S ATI ON ready for the maximum effort necessary to win a Celebration title. ottpfr
The reserve honor in this class went to THE bU SPORT and Mack Motes. Mack’ s horse made a real strong show in the stake and kept the pressure on Mr. Groover and SENSATION. The 1966 two-year-old champion, EBONY’ S OLD CROW, tied third with talented Donald Paschal doing the riding. Donald and OLD CROW showed plenty of true walking ability and they will certainly be around challenging or honors in the future.
TRIPLE THREAT AGAIN won one of the two preliminary four-year-old stallion classes earlier in the week with a spectacular performance. However, he was not quite right in the stake class and was tied
fourth. This big-lick horse has the ability to be one of the true greats of the breed if he keeps growing and developing like he has. Doug Wolaver is a master at getting the most out of a horse and it will be interesting to see just what he does with this horse. Some of the best two-year-olds ever to enter the Celebration ring turned out this year, and the crowd had a hard time picking a favorite. The winner of the title was DOUBLE DELIGHT O and Elmore Brock. Elmore put on a solid, steady show by keeping his horse on the rail and concentrating on doing two gaits. This horse should continue to improve in the coming years and Elmore can certainly bring a top horse along effectively.
Buddy Hugh and SPECIAL DELIVERY were the reserve winners in this talent-filled class. Buddy and his horse have looked good all year long and his show in the stake class w ' as of blue ribbon calibre. Joe Martin, who rode several real good horses during the Celebration, tied third on a bright prospect named REFLECTION’ S SHADOW. This is another horse to watch in the coming years.
TIGER BAY, after winning one of the two stallion preliminary classes in brilliant fashion, tied fourth in the stake. This cocky-looking stud was not up to par for the stake class but his showing in the preliminary labels him as a future contender for top honors. Bob Cherry has done an outstanding job all year on this colt and deserves a lot of credit. Winning the Amateur Championship with two spectacular exhibitions was Candace Williams and GO BOY’ S ROYAL HEIR. This great stud has all the ability in the world and Candace manages to get the best out of him. Some of the most outstanding passes of the entire Celebration were made by this talented team. Reserve honors went to LADY GO- DIVA and Mrs. Frank Parnell. Mrs. Parnell and her horse kept battling the winners till the end and never gave up. CLOWN’ S SPUR and Lloyd Wood tied a good third with a great effort on the part of both rider and horse. This horse was unbeaten prior to the Celebration and he continues to improve. The juvenile championship was captured by the 1966 champion UNTOUCHABLE and Judy Tillett This combination is practically unbeatable and they never seem to have a bad show. Reserve award went to JET SECURITY * and Jan Wright. Jan, second to none in riding ability, gave her horse a masterful ride to best advantage. The pony title was won by MIKE’ S MIGHTY MAN
10 and little Pam Heed. Pam won the blue in a preli^;. nary class and came back even stronger to win the stake Second tie went to former World’ s ChamniJ Two-Year-Old SETTING SUN’ S APOLLO and Lynn Doughty. Lynn is getting along better than ever with APOLLO and should be an even stronger entry in the years to come.
A development that had the crowd buzzing interest was the enforcement of new rules having to do with scar tissue of two-year-olds. After the Fiuv Class on Friday night, in which thirty-two horses were eliminated, it became painfully obvious that something had to be done. The trainers held a meeting with the Celebration officials, and came to a " meeting of the minds” as to the ruling( see story elsewhere in this issue).
The teamwork and unified effort on the part of the trainers for a ruling they felt necessary was indeed gratifying. These men have insight into many of the problems connected with running a horse show and the horse business in general. Their ability and willingness to take concrete action for important matters is essential to the breed and its continued growth. Again attendance records were shattered this year as the trend continues with unbridled enthusiasm. On the final Saturday night, over 27,000 horse fans turned out to cheer for their favorites. Many of these people in the general admission areas came early in the morning to insure having a good seat for the night’ s classes. Interest in and enthusiasm for the breed is an important part of the overall development of the show potential of the Tennessee Walking Horse.
One of the interesting sidelights to the show was the manner in which the champions of 1966 tied. Starting at the top of the list, the 1966 World’ s Grand Champion, SHAKER’ S SHOCKER, and Betty Sain tied eighth in the championship stake and did not tie at all in the Aged Stallion class earlier in the week. Last year’ s Junior Champion, MAN OF RHY THM and Boyd Hudgins, did not tie at all in the Aged Stallion class and did not show in the Championship Stake. We understand that he sustained a
bowed tendon in the first workout of the stud class. THE ENTERTAINER, World Champion Three-Year-
Old in 1966, came back strong in 1967 to win the Junior title and the Four-Year-Old Stallion preliminary class. The Two-Year-Old Champion of 1966, EBONY’ S OLD CROW and Donald Paschal, tied third in the Three-Year-Old finals after tying second in one of the two stallion preliminary classes.
Judy Tillett and UNTOUCHABLE staged a repeat of their 1966 Juvenile Championship by winning the title again in impressive fashion. The Owner-Amateur Champion of a year ago, MOONGLOW JR. and Burt
Daugette, tied third in the preliminary class and did not show back in the stake. The Pony Champion tor the past two years, LITTLE BIT O’ TROUBLE
^ay Beech, tied second in the preliminary an third in the finals.
From the above account, it is easy to see that most of the 1966 Champions did not fare too well oiv, ls^ear s Championship classes. There were man > wwu- ribbon winners in 1966 who did not nafur 1Sf ^ear anc * ^is emphasizes the compete
° f the breed and how difficult it is to stay top once you get there.
VOICE of the Tennessee Walking H