“I really try to have confidence in my preparation and in my horse and my team that we’re going to be ready. There’s definitely some nerves you have to deal with, but I think acknowledging that you have them helps.”

“My dad has always told me to be ten points better than everyone else and that’s all you can do. You can’t make them question if you’re the winner or not. I went out there with that mentality.”

“He has a very big piece of my heart. I’ve been fortunate to have had a lot of nice horses that God has brought in my path, but I feel like we have a very special bond. I always say, that when I ride him, I feel like God made his back for my bottom.”

“It’s surreal. Even when I was out there, it didn’t seem real. I’ve always dreamed of this, so it’s a dream come true. It hasn’t sunk in yet, but I couldn’t be happier.”

“Anytime you show a stallion, it’s so competitive, probably because of the financial aspect of it,” Scott says. “Then, the 2-year-old division is probably the most competitive class that everyone wants to win. So, I did feel a little pressure, but the whole time I knew that I had a great horse, and that always makes it easier. But it’s a horse show, and there are a lot of dynamics that go on. 90% of it is the horse, and then you’ve got 10% of stuff you can’t control.”

Tonight was a special one at the AQHA World Show for Taylor Searles and Hereicomagain as she was named the World Champion in Amateur Western Riding in her first year of amateur competition. 

Nicholas Furlong was delighted to win his first ever World Championship title in Amateur Working Hunter with Executive Hotrodder, aka “Norman,” a 20-year-old gelding that he has owned for quite some time.

“Her class is one of the deepest classes of all the Halter. She’s got that little extra, and it all comes together when she comes in the pen. Everything fits together on her just a little bit better. She’s a perfect Quarter Horse.”

It might be hard to believe, but this is Gameday’s twelfth World Championship, and Ross has been a part of the horse’s career since the very beginning, leading him to wins as a weanling, yearling, two-year-old, three-year-old, multiple in the aged division.