Round One Open Champs; Novice Horse Open, Limited Open and Rookie Pro Champs Named

The competition continued at the National Reining Breeders Classic on Thursday with the second section of the Open Classic Prelims. The tough competition featured big stops and smooth maneuvers inside the Great Southwest Equestrian Center in Katy, Texas. The ancillary classes also saw big scores with the Novice Horse Open, Limited Open, Rookie Professional and American Quarter Horse Association classes.

In Thursday’s second section of the Open Classic Prelims, Dany Tremblay scored a 223.5 riding PS Mega Shine Chic (Shine Chic Shine x Megas Sugar Baby), owned by Amanda and Bradley Kelly of Adh Mor Big Luck Ranch to tie the Level 4 high score put in by Tom McCutcheon on Smart Little Dunnit, who’s by Smart Spook and out of Jan Van Bar B Dun It, for owners Turnabout Farms Inc. With his high score, Tremblay bumped himself out of the Level 3 lead and took first and second places in the Level 3. Aboard Magnums Guns R Reddy (Magnum Chic Dream x Guns R Reddy), Tremblay took second with a score of 221.5 for owner Ruth A. Hamlin. Bud Lyon rode Einsteins Top Whiz (Einsteins Revolution x Kr Samantha) to a score of 220 to win the Level 2 first go-round and Alejandro Ortiz Vazquez riding She Is A Chexinic (Smart Like Juice x Muskegs Chexinic) scored a 218 to top the Level 1. The Prime Time go-round winner is Martin Larcombe riding Hang Ten And Shine (Hang Ten Surprize x Ebony Shines) to a score of 223.

The Open Classic Finals will kick off inside the Coliseum Arena Saturday, April 22, and the champion will receive $75,000.

For complete results from the Open Classic Prelims visit www.nrbc.com.

The ancillary competition continued today in Katy, Texas, with the Limited Open and Rookie Professional classes in the Wheless Arena where Josh Tishman took top honors. Tishman rode Chics Love Me Wimpy, who’s by Wimpys Little Step and out of Dream About Magic, to a score of 73. “Duke” is owned by Deborah Good, who wasn’t able to make the NRBC and sent “Duke” for Tishman to show in her place.

Tishman has had a great week with the gelding, winning Tuesday’s Limited Open and Rookie Professional classes as well, for which he became the overall NRBC Limited Open and Rookie Professional champion. “He’s really fun to show. That’s probably the best run we’ve had, he’s just really easy and fun so it just worked out well,” Tishman said. “He followed me right around and went as fast as I asked and as slow as I asked and just did everything as hard as he could.”

Troy Koehl riding A Ruf Master (Lil Ruf Peppy x Shiners Mistress) to a score of 71 took second in the Limited Open while Lindsey Seewaldt riding Katy Dun It (Dun Gotta Gun x Dun Kissed Peaches) took second in the Rookie Professional with a score of 71.5. In the Novice Horse Open Level 2, a tie between Dany Tremblay and Peter DeFreitas took the first-place win, with a score of 147.

Tremblay rode Misters Temptress, who’s by Mister Dual Pep and out of Colonel Pepinic, while DeFreitas rode Colonel Missile, who’s by Hang Ten Surprize and out of Sweet Ginger Chic. Tremblay has been riding and showing Misters Temptress with much success this year and says the mare continues to improve with each ride.

“Every time I show her she scores 73s and 73.5s, so she’s consistent and she likes to go in the show pen now and I love it,” Tremblay said.

DeFreitas also took the win in the Novice Horse Open Level 1 aboard Colonel Missile with a score of 147. DeFreitas showed the now 4-year-old gelding as a 3-year-old and had success then as well. The duo came to the NRBC with intentions of continuing to improve in the show pen as well as find a potential buyer for Colonel Missile. DeFreitas says showing in the Novice Horse Open was a nice change of pace and made the win memorable.

“He’s very simple, he’s always the same every time I show him. He’s a lot of fun to show because he does his thing and it’s easy,” DeFreitas said. “I was happy to come here and get to show in the Novice too, usually, I just show in the Classic part, but it was fun to show in the Novice Horse and to get a win always helps.”

Jared Leclair rode The Dun Gun (Gunner x Fabulous Footwork) to a score of 144.5 to take third place in the Novice Horse Open Level 1 and second place in Level 1. In the AQHA classes, Tremblay and DeFreitas were also co-champions in the AQHA Junior and Senior classes with a score of 147 aboard the same mounts.

Nothing entices a crowd more than free food and Thursday night the Tamarack Ranch Open Draw Party pulled together the Open Classic finalists, their friends and family for an evening of great food and entertainment. Along with the food and camaraderie, the Open finalists were given the chance to draw for their running positions in the Open Classic Finals. For information and complete results from the National Reining Breeders Classic, follow updates from NRBC on Facebook, Twitter and www.nrbc.com