LAS VEGAS, Nev. – It’s funny how things work out. If reiner Tanya Jenkins had had a Derby horse in last year’s High Roller Reining Classic, she wouldn’t have this year’s Open Futurity reserve champion, Spooks Gotta Whiz.
It was a year ago when the Temecula trainer, on a whim with client Michelle Kimball, hopped on a plane from Las Vegas to Dallas for a day trip so they could look at 2-year olds.
“It wasn’t a planned thing except for the fact I wasn’t in the Derby, so we made a quick flight up there and had a ball doing it,” said Jenkins, enjoying one of her best years in competition. “It was just amazing how it all worked out. We went back there, rode him, liked him — it was crazy, and a lot of fun.”
Jenkins is having more than fun in 2010 with Spooks Gotta Whiz (Spooks Gotta Gun x Pretty Whiz Pretty Does) -– she’s having success. After taking third in the Open Futurity at the Reining By The Bay in July, they came to Las Vegas for the High Roller Reining Classic Sept. 12-18 and took the Open Futurity reserve with a 221.5. Brett Stone rode Smoking Whiz to a 223.5 for the title.
“We’re on the way up — I hope it’s going to go third, then second, then first!” laughed Jenkins, whose sites now are on the National Reining Horse Association Futurity Nov. 25-Dec. 4 in Oklahoma City.
Just as her return with Spooks Gotta Whiz to Las Vegas was fruitful, she hopes her return to Oklahoma this winter with the colt will be, too.
Parker, who became a client of Jenkins in July 2009, purchased the prospect from the Hicks Ranch in Marietta, Okla., about a 90-minute drive north in a rental car from the Dallas airport. Jenkins, who last rode as an NRHA Finalist in 2007 on Rest Our Case, is excited about this horse’s chances. The confidence began when she first got on his back during her impulsive visit last September.
“I knew right from that moment that he was going to be a good one,” she said. “There was just something about him. You know when you get that feeling. I can’t explain it, but even though he was still kind of green, there was just a feeling that there was something special here.”
Jenkins is looking forward to working “on a few little things” in the months ahead to get him “Futurity-ready.”
“I have a few little things to work on during the home stretch,” she said. “For the most part, he’s pretty ready to go.”
In addition to the Open Reserve reserve on Spooks Gotta Whiz at the High Roller Reining Classic, Jenkins rode Rest Our Case to the NRHA Open Reining title and Taris Dance Step to the Open Novice Horse 2 reserve title. She also rode No Wimpy Cowboys to a Top 10 Open Derby finish with a 225.5 in a class won by Jordan Larson of Aubrey, Texas, on Dolled Up Gunner with a 228.
The 2010 High Roller Reining Classic, an NRHA “AA” event with more than $150,000 in added money and prizes, attracted nearly 300 horses and 600 riders to the South Point Equestrian and Events Center.
More results: See website http://bit.ly/HRRC2010
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