Western Pleasure Super Sires and Two Year-Old Stakes Highlight Saturday
Saturday was another jam packed day full of high-profile events, particularly the Western Pleasure Super Sires three year-old classes, the Maiden Two Year-Old Stakes Class, and the Tom Powers Yearling Stakes Sale.
Once again, Hunter Under Saddle started off the day with Nancy Sue Ryan snagging the top spot in the 2 Year-Old Open and Limited Hunter Under Saddle with Give Me The Goods, owned by Mark and Courtney Brockmueller. Trish Yamber piloted Al Be Your Alibi, owned by Seaside Farm, to a win in the 3 Year-Old Open Hunter Under Saddle.
The day moved on with an intense, but incredible Open and Intermediate Maturity Western Pleasure Class. It was one of the most competitive classes of the show, and left the judges with some tough decisions to make. By the end, KM Weknowsheshot and Blair Townsend were named the winners of the class with Katie Green and For One Night Only coming in a close second. The class contained the highest quality of horses, and left everyone abuzz with excitement.
Non pros took center stage later in the afternoon with the Western Pleasure Super Sires with Decidedly A Diva and Aubrey Alderman loping to the win in the Non-Pro Limited Western Pleasure. The Non-Pro Open Western Pleasure ended in a tie between Extreme Moonlite with Becky Galyean and Extremely Good Stuff with Nancy Ditty. The pair loped to the center of the pen together to accept their awards. Through the tie-breaker, Galyean and Extreme Moonlite were awarded the Blue Ribbon Saddle, NSBA trophy, $500 in Nutrena coupons. The purse was split evenly between the two.
The stakes were high (no pun intended for the) for the Triple Challenge Maiden 2 Year Old Sale Stakes with a total of $65,000 on the line. To be eligible to participate, horses must have gone through the 2015 Tom Powers Yearling Stakes Sale. Two divisions were were awarded, an open division and a limited division with $25,000 going to the winner of the open division and $10,000 to the winner of the limited division. Chase Barnes and Hot Topic Man (owned by Jennifer Stein) took home a paycheck of $10,000 plus an additional $1,000 for the Harris Challenge. Patrick Heeley and Whose Your Bae Bee, owned by Susan Knapp of Knapp Quarter Horses, was named the winner of the Open Division and a nice sum of $25,000. (Fun fact: The reserve champion in the Open, Suddenly So Cool, ridden by Gil Galyean, is a full sibling to Whose Your Bae Bee. Both are by RL Best of Sudden and out of Cool Krymsun Lady).
After Saturday’s finale, everyone headed to the covered arena for a barbecue benefitting the NSBA Crisis Fund and the Tom Powers Yearling Stakes Sale (full recap to come.)
Sunday wraps up with more two and three year-old classes, hunter under saddle, and youth events. Be sure to check back tomorrow for the final wrap-up of the 2016 Tom Powers Triple Challenge Futurity.