RANCHO MURIETA — The West Coast Reining Horse Association held its Best of the West horse show Oct. 11-16 at the beautiful Rancho Murieta facility near Sacramento. The show ran a full slate of reining classes, including classes for the National Reining Horse Association’s North West Regional Affiliate Finals.

Reiners came from Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada to compete for seven trophy saddles, over $20,000 in prize money, and possibly the honor of representing the North West Region of the United States at the prestigious NRHA Futurity show which will be held Nov. 2-Dec. 3 in Oklahoma City. Gina Hunter from Tracy, winner of last year’s Non Pro Futurity with Guns Lit N Blazin, said that this show was a “great preparation for the NRHA Futurity in Oklahoma.”

RENO, Nev. — Todd Bergen, lifted by a 224.5 reining score, took Shiners Dun Juan (Smart Shiner x Cremes Chic Olena), owned by Janiejill Tointin, to the National Reined Cow Horse Association Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Division World Championship Oct. 2, staking claim to the $100,000 winners purse with a composite score of 657.5. Moonstruck Pepto (One Time Pepto x Moonstruck Cat) and Boyd Rice took reserve and $78,000 with 654 points, while Stylishnfancy (Stylish Rey x Playgirl Fancy) and Zane Davis earned third and $58,000 with 653.5 points.

This marks the second NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity title for Bergen, who won his first one on Boonlight Dancer in 2001. The Eagle Point, Ore., trainer also has had two Snaffle Bit Futurity Reserve Championships in his career, which is marked by him being the first rider to claim Million Dollar status in both the NRCHA and the National Reining Horse Association.

LAS VEGAS – The High Roller Reining Classic, combining $300,000 in added money, top reiner competition and the excitement of Las Vegas, once again was a hit, as the Brumley Management Group wrapped up its trio of 2012 events with the Sept. 11-17 competition. The Cactus Reining Classic in April and the Reining By The Bay in July were the precursors.

Casey and Nicole Deary of Weatherford, Texas, had quite the show in Las Vegas, with Casey taking Carlos Gonzalez’ 3-year old buckskin, Wimp Daddy (Wimpys Little Step x Cody Kay Quixote), to a 224.5 to win the Level 4 division of the $70,000 added Spooks Gotta Gun Open Futurity out of a field of 33. Nicole and her mother’s Tagged My Chic (Whiz N Tag Chex x Cheeky Boom) won three out of four of Non Pro Ancillary Divisions (slate 2) and the coveted HRRC Limited Non Pro High Point Bob’s Custom Saddle.

PASO ROBLES – If anyone expected to see Dulces Belle Starr on top of the National Stock Horse Association Open Futurity once the dust had settled at the Midstate Fairgrounds Aug. 20, it wasn’t Jake Gorrell.

The defending Open champion rider didn’t think he had a chance at this event, which each year provides a rich look at contestants for the NRCHA World Championship Snaffle Bit Futurity one month later in Reno.

TEMECULA — When Bill Dickinson and his son, Travis, went to last winter’s National Reining Horse Association Futurity, they picked up a catalog for the annual NRHA Sale, and destiny took hold.

“We were looking at all the bloodlines, and we came across this mare, Dulces Belle Starr, who had sort of slipped through the cracks,” said Dickinson, a Southern California contractor with a ranch in Temecula. “We asked ourselves, ‘what is SHE doing here?!’ She should have been in Reno.”

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — Drawing riders from across the nation, the USEF National Junior Hunter Championships-West Coast event was an action-packed two days of great sport and a chance for the Junior Hunters to stand center stage as they displayed their talents in three phases: a handy hunter round, a classic round, and an under saddle phase. When the dust settles, it is the horse with the highest cumulative score that takes home the title and a year’s worth of bragging rights.

With riders from as far away from the Golden Coast as Texas, Colorado, Arizona and even the U.S. East Coast, it was local competitor Morgan Geller from Manhattan Beach and her Fabricio (an 11-year-old liver chestnut Czech Warmblood gelding) that beat out the competition to earn the 2011 Overall Grand Champion Junior Hunter title with a cumulative score of 255.80. Geller, 16, and her mount earned not only the title, but also the perpetual trophy donated by Show Circuit magazine.

WOODSIDE — Andrea Fappani unveiled Heir Gun to the Futurity scene at the 2011 Reining By The Bay July 18-24, and the charismatic stud was right on target.

Showing in a bridle, Heir Gun (Gunner x Hollywoods Heir) marked a 149.5 in his debut and won the $25,000 added Spooks Gotta Gun Futurity after less than 10 months with Fappani, who won both the Open Futurity and Derby events at this popular event for the second straight year.

“I think he’s going to win a lot of money,” Fappani said of Heir Gun, owned by Chihiro Niwata of Japan. “He’s really a level-minded stud, and that maturity is rare in a 3-year old. I showed him one-handed and everyone else was still in a snaffle. The first things I look for in a 3-year old is honesty and having a level mind, and that’s what that horse has. I think he has a pretty good future in front of him.”

DEL MAR — In more than a dozen grand prixes pitting Jaime against Gonzalo Azcarraga — father against son — the padre had always finished on top. Then came the $30,000 Racing Special Grand Prix July 31 at Showpark, where Gonzalo beat his father in a grand prix for the first time.

An impressive 1.50M track set by Canadian Michel Vallaincourt tested 34 horse and rider combinations representing six countries in the $30,000 Racing Festival Grand Prix, presented by Royal Champion. On this idyllic Sunday afternoon at the Del Mar Horse Park, 11 pairs answered the questions asked on course and qualified for the jump-off.

FORT WORTH, Texas – When the nation’s best Paint Horses and their young riders gathered at the Will Rogers Center last month, Californians made their presence felt, bringing home thirteen 2011 American Junior Paint Horse World Championships from the show held June 25-July 2.

In her last year of Youth competition, 18-year-old Cassandra Stambuk brought home AjPHA Youth World titles on two horses, taking the Limited Youth Working Cow Horse 18-under class on Hesa Rock Dancer and also bringing home the Youth Reining 14-18 on Smugglin Diamonds.

BURBANK — The audience at the Memorial Day Classic was treated to a thrilling seven-horse jump off in the $10,000 Memorial Day Grand Prix, the concluding event of the Memorial Day Classic May 26-30 at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.

Justin Resnik and Quantum Leap (Ama Marketing & Management, Inc., owner) were first to contest Jack Robson’s course in the first round and they set the standard for the 18-horse field to match, and they handily posted a clear round. Jenni Martin McAllister piloted all three of her horses to clear rounds, and her pupil, junior rider Brittany Albrecq, made her grand prix debut and piloted Union Jack to a clear round. Young professional Tommi Clark, aboard her own Raska, and Ron Keller on his Abukir 14 rounded out the seven clear rounds.