Scott Reinartz and Investin A Goodbar showed their excitement this evening after winning their first World Championship title in Amateur Trail with an enthusiastic victory lap! Scott and 9-year-old “Hank” have been a team for five years, and they’ve accumulated numerous titles, but this is their first win.
In the past, Scott and Hank have been named the Reserve Champions in Amateur Pleasure Driving and Amateur Trail. At the Congress this year, Scott won Amateur Pleasure Driving and followed that up with a Reserve finish in the class here at the World Show.
“This win feels great, because I had a great ride. To have the scores to validate the ride is a great feeling,” Scott says. “I had a bobble, but Hank gives his all throughout the whole ride, so it makes up for the penalty. I try to plus other things in order to absorb those mistakes.”
Hank and Scott had a busy evening, because they qualified to compete in both back-to-back finals. First, they competed in Amateur Showmanship and placed tenth before doing a quick change to get ready for Trail. Several other competitors did the same. The Reserve Champion in Trail, Whitney Vicars and Who Invited RL, also competed in Showmanship, as did Daniel Carlson. Scott’s plan for the Trail finals pattern was simply to stay on course.
“There were a couple of obstacles that you had to go over twice. When there are those types of obstacles, sometimes I get a little confused on where I’m going, but Tim [Kimura] had it fairly aimed to give us a direction of where we were going next. I’ve learned that they color code poles, so I use that as a guide, as well as memory, to stay on path.”
Scott believes that Hank’s best qualities are his fluidity over the poles and his consistent cadence. “I ride every day, but we do not practice Trail anymore. Maybe once a week, we will go over poles to keep it in his mind; but, at this point, he doesn’t need a lot of time over the wood. He just needs exercise.”
The Reserve Champion was Whitney Vicars with Who Invited RL. Third was Joanne Garnett with So Much Potential. Fourth was Hilary Armstrong Reinhard with Zippos Ultra Gold. Fifth was Angela Wade with One Hot Drama Mama.