DEL MAR — John Varble has been bringing horses that he has trained himself to the Del Mar National Horse Show for more than 40 years.

“It’s like going home again,” he says. “There’s two shows that are musts for me — Santa Barbara and Del Mar.”

Varble, 82, who manages the American Jewish University (formerly the James Arness Ranch) in Simi Valley, racked up four NRHA championships at Del Mar this year on his bay mare, Peaches Dillon.

While Varble took home the hardware — trophies, plaques, blankets and blue ribbons — Glen Miller of Gold Creek Equine in Perris shadowed him. Miller and Topgun Won It, or “Derby”, as he’s called, finished reserve to Varble in all four classes — Open, Non Pro, Limited Non Pro and Intermediate Non Pro.

“What a nice guy to finish second behind,” says Miller. “I hope I’m doing as good as he is when I’m 82. You know, I used to have a gelding by a stallion that John owned, and I didn’t even know John at the time. That was an excellent gelding that took me to some high places, too.”

Such stories make up the fabric of the Del Mar National, now in its 65th year. The Western Week included four AQHA and PCQHA qualifiers, PCHA events and the Professional’s Choice NRHA Show April 23-25.

In another tradition-touched episode this year at Del Mar, Geni Addicott watched her 13-year-old son, Ryan Norberg, ride his 6-year-old mare, Huntin Oreos, to a wealth of titles including the Patricia Elliot Challenge Trophy as the top Western Pleasure Junior Rider 18-under, the Lyn Reinhardt Memorial Perpetual Trophy as PCHA Show Champion Western Pleasure 13-under, as well as a blue-ribbon-filled AQHA Circuit Championship. For Addicott, owner of Hillcrest Equestrian Center in Chino Hills, the perpetual trophies were particularly fulfilling — she competed for the same titles 35 years ago in her youth. Huntin Oreos also was ridden by Ryan’s trainer, Michael Hoyt of Superior Equine Enterprises, to an undefeated Senior Western Pleasure championship, earning Huntin Oreos the prestigious Tony Pepperoni Western Horse Championship as the PCHA Overall High Point Western Pleasure horse.

“I competed for these same trophies back in the 1970’s with my Western Pleasure, Chatty Cathy,” says Addicott, noting that the perpetual trophies won are named for the same horses and people she rode against up and down the state in the `70s and `80s.

“Each year I tried to beat Tony’s Pepperoni or Star Bar Barrett in the pleasure classes but could never quite get around them,” she says. “It was so much fun to watch my 76-year-old father watch his grandson Ryan win at the Del Mar National — the same place he watched me when I was Ryan’s age.”

Jimmy Flores of Perris enjoyed a dominant performance riding the stallion Peppinic, winning several open reining titles as well as the 2010 Mac McHugh, Expensive Hobby, C.W. “Red” Neill and Ora C. Rhoades Perpetual ties.

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