Boss and John French are Three For Three at Washington, Taking Home the High Performance Conformation Championship

If Boss keeps his winning streak up, Laura Wasserman is going to run out of room for the gelding’s iconic red Washington International coolers. Since the Dutch Warmblood (Samba Hit II—Vulana D) first attended the show back in 2015, he’s left the ring with a championship ribbon.

This year was no different. John French piloted the gelding to two blue ribbons to take home the high performance conformation championship.

“He doesn’t really need much practice in the warm-up area, and the schooling is not ideal,” said French. “I really like this ring; I like the fact that it’s long. Every time he comes here he’s been really, really good. Last year he was superb. I don’t know what it is about it, maybe he likes the city.”

While Boss has proved to be a Steady Eddie, initially Washington wouldn’t have been an ideal environment for the gelding.

“At first he was hard to steer, and I don’t think you could have ridden him in this ring,” said French. “But now he’s gotten so much better about turning. He won the handy here and that was always the tricky class—the question was could I turn him in the handy. Now he’s gotten handier and much easier. He kind of knows his job. And he’s a bit of a poser too. He goes around with his ears up; he always looks like he enjoys his job.”