Harrisburg, Pa. – October 14, 2025 – For the first time since 2019, the Bull Run Hunt left the Pennsylvania National Horse Show’s Hunt Night as the evening’s biggest winners. On Monday, October 13, the group earned the Hunt Night Championship title and the Ralph A. Alfano Memorial Perpetual Trophy.

Eighteen hunt teams, made up from riders from across 11 different hunt clubs in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey participated in Monday’s Hunt Night competition, presented by Kinsley Construction and the Quaker City Foundation.

Throughout the evening at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, Pa., riders participated in Field Hunter, Hunter Under Saddle and Hunt Team classes in order to earn individual ribbons and points towards the team championship.

Bull Run Hunt traveled up from Mitchells, Va., with the goal of having a good time and enjoying their horses.

“We have fun,” said Becca Pizmoht, who serves as a board member for the hunt and coordinated their trip to Pennsylvania. “We like to compete, but we also have fun. We don’t take ourselves all that seriously. Our hunt motto is, [and what we do] before we all go off every time [is say,] ‘What are we going to do today?’ and we all cheer, ‘Have fun and kick on!’”

It’s a mentality that they brought to the Harrisburg Coliseum and that helped them take the championship. Three-time reigning champions Keswick Hunt Club took reserve honors.

Representing the Bull Run Hunt were riders Sarah Good, Camryn Nixon, Amelia Thornton, Hazel Nash, Lucy Rabb, Suzanne Chapman and Becca Pizmoht.

“It’s an honor to be at one of the big indoor horse shows, and fox hunting is such a tradition; it’s the root of the sport,” said Pizmoht. “It’s special to go in this ring, and all of the people that have competed here, all the USET members and all of the successful hunter/jumper riders. It’s special to ride in the ring, and it’s special to be a part of it for our hunt.”

One of the Bull Run Hunt riders, Suzanne Chapman tied with Missy Luczak-Smith of New Market-Middletown Valley Hounds for the Hunt Night Leading Lady Rider and the “Polly” Gingrich Caswell Perpetual Trophy. Chapman won the Ladies Hunter Under Saddle for the Betty Baldwin Meister Memorial Perpetual Trophy and was fourth in the Field Hunters 36 & Over with Argos, while Luczak-Smith took second in both classes on FVF Just Watch.

“It’s pretty special,” Chapman said of winning at the Pennsylvania National, which she’s been coming to for 20 years. “It’s a great feeling for sure.”

Luczak-Smith was similarly emotional about winning the Leading Lady Rider title.

“It makes me teary,” she said. “It’s really special. This is a really special show. It means a lot to me. It’s really fun to be able to do something with my horse and to enjoy a different discipline. I’ve shown hunters for a long time, and it’s great that this horse show supports and recognizes the fox hunting industry.”

The win in the Field Hunter, Riders 35 and Under and the Max C. Hempt Perpetual Trophy went to Sarah Good of Bull Run Hunt on Two, Too, To.

Debra Taylor of Radnor Hunt in Pennsylvania rode HSH Dom Perignon to win the Field Hunter, 36 and Over and the Chairmans Perpetual Trophy.

In the Gentleman’s Hunter Under Saddle, Sandy Rives and Charm took the win for Keswick Hunt Club of Virginia and were awarded the Rose Tree Perpetual Trophy.

“We had a great night,” said Rives, who has now won the Gentleman’s Hunter Under Saddle five times. “I’m very proud of our team this year because we brought up a whole group of horses and riders, and we were able to be reserve champions against a really, really good team of Bull Run. I’m quite pleased [to have won the under saddle] on an aging Thoroughbred horse that really went very well. He’s over 20, and he really pulled himself together and really, really hacked well.”

Topping the Hunt Team class for the Potomac Hunt Challenge Trophy was Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounts Team 1.

The evening also hosted the Ladies Side Saddle Championship for the PNHS Side Saddle Trophy, which went to Kristin Schlachter riding Como MBF. Jennifer Cassidy and Bogart were reserve.

For full results from Hunt Night, click here.