WILLINGA PARK
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WILLINGA PARK
Hugh Miles and Vintage Whiskey Q-81337- 2025 Willinga Park Gold Buckle Champions
VINTAGE
The moment Hugh Miles posted a 91-point round in the final at the 2025 Willinga Park Gold Buckle, everything changed.
“ Terry was yelling‘ Go little girl!’ over and over at the screen,” they laugh.“ When that score came through, I started shaking. We suddenly realised— we were in with a chance of winning the Willinga Park Gold Buckle!”
With some elite horse-and-rider combinations still to come, they could barely sit still. Then came the flood of messages— texts, calls, congratulations. But they wouldn’ t believe it until the draft was done.
“ When the final finished, I looked at Terry and said,‘ Did we just win Willinga Park?’ It was surreal. We got very emotional. We’ ve never won anything this big before.”
The outpouring of support from the campdrafting community was overwhelming.“ It was the best feeling— an absolute dream come true.”
The road to that dream began long before Willinga Park. Vintage Whiskey Q-81337— lovingly called“ Vintage”— is a mare with a backstory that blends high hopes, setbacks, and resilience. She was purchased at the 2015 NCHA Sale, and bred by Jason and Rachel Leitch. She was sired by RS Chisum, out of Winderadeen Whiskey Cat. The aim at the time was to take her through the NCHA Futurity, and later into the campdrafting world.
“ She was bred for it,” they say.“ Plenty of cow sense, and athletic— what we thought would be ideal for both disciplines.”
But fate had other plans. An injury as a three-year-old ended her cutting career before it began. Vintage was turned out for a long recovery period and didn’ t have her first campdraft start until 2020, at the age of seven— just before Covid put the brakes on the sport.
Despite the slow start, her natural instincts never dulled. And her temperament?“ She’ s probably the sweetest horse we’ ve ever owned,” they say.“ Kind, easy to be around. Her only vice is food— she loves it! She’ ll whinny and paw until she’ s fed.”
Vintage’ s journey from paddock to podium was shaped by a small but meaningful circle. Jason Leitch started her
2025 AQHA SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER ISSUE