE BOURGEOIS | USA | DAPHNE STAVIG | 107 |
| 3 | BY THE NUMBERS | QUINN PARTRIDGE | USA | ASPEN HILL FARM LLC | 106 |
| 4 | STOUT | NICOLE BOURGEOIS | USA | HILARY SOSNE | 105 |
| 5 | HEARTVIT ZH | TRACEY EPP | CAN | TRACEY EPP | 103 |
| 6 | MC QUEEN | NICOLE BOURGEOIS | USA | BARB LOVRE | 100 |
| 7 | MACALLAN 1926 | AVERY WORTHINGTON | USA | AVERY WORTHINGTON | 98 |
| 8 | HHS CORNETS LADY | MAIREAD GURNEY | CAN | MICHELLE HANBURY | 95 |
| 9 | KLASSE ONE | TRACEY EPP | CAN | TRACEY EPP | 89 |
| 10 | BP SCARLET | JULIA STANLEY | CAN | JULIA STANLEY | 86 |
Photo credit: Viola Mitchell Photography
