Changes to Equine Chronicle Congress Masters Payouts in 2018

By: Brittany Bevis

Of all the fun-filled competition at the Quarter Horse Congress, here at The Equine Chronicle, our favorite event is of course our title class- The Equine Chronicle Congress Masters! Consisting of the Congress Masters 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure and Congress Masters 2-Year-Old Hunter Under Saddle, these two maiden events culminate in a star-studded red carpet event, Saturday, October 27th at 7:00 pm, that marks the conclusion of the Congress.

Last year saw Deanna Searles with Best Jazz Album Yet and Aaron Moses with VS The First Lady be named the champions. This year, there are a few big changes being made to the class payout as well as the seating arrangements for spectators. First, seating is now first come first served. Spectators must still purchase a ticket to enter the event; however, the ticket will not be for a specific seat. Come as a group and sit with your friends!

Next, and most importantly, the payout has changed for 2018. We had the opportunity to speak with Chris Cecil-Darnell to find out why the payout has changed from 10 places to 8 places in Western Pleasure and from 10 places to 6 places in Hunter Under Saddle.

“There has been a lot of feedback that if you don’t have the winner, it’s a lot of money to invest, so we tried to redistribute the money down further,” Darnell says. “What we wanted to do is to have down to eighth place, in the Western Pleasure, at least get their entry fee back. We left the winner’s purse at $25,000; but, instead of second place getting 6,500, this year it’s $12,500.”

$10,000 was actually added to the Western Pleasure payout in 2018 making the grand total $70,500.

“We did the same thing in the English class,” she says. “The winner will still receive $10,000, but instead of second place getting 4,160, they will get $5,000.

The total purse for the 2-Year-Old Hunter Under Saddle is $37,000.

Therefore, the winner’s purses in both classes remain the same as in the past- $25,000 for Western Pleasure and $10,000 for Hunter Under Saddle- but now the second place spots receive a big boost.

Congress Masters 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure Payout Schedule

1- $25,000

2- $12,500

3- $5,000

4- $4,500

5- $4,000

6- $3,500

7- $3,000

8- $2,500

Limited awards

1- $5,000

2- $3,000

3- $2,500

Congress Masters Hunter Under Saddle Payout Schedule

1- $10,000

2- $5,000

3- $4,000

4- $3,500

5- $2,500

6- $2,000

Limited awards-

1- $5,000

2- $3,000

3- $2,000

Stay tuned to EquineChronicle.com for the duration of the Congress for video interviews, live social media results, articles, around the ring photos, and much more.