World Championship Hunter Rider (WCHR) Week at the 2026 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) came to a celebrated peak at Wellington International during ‘Saturday Night Lights’. The country’s best hunter combinations went head-to-head in the $150,000 WCHR Peter Wetherill Palm Beach Hunter Spectacular with a win for Victoria Colvin of Loxahatchee, FL, riding Dicoblue PS for owners John & Stephanie Ingram.

Photo – Victoria Colvin & Dicoblue PS. (©Sportfot)

Meghan Rawlins (CAN) designed the two-round class that allowed riders to show off their horses over a classic first round and then a handy track. The panel one judges were Alex Jayne and Shane George; panel two was Mary Lisa Leffler and Mary Eufemia; and panel three was Rob Bielefield and Tom Brennan. Entries for the ‘Saturday Night Lights’ class qualified by winning the champion title in their respective divisions at the 3’6” height or above.

Colvin and the 11-year-old Diarado’s Boy son posted a 95.66 from the opening round and a 97 in the handy, including a perfect 100 from panel three. She finished with a final average score of 95.83.

Non Fazed

“He is the best,” said Colvin of her winning mount, who also carried her to win the International Hunter Derby Championship this summer. “He has not been fazed by anything. He was great at Derby Finals under the lights and incredible again there. I was confident that he was going to be good, but you also never know—he walked in and was fantastic. I couldn’t have asked him to do anything better.”

From a 30-horse field at 3’6”, 3’9” and 4’ heights, 12 returned for the handy round. “The Handy was the most fun for me—the course designer gave us many options, especially at the split-rail complex. You could jump the hay bales or the stick jumps either way. I jumped it straight, which most people did,” said Colvin, who has won the WCHR Peter Wetherill Palm Beach Hunter Spectacular six previous times, most recently in 2020.

Laena Romond of Brookefield, CT, riding Oslo, owned by Lexi Maounis took second on scores of 90.16 and 92.33 for a 91.24 average. Rounding out the top three, Scott Stewart of Wellington, FL, finished on an 89.41 after scores of 87.83 and 91 were averaged for Cadet, owned by Stephanie Danhakl.

Mental Game

When asked about her mental game during big weeks like WCHR at WEF, Colvin responded, “I never really get super nervous. I go into the ring and know the horse is going to do his best, and I’m going to try and do my best. I try not to put too much pressure on us.”

While making waves in the professional division with Colvin, Dicoblue PS also carried his owner, John Ingram, in the amateur-owner ranks.

To conclude, Colvin discussed the significance of WCHR Week within the WEF season. “This whole season, we’ve been gearing up for this week so that all the horses are prepared and ready. It’s exciting to see some new faces from Ocala and other places coming down for this. It’s very competitive and fun. I look forward to it every year.”

For complete results from the $150,000 WCHR Peter Wetherill Palm Beach Hunter Spectacular, click HERE.