1967-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1967 September Voice RS | Page 8

i
?
1
:
Leaving the Celebration grounds on Sunday morn­
ing, September 3 was a depressing experience. Most
of the stables had already loaded up their horses
and headed for home, and the 27,000 fans on hand
the night before were nowhere around. The mainte­
nance crews were starting their monumental clean­
up job and the last few horses were being loaded
for their trip home. Only hours before, hundreds of
horses were on the grounds and a cheering crowd,
unmatched in Celebration history, pulled hard for
their various favorites.
But all this excitement was over for another year
and that was the depressing factor. The Celebration
is the ultimate goal of the breed and this is what
the various horses, owners and trainers work for all
year long. The fruits of a trainer’s efforts are real­
ized in this big ring, and now it was all over for
twelve long months.
But looking back on the Celebration there is no
feeling of depression. You can only remember the
blue ribbons the great horses, the tremendous crowds
and the big strides the breed made during the Cele­
bration period. There were many significant events
jammed into the Celebration schedule, both during
the actual show and outside the showring.
Overshadowing all other developments was the im­
pressive victory of GO BOY’S SUN DUST and Doug
Wolaver in the Grand Championship Stake. Doug
and his horse put on a thrilling exhibition for the
largest crowd in Celebration history to sweep the
honors over twelve other outstanding entries in the
big stake. Doug has worked SUN DUST with this
one goal in mind since getting him less than a year
ago. Dr. B. S. Henry of Russellville, Alabama is the
proud owner of this fine champion and a deserving
owner he is indeed. SUN DUST has been a top horse
for several years with Bud Dunn riding, and Bud is
in large measure responsible for the ultimate win of
this horse.
The decision to change trainers was surely one of
the most difficult things Dr. Henry ever had to do
in the horse business, and a cooperative and under­
standing Bud Dunn was of great help in this regard.
The choice of Doug Wolaver was wise indeed, as this
fine young trainer had trained two World’s Grand
Champions before and he knows just what it takes
to capture the big one. The very difficult and impor­
tant decisions made regarding this horse in the past
year have worked out for the best and he is now the
reigning World’s Grand Champion of this great breed.
One of the few 1966 champions to fare well in the
1967 show was THE ENTERTAINER and Joe Webb.
This 1966 Three-Year-Old World Champion came back
strong to capture the Junior Championship after win­
ning the four-year-old stallion class earlier in the
week. This great champion was sired by a former
World’s Grand Champion, RODGERS PERFECTION,
and is a full brother to CARBON COPY, also a for­
mer World’s Grand Champion.
Joe gave his horse a flawless ride as he stayed on
the rail and made his best passes at the most oppor­
tune time. Several other horses were pressing THE
ENTERTAINER for the top spot but Joe never made
a bad move to jeopardize his chances on the judges’
cards.
One of the pleasant surprises of the Celebration
was the reserve champion four-year-old, WARLOCK.
John T. Carter had his horse doing a big-time lick
with speed to spare in capturing the crowd’s fancy.
John T. has been working this horse to get a peak
effort at the Celebration and he no doubt succeeded.
Many railbirds voiced the opinion that they would
love to have this horse next year as he has all the
ingredients of a top champion. John T. is very opti­
mistic about the future of WARLOCK and the Walk­
ing Horse world will be hearing more about this
beautiful bay stallion in the months and years ahead.
The three-year-old title was one of the most hotly
contested classes, as several horses made a strong
bid for the crown. Wink Groover and ACE’S SEN­
SATION proved to be too much in the stake class
as they put on a great show in all three gaits. This
horse was highly touted all year by those who saw
him and his performances at the Celebration left
little to be desired. The hot competition seemed to
bring out the best in the horse and Wink had SEN-
.
8
VOICE of the Tennessee Walking Horse