ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – When Katherine Rich-Elzig says it was a good show at Arabian Horse Association Youth Nationals, she is one to know: She has made it to the last 19 of them.

Rich-Elzig, the 31-year-old trainer at the venerable Green Acres Ranch in Temecula, won her first Youth National Championship in 1996 –- aboard Tinka-Exouds Son in Hunt Seat Equitation. Today, the third-generation Arabian horseperson is coaching pupils like Olivia Welch and Whitney Campbell to National Championships of their own at the show, she says, she likes above all others.

DEL MAR — Nick Haness outdueled John French, breaking the veteran’s win streak June 28 aboard the famous Small Affair, and young gun jumper Tina Di Landri stole the show by outrunning the fearless Josephina Nor Lanzman in the June 29 $30,000 Grand Prix jump-off.

Those match-ups atop the respective hunter and jumper divisions highlighted a memorable weekend return of the Blenheim EquiSports series to Showpark in Del Mar.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. –- Michell Anne Kimball instantly sensed something special in September 2009 when she was presented a 2-year-old reining prospect that had been started by the late John Slack.

Kimball, who just five years earlier had ridden her first reining horse after two decades of success as a Southern California hunter-jumper trainer, bought the colt, and Spooks Gotta Whiz has proved her right.

In three years, the flashy stallion has won more than $317,000 and reining’s biggest events, the latest coming June 30 when Shawn Flarida rode him to victory in the National Reining Horse Association’s Open Derby Finals. The win also slid Spooks Gotta Whiz into history as the second horse ever to claim reining’s “Triple Crown” – winning the NRHA Futurity, the National Reiner Breeder’s Classic and the NRHA Derby.

PASO ROBLES — In a thrilling finish, Todd Crawford and Sinful Cat delivered a big fence work score when they needed it most to clinch the newly renamed Jack and Phoebe Cooke National Reined Cow Horse Association Derby Open Championship and win a check for $32,742.

This year’s NRCHA Derby, held June 12-17 at the Paso Robles Events Center, featured 4- and 5-year-olds by NRCHA Subscribed Stallions competing in snaffle bits and hackamores. The competition includes many of the top Snaffle Bit Futurity horses from the previous year, as well as those who might not have been ready for the Futurity, but who are now able to perform competitively.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — Young riding talent made its mark at the Mission Viejo Riding Park June 6-10, as Blenheim EquiSports launched its three-week June Classic Series with a remarkable group of up-and-comers at the June Classic I.

The leading headliner was 20-year-old Tina Di Landri, who outrode an international field by more than a second in a nail-biting jump-off to win the $30,000 Blenheim June Classic Grand Prix, presented by St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort and Spa.

TEMECULA – Phillip Ralls on Very Smart Smoke outdueled Russell Dilday and Brenda Brown to win the Sherri Gilkerson Memorial Open Bridle Spectacular May 20 at Casner’s Ranch.

Ralls victory with Very Smart Smoke (Very Smart Remedy x Lil Brown Freckle) earned $3,260 in the $5,000-added class that highlighted the Southern California Reined Cow Horse Association’s most popular event of the year – the Sherri Gilkerson Memorial and Big Horse Wine Country Classic. A full, three-day line-up included AQHA cutting classes on Friday along with two days of NRCHA, SCRCHA and AQHA reined cow horse classes judged by San Rose and Todd Crawford.

DEL MAR – Hometown star Steffen Peters and Legolas made their best scores yet as a tandem at the Del Mar National Horse Show where they won both the Grand Prix and the GP Kur.

The duo won 3* CDI Grand Prix April 27 with a personal best score in their short international career of 76.574% and the following day repeated their success by taking the higher step of the podium on the kur scoring 78.325%.

KATY, Texas – If there is a theme to Tanya Jenkins’s success story with her No Wimpy Cowboys this year at the 2012 National Reiner Breeder’s Classic, is would be “right place, right time.”

The huge show pen here at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center is the perfect place for the big gelding, Jenkins says, and after a show career that started a bit late because of a non-riding injury, this year was the 6-year old’s party — and he celebrated with his owner by winning the Intermediate Open title as well as taking third in the Open Level 4, just a half-point behind reserve champion Andrea Fappani and Tinker With Guns.

QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. — Pedigrees of both horse and rider earned mention at the 2012 National Reined Cow Horse Association Stakes, held March 21-25 at the Horseshoe Park and Equestrian Center.

While Heart Of A Remedy (Heart Of A Fox X SPF Remedys Response) took Open Division headlines with an impressive 4.5-point win over reserve Doug Williamson and ARC Sparkin Chics, the family lines of winning rider Jon Roeser of Lemoore earned mention, too. Both he and his brother, Dan, enjoyed major wins, as Dan took Intermediate Open crown on Roosters Rozalena.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Brumley Managment Group kicked off its popular three-show reining series for 2012, the Cactus Reining Classic, on March 7-11 at Westworld, and the operative word was “deep” — deep in talented horses, riders and dedicated owners.

Event manager Amanda Brumley said entries were up 15 percent for the second straight year, with a roster of competitors that included horse-and-rider teams from Europe as well as from the 2010 World Equestrian Games.