Lucy Deslauriers and Hester -  Al Cook Photo

Harrisburg, PA - Lucy Deslauriers is having one of the most amazing weeks of her life competing at the 70th Annual Pennsylvania National Horse Show.  Riding Hester, owned by Lisa Deslauriers, she clinched the gold medal in the Neue Schule/USEF Junior Jumper Individual Championship on Saturday, was a member of the gold medal winning team in the Neue Schule/USEF Prix de States Junior Jumper Team Championship and won the William C. Steinkraus Style of Riding award.

"It's been an incredible week!" said Deslauriers. "I am so lucky to not only have Hester but just to come up with this result. I couldn't have asked more of my horse.  He was really, really amazing all week and I am just really thankful."

Deslauriers,16, of New York, NY, won the individual title without ever lowering the height of a fence through all three phases of the Championship, but she still felt incredibly lucky.  She finished second in Phase I, the speed class, by crossing the timers a little slower than Victoria Colvin, 17, and Cafino owned by Take the High Road, LLC, on Thursday.  Colvin was less fortunate in the final round having an uncharacteristic rail down a rail at fence 11 surprising Deslauriers. 

"I definitely felt lucky. Tori is definitely one that you can almost always count on to put in a solid clear round," said Deslauriers.  "I was hoping she would have a rail down but it definitely wasn't something I could bank on because she is always so on top of it."

That rail forced a jump off between Colvin and Vivian Yowan, 17, of Lexington, KY on Vornado van den Hoendrik, owned by Stone Hill Farm, who also had four faults as a result of three point score coming into Phase III of the Championship and one time fault that she incurred in the final round. Colvin won the jump off and the silver, Yowan took the bronze. For Colvin the medal was bittersweet.

"All week he has been amazing," said Colvin of her 12-year-old Swedish Warmblood. "He has been clean in every round. I think he just clipped it with his front feet; it was kind of like a cheap rail. He jumped the rest amazingly and didn't touch another jump... He's probably my favorite horse to ride."

Deslauriers has a chance to garner more medals as she will also be competing in the Pessoa/US Hunter Seat Medal Final on Sunday.  However, her focus has been on the jumper divisions, in part due to her roots.  Lucy's mother is Lisa Tarnopol, an accomplished grand prix rider and her dad Mario is an Olympic veteran who also holds the record as the youngest rider ever to win the FEI World Cup Final, a record that still stands today. 

"By nature with both my parents in the jumper world I've definitely focused on the jumpers a lot," said Deslauriers. "This was definitely a big goal for us this year, we had our hopes up and tried to stick to our plan and this was definitely the icing on the cake."