State Fair of Texas Kicks Off Fall Season in Lone Star State
Thursday, September 27, 2007
by Ann Bullard
DALLAS, Texas - Southwest exhibitors kicked off their fall season Sept. 12-16, 2007, with the traditional UPHA Chapter 6 and 7 State Fair of Texas Horse Show. Held barely three weeks after the Saddlebred World’s Championships and two after the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration, the multi-breed event drew a few more than 200 horses plus academy riders from Texas and Oklahoma.
Adam Clauson of Bonnieville, Ky., marked the cards. Nancy Braesicke again managed the event, with her brother, Bill, handling paddock duties. Janie Hamilton served as show secretary, with Doug Sullens handling the ringmaster’s job and Melissa Cole announcing.
The show format changed somewhat from previous years as Walking Horse Futurity classes were worked into each performance, leaving Saturday as an open evening. At first glance, the number of classes on Friday and Saturday seemed impossible to complete in a reasonable time. However, entries in both breeds were comparatively light due to the proximity to their world championships. The new schedule met with mixed reviews, although most Saddle Horse exhibitors seemed to welcome better between-class breaks.
The area UPHA Chapter has worked toward this show’s being recognized by the U.S. Equestrian Federation and the site of the Regional Championships in 2008. Money from the silent auction at this show and Oklahoma Centennial are earmarked for the added expenses. Thanks in large part to the generosity of horse publications as well as a number of less-expensive items, the auction raised more than $2,100 for the cause.
Most of the ‘big name’ horses that had showed at Louisville remained in their home stalls, resting before beginning a final assault that will lead to the American Royal. Still, tricolor, blue and red ribbons were well distributed in front of the dozen Saddlebred tack rooms.
Jack Magill and Sandra Currier are fierce competitors – and rarely more so than when showing against one another in a Five-Gaited Stake. Ann Berger’s Night Of A Thousand Stars with Magill in the irons and Reedann’s Talked About with Currier put on another entertaining show in their battle for the blue in the Five-Gaited Jackpot. Magill kept the top honor in Dallas, with Currier in reserve in the four-entry class.
The Three-Gaited Jackpot Stake was all-Magill, with Sarah Singer riding Margaret Tirkes’ Carolina Top Gun to the blue. Bonnie (Brown) Morales and Miss Fancy Pants earned the reserve ribbon for owner Debby Pond.
Sunday afternoon’s Three-Gaited Park Jackpot attracted four good entries. Jenn Holdren, a recent graduate of William Woods University who has joined the Milligan Stables training staff, introduced herself to Texas competition by winning the early Open Park class aboard Kathleen and Syndi Zimmerman’s Noksus Devosia. She came back to top the Jackpot class, with the seasoned team of Becky Taggart and CH She Bop a solid reserve.
Only two entries answered the call for the Fine Harness Jackpot. Bluebonnet Farm’s Kalarama’s Star Bright, winner of the junior class, earned the championship. Winsdown Edgecliff with Karen Weller driving for the Louise C. Gilliland Trust was reserve.
Patty Milligan and her staff always bring a large number of horses and riders – from the open to the academy division – to State Fair. This year was no exception, with the Plano, Texas-based barn coming out on top in the blue-ribbon count. The Vias of Fox Grape Farms sent Fox Grape Dauntless to Texas after Louisville, where Tré Lee teamed him to a yellow ribbon in the Three-Year-Old Five-Gaited class. Trainer Lonnie Quarles had the colt only a few weeks when they hit the ring at State Fair. The son of (SA) Dorian Wild Tempest and CH Garland’s Dream lived up to the promise of his lineage, making an excellent show for the Milligan team to earn the blue.
Marjorie and Fred Currey were at ringside to watch their granddaughter, Laura, in her first out-of-academy and canter class. The petite blond stepped up on Rachel Worthy’s Callaway’s Trooper to win the Show Pleasure Novice Rider blue. Avery Bul and Alexa Morton dominated the equitation division for the Milligan team. Morton won the Saddle and Bridle Pleasure Equitation and the Equitation Championship while Bul returned home as the UPHA Saddle Seat Equitation Chapter Champion.
Candee Carlson fielded another good team of academy riders in the performance and equitation sections. Blue ribbons went home with Lauren Amos, Katie Bozeman, Wylie Bul, Brenna Hurst, Denise Hurst and Stephanie West.
Magill riders enjoyed an outstanding show. Taylor Lafargue won her first world’s championship in August, riding Harlem’s Moving Man to win one section of the Three-Gaited Show Pleasure 13 and Under class. They were in Louisville form again at the Texas State Fair, riding off with the qualifying blue and Junior Exhibitor Show Pleasure tricolor. Karmen Robles and Northbound moved from the show pleasure to the performance division at the State Fair. Magill coached the team to the Junior Exhibitor Five-Gaited blue and the Amateur Five-Gaited tricolor.
Rachel Singer, aboard Society’s Upperkrust, and Ann Molash, with A Bit Of Charm earned reserve titles in the pleasure division, while Magill rode his Desert’s Supreme Dream to win the Three-Gaited Limit class.
Sherry Frankel showed two horses and brought two blue ribbons and a pair of tricolors back to the SGF Winning Ways Farm tack room. Teamed with the seasoned The King’s Champagne, she earned both Adult Country Pleasure titles and she drove Red Oaks Citation to the blue and tricolor in Country Pleasure Driving. Frankel’s daughter, Lauren Greenwald, and Out Go The Lights earned the Junior Exhibitor Show Pleasure 14-17 blue and a reserve in their championship. Tristen Ramirez continued her good rides aboard Shamrock’s Phi Guy, winning the Academy Walk/Trot Performance Championship, and reserves in the Academy Performance Walk/Trot 12 and Under and three reserves.
Randy Cates brought a limited number of horses down from Oklahoma. Those he brought all got top ribbons. His riders decorated the Cross Creek tack room with five blues and tricolors and two reserves among a sprinkling of other colors.
Philip DeBruyn recently stepped out on his own, working from Karen Nalle’s Austin, Texas barn. He rode Nalle’s Courageous Gypsy to win the Park Pleasure Junior/Limit class and championship.
The Texas Saddlebred Futurities drew a good number of young horses to the show, with Bluebonnet Farm, Winsdown Farm and Paul Cates Stable picking up most of those top ribbons. Bluebonnet dominated the performance futurities, winning the Two-Year-Old Three-Gaited and Two-Year-Old Fine Harness titles with Bebop Lady (CH Shoobop Shoobop) and Bluebonnet’s Beyonce (Harlem Globemaster x Indigo Blue) respectively. Randy McBride’s Sir Mambo (Sir William Robert x The Mardi Gras Mambo) won the Amateur Weanling Championship and a pair of reserves in the Open Weanling Colt and Open Weanling Grand Championship.
Cates, who returned from the All American Horse Classic days before shipping to Dallas, presented several winning weanlings. Knip Tuck, Open Weanling Filly Champion and Open Weanling Grand Champion, and The Rattler, Weanling Stallion Champion, are both by Knit To Fit (Santana’s Cameo x Sweater Girl).
Louise Gilliland’s Winsdown Farm claimed the top spot in the Limited Breeders Weanling Stake with Winsdown Kathryn Hall (Winsdown Westinghouse x Winsdown It’s About Time.) Winsdown Rolling Rock (Winsdown High Octane x The Dixie Destiny,) winner of the weanling filly title in 2006, topped the Open Yearling Filly and Amateur Yearling competition with James Vantrease on the lead.
Lonnie Quarles and Oceanfront Chat (Ocean Front x Chatter Chatter) made fans sit up and take notice last year when Quarles led Ray Eastwood’s colt to the Open Weanling Colt and Grand Championships. The colt’s conformation and big trot helped earn him top honors in the Open Yearling Colt and Open Yearling Championship.
Blue and red ribbons also were also posted by Foster Farm South, Lone Star Saddlebreds and Michael Beasom’s Victory Lane.
Complete results can be seen and searched by clicking here.
Seen at Texas State Fair…
Ann Molash stopped to pet her A Bit Of Charm in the Magill Stables aisle before the show. They tied reserve in a good Show Pleasure Adult class.
Joan Cantrell (left) and her sister, Jan Myers had a lot to celebrate at the Texas State Fair. They are pictured after that one-two finish in the Amateur Five-Gaited class. Cantrell teamed Deserts Favorite Memories to the blue with Myers and Thunder Beauty in reserve. Myers topped the Adult Show Pleasure class aboard Matrix, while Cantrell and Bluebonnet’s Challenger rode off with the Five-Gaited Show Pleasure Championship.
Jenn Holdren joined Milligan Stables’s training staff after the Kentucky State Fair. She has taken over for Liz Cortwright, now a full-time law school student. Holdren took time to ‘fix up’ senior instructor Candee Carlson before one session of the Texas State Fair.
Caroline Rainbolt-Forbes stepped into the pleasure driving cart with Katie Cunningham when Cunningham made a Louisville victory pass with City Hall. Caroline (left) was ‘dressed to the nines’ at State Fair, where she made her winning debut with the pony. She is pictured with her twin sister, Eleanor, who rode CH Petra’s Beyond Belief to a pair of walk and trot equitation blues.
Tristen Ramirez and her mother, Bernadette Bayles, celebrated Tristen’s winning ride in the Academy Equitation Championship. She rides under May Chadick’s direction at SGF Winning Ways Farm.
Avery Bul added the tricolor from the UPHA Chapter 6 and 7 Equitation Championship to the Milligan Stables collection.
Bluebonnet Farm entries did well in performance and futurity classes. Pictured are: (seated, l-r) Ada Perwien and her sister, Harriet Glassman; standing (l-r) assistant trainer John Smuts, Michael Biddinger, Cindy Biddinger, Randy McBride, trainer Sandra Currier, Ed Perwien and Mary Alice Conroy.
Sherry Frankel caught up on her reading while she waited to drive Red Oak’s Citation in the first of two winning Country Pleasure Driving titles. Her horses are trained by Steve and May Chadick at Frankel’s SGF Winning Ways Farm.
Lone Star Saddlebreds riders brought home a number of good ribbons. Pictured (l-r) are: Nicole Tucker, who showed Simply Unpredictable in 13 and under show pleasure, Sara Bratcher, reserve champion in 13 and under show pleasure with Executive Phorce and the Reserve Pleasure Equitation Medallion Champion and Megan Weise, who debuted on Callaway’s Better Than Ever for Junior Exhibitor Country Pleasure classes during the summer.
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