Frank Berris and Its Gameday Win Amateur 2-Year-Old Geldings at 2014 QH Congress

By: Brittany Bevis

What does it feel like to compete with a horse that has never lost before in Open competition? We’re sure Frank Berris was feeling an equal mixture of both pride and pressure when he entered the pen this morning with his 2-year-old, bay gelding It’s Gameday.

Just last week, Ross Roark led the gelding to a win in the Open division of the class, but this gelding’s winning streak started long before then. Berris explains.

“I bought him as a weanling stallion, and he won at the AQHA World Show in the Open with Randy Jacobs,” Berris says. “Then, I took him home, and we gelded him, so we had to qualify him again. Last year, he came to the Congress and won in the Amateur under all four judges, and Ross won the Open Yearling Geldings. Then, he won at the World Show again in Amateur, and Ross won the Open under all five judges. Ross has won under every single judge since he’s started showing him.”

What is it about this particular horse that has allowed him to win as a young colt and then in multiple age divisions as a gelding? Berris says it all has to do with the proper balance.

“Everybody tells me he is so balanced,” Berris says. “He’s the most balanced horse we’ve ever seen. He really doesn’t have any holes in him. He’s not the biggest, and he’s not the smallest, but he’s so balanced with a pretty neck and a pretty head. He’s the perfect kind of horse. He’s kind, and I just love him. Also, he’s bay, and you don’t see a lot of bay halter horses.”

Before we concluded our interview, Berris showed us what he kept in his pocket during the class for good luck. It was a picture of his mother, 87-year-old Melba Berris, who passed away on October 6th.

“She was helping me,” he says.

Amateur 2-Year-Old Geldings-

1-Its Gameday/Frank Berris

2-Be A Gunslinger/Jeff Habighorst

3-Hez Packing Heat/Ina Ginsberg

4-Ill Sirprize You/Lea Ann Koch

5-Truizm/Sadie Tucker