Bluegrass Select Series Gains Momentum Heading to Lexington Junior League
Friday, June 24, 2016
The Bluegrass Select Series has been gaining momentum, since its inaugural feature at the Kentucky Spring Premier Horse Show in 2015. At this year's Rock Creek Horse Show, the series, which features horse and rider teams that are not showing at the World's Championship Horse Show, saw quality and varied classes. The always-filled pleasure classes were joined by the performance classes that also boasted healthy numbers, including the Bluegrass Select Series Amateur Five-Gaited class with six entries.
Rock Creek President David Mount, noted, "We had a significant increase in entries for the Bluegrass Select Series classes at Rock Creek due in part to integrating the classes into the regular schedule. This increase did not come at the expense of other similar classes which also had strong entries."
The Series has also been featured already this year at Kentucky Spring Premier, Burlington Spring, Bourbon County Horse Show, and it will be featured next this Sunday at the Woodford County and in two weeks at the Lexington Junior League Horse Show.
"We are so excited to see this program start to take off," added ASHA President Bob Funkhouser. "This was developed in direct response to the declining registration numbers. The very top horses are selling easily, yet the beginner to mid-level market has been struggling for some time. There are very few places for those wonderful, useful horses to show against like kind. If these horses have a place to thrive, the demand for them will increase so breeders and trainers alike will have a market for horses other than their very best.
"With Kentucky having our largest concentration of show horses, we really need different levels of competition to create a fair playing field. Every successful sport offers those levels and the American Saddlebred needs to do the same.
"We are pleased that these Select Series type classes are now offered in Kentucky, the Carolinas, Georgia and Ohio. Our goal is to create programs in all areas of the country and then develop a National Championship for the Select Series entries."
One of the series co-founders, Melissa Moore, stated, "We developed this program to help cultivate a market for the lower to mid-range priced horse, or for those people who realize that Louisville is not the end all. If you show in Kentucky, there are numerous county fair shows where you can compete, but because we are in the hot bed of the Saddlebred industry, you are showing against numerous World's Champions at one night shows. This program offers a more even playing field for those who don't wish to show at Louisville, but want to be competitive on the Kentucky circuit I grew up showing at the county fairs. They are so much fun and they are so good for our industry, especially if you feel like you can be competitive against like kind."
Championships to the Bluegrass Select Series will be held in October at the Kentucky Fall Classic Horse Show. To be eligible for the "Bluegrass Stakes," an exhibitor must not have shown their horse at the World's Championship Horse Show in that year, under their ownership. If the horse show show at Louisville it will NOT be eligible for the Bluegrass Select Series Championship classes and year-end awards. Also, to be eligible for the Championship class, a horse must have shown in at least one class in your chosen division.
"We hope to make each Champion feel special that they competed in this great Series!" added Melissa Moore.
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