By Sadie Fowler

Friday morning’s session offered 13 classes kicking off at the 9 a.m. start time with three of those 13 classes being in-hand. A theme of the day proved to be consistency among the judging panel with announcer Dallas Eubanks announcing seven wins from the morning to be unanimous.

A couple entries had extra-exciting wins Friday morning by moving up from reserve wins last year, such as Colton Trimble with Blues For Santana or Lisa Shockey with Lucky Daze, or defending prestigious titles, such as Lisa Weaver with Juan Carlos or Patrick Thomas with Big Time Bandit. 

Strong sister act Sherri and Patti Pollack created another cool moment of the morning when the captured the top two spots in the western park division. 

The George Wright Family owned the amateur weanling world champion reserve champion last year, and this year the pushed forward a notch as the winning owners of Side Effects, by Master Of Jazz and handled by Amanda Wright for the first win of the day. A Walk Time Charlie foal, Oh Susannah and Lynn Womack followed in the ranks as the reserve amateur weanling champions for Jones, Richards & Womack. 

Youth weanlings (handlers 6-17) also showcased the breed’s future talent, with Crossroads and Jackson Latham walking out with the blue for owner John Dorris and Blue Elegance and Brooklyn Fuss wearing the red streamers out for Keegan Meadows & Sophia Borg. Later in the morning, youth yearling in hand featured lone entry Singin The Blues CF for the win with Jordan Dempsey.

Amateur novice riders ages 6-17 on novice trail pleasure entries followed with the first unanimous decision of the day. Gwynn Walker won the good class aboard José’s Valentine with the crowd showing their loud support for reserve winners, A Guilty Pleasure and Carter Gleghorn. 

In fact, for a morning session that followed the first evening performance in the Big Oval, Friday morning’s spectators had plenty of energy to cheer on their favorites. That crowd support doubled in the amateur western park pleasure class when California sisters Patti and Sherri Pollack swept the top two positions, respectively. Patti road Overpass to the unanimous finish in the six-horse class with Sherri keeping it all in the family for reserve aboard Hello I’m Johnny Cash. 

Carrying momentum from a reserve in the Big Oval Thursday night, Colton Trimble and Blues For Santana finished third in the youth 6-11 show pleasure class last year but this year they were on top of their game for the unanimous win for the family’s training banner. Busting With Cash and Dylan Peter finished reserve.

Seven entries performed but no one topped Lisa Weaver and Juan Carlos, repeat winners from last year, in the amateur western trail pleasure class. It’s Weaver’s second Celebration win and the horse’s fourth. Line Item Veto and Rachel Teague represented their hometown of Shelbyville well with the reserve finish.

Seven entries again made the gate call for the amateur western lite-shod class with Lucky Daze and Lisa Shockey moving up from their reserve finish in the class last year for this year’s victory pass with last year’s third place finishers, My Black Cadillac and Allison Thorson, moving into the reserve slot.

The fourth unanimous decision of the day came when He’s A Dixieland Delight and Vickie Penick earned the win in the amateur park pleasure under four class. Also hailing from Finish Line Farms and Jeff Laughlin, Grits In Dixie and Darrin Sisk were reserve after a previous win Wednesday. 

All five judges agreed on putting José’s Grand Muchacha and Allison Thorson in the spotlight in the 13-entry amateur four-year-old trail pleasure class with Kimberly Walden happily accepted the red streamers aboard Jazzanova. 

Lite-shod four and under entries showed next with Big Time Bandit and Patrick Thomas defending their title from last year for the unanimous win for Lisa Baum. The Million Dollar Answer and Jeff Laughlin wore the red streamers out for Ronnie and Angela Rushing. 

Unanimous was the name of the game all morning long, with the panel in full agreement once more for the youth 6-17 trail pleasure four and under entries. Claire Hankins and Artemis Fowl topped the field with A Rain Delay and Evan Gleghorn earning reserve.

The session closed out just before noon with the youth 6-17 park performance entries showing. Thomas Derickson walked away with the world championship on board Ninety Yards with Ready To Play and Jesse Laughlin in reserve for Vickie Penick.