10/21 Congress Champions Include Tordoff, Gore, Cassata, Mastin, and More

By: Brittany Bevis

To kick off today’s classes, Jim Roth led He Is The Exception to win Amateur Yearling Geldings. Reserve was Dillon Groff with Evenger. Third was Mary Palte with Premos Secret. Fourth was Warren English with E Ventually. Fifth was Kathi Breeding with Legendary Kidd.

Dan Fox led Solair to win Amateur 2-Year-Old Geldings. Reserve was Beverly Koke with Elusive Pick. Third was Jeff Habighorst with Misster E Maximum. Fourth was Sharon Fiske with Emerge. Fifth was Dillon Groff with JCG Grid Iron.

Bob Cassata led Lu Scion to win Amateur 3-Year-Old Geldings as his signature song was playing over the loudspeaker, “I Did It My Way.” 

“I haven’t been here with a horse for ten years,” Bob says. “Ross [Roark] talked us into bringing One Cool Hint here to the Congress years ago. He showed her in open and won, and I won in amateur. She won the World Show ten or eleven times, and she won the Scarlet Print Award three or four times at the APHA World Show.”

“We bought this horse last year at at the AQHA World Show from Josh Weakly. Kelley Stone picked him out. We think he’s got a great future. He’s great from front to back.”

Reserve was Josh Weakly with Maui Jym. Third was Elizabeth Beauchamp with Mr MVP. Fourth was Christina Sakalas with Best Man Standing. Fifth was Taylor Gumz with Half In Half. 

15-year-old Grant Mastin rode Hand Made Machine to win 12-14 Trail. Reserve was Addison Albers with Lopin On A Goodbar. Third was Kylie Babcock with Mommadidnraisenofool. Fourth was Alexa Brown with Corporate Credit. Fifth was Ella Roberts with RV Miracle Machine.

“I’ve been showing forever,” Grant says. “I started when I was four or five. I’ve always been around horses. I grew up in the sale barns. Then, we got with Tommy Sheets though my uncle. I won the Small Fry here like one of the first years they had it. Ever since then, I’ve been Top 5 and Reserve, but this is my first time winning in Trail.”

Grant has a special relationship with his horse, “Carl,” because he was purchased as a very green three-year-old and they’ve had the opportunity to grow up together. “We bought him as a three-year-old who’d never been off the farm from John Turkey. We won at the NSBA World, and were Reserve at the Youth World, and now we won this.”

“I like Trail, because it’s so calculated, and you have to think about every single step. Anybody can win it any day. Take one bad step and you’re done, so you have to be perfect. If it’s your day, it’s your day. If it’s not, it’s not. Today, it was my day.”

Kristin Cole led DMM Secret Sinsation to win Amateur Aged Geldings. Reserve was Josh Weakly with It’s Gameday. Third was Christine West with Mister Over Easy. Fourth was Ginger Baxter with Coos Me In The Dark. Fifth was Lawrence Lemke with Ima Cool Catch.

Alexia Tordoff rode Blazing Hot N Gold to win 15-18 Trail. Reserve was Savannah Relick with Goodbar Had A Dream. Third was Klair Merrill with Chilln Ona Dirt Road. Fourth was Jillian Stopperich with One Hot Big Leaguer. Fifth was Megan Waldron with Signature Absolute.

Alexia has had “Rooster” since she was eleven years old. She’s now 16 and has just won her first Congress Championship in Trail. “He’s a really special horse and has gotten to be so broke. Especially with me as his owner, he has to be broke! He has the biggest heart and a big personality.”

Alexia and Rooster were seventh to go in a very large class, but she delivered a score that stood up to the rest of the competition. “It was a really good pattern. He stayed between my legs the whole time. I had the same run I did at the Youth World when I was third. I was really blessed to have the same go.”

“I think the best obstacle was the left lead lope overs, because he shapes really well. Also, I liked our trot serpentine. Brent [Tincher] and I have been working a lot on the gate recently and adding our style to it. He did pause a little when trotting into the chute, so I started laughing a bit.”

Emma Gore rode My Only Good Shoes to win 11 and Under Trail. Reserve was Jillian Jefferson with Cowboy Causin Mayhem. Third was Camille Kennedy with Laziness. Fourth was Kaylyn Kruchten with Slipmeazip. Fifth was Isabella Buckley with Roses Only.

11-year-old Emma rode her 10-year-old red roan “Dottie” to a win in her second favorite class. Earlier in the show, Emma and Dottie were Reserve in their favorite class- Horsemanship, and won Hunter Under Saddle and Equitation.

Emma says her favorite part of today’s patten was the trot into the box. Now that she’s done showing at the Congress, Dottie will definitely get lots of peppermints and kisses and hugs.

Sarah Reeder led Dinnero to win Amateur Performance Halter Geldings. Reserve was Douglas Ronk with Lu Johnny. Third was Angela Czerwinski with Simply One Hot. Fourth was Chris Hammett with The Krymsun Invester. Fifth was Lorraine Luba with Goodtogetaninvite.

The Grand Champion was Lu Scion, led by Bob Cassata. Reserve was Solair, led by Dan Fox.