The 2023 Back To Berrien Futurity came to a close on Saturday with a big class of Novice Horse Western Pleasure contestants and the largest paychecks of the show in the $10,000 Added DAC $2,500 Limited Horse Open Western Pleasure.
Organizers Charles Cannizzaro, Gil Galyean and Jon Barry were pleased with the growth and participation of both sponsors and exhibitors.
“We really have to thank our show sponsors fof supporting us, because without them, we couldn’t have this show,” Charles noted. “Second we thank all the exhibitors who came and showed with us. We were blessed with a successful show and we look forward to having more of them in the future.”
The trio added some new and different classes to this year’s show which were well received by exhibitors. “We really have some thought to adding classes that the exhibitors would like and support. We added some Four Year Old Limited Horse classes, and the exhibitors really supported those, and our Three Year Old Non-Pro Select classes were also a hit. And having a Novice Horse class as of June 1 also got the exhibitors excited,” noted Gil Galyean.
In total, the show presented nearly $100,000 in purse money over the four day show, and also held an AQHA Special Event Hunter Under Saddle and Western Pleasure show.
Jake And Kenny Win DAC Novice Horse Western Pleasure
The premier class of the 2023 Back To Berrien Show was the $10,000 Added DAC $2,500 Novice Horse Western Pleasure. To be eligible for the class, horses could not have earned more than $2,500 by June first. The class attracted 23 entries, who showed in a first go, with 12 finalists returning to the rail for a final work.
When the cards of Eric Petersen, John Boxell, Mike Hay and John Briggs were tallied, the black AQHA stallion Straight Up Dirty, shown by trainer Kenny Lakins for owner Jen Smith, took home the first place prize and a check for $4,000.
It was an emotional win for Kenny Lakins. “I’ve ridden a lot of studs, and this one is by far the best minded one I’ve ever ridden,” he said. “He’s by The Best Martini and out of a full sister to A Certain Vino. He takes very little riding, and you basically have to pace yourself with him.
“I’ve been bringing him along slow and we’ve been working toward something like this that he could win. He’s 15.3, and I think he’ll still grow some. He’s gorgeous, and he has such great conformation and that great mind – I think he’s going to make great babies.”
Kenny and ‘Jake’ were one of two horses that were crowd favorites. The other was reserve champion My Popcorn Machine and Rebecca Britton. The duo showed to the second place prize of $2,800 for owner Kelly McWhinney, and also won a scooter as the highest placing Limited Rider.
Cash On The Line
In the $1,000 Added Open Western Yearling Longe Line, Bret Caplinger guided the first and third place horses, taking Wilde Child, whom he owns with his wife Heather, to first and a $608 paycheck and No Doubt Im Snazzy to third for Anthony and Patti Cerio, earning $415. My First Minute, shown by Kevin George for Superior Care Management LLC, took the reserve award and $535.
“Debbi Trubee and Roger Landis raised Izzy,” Bret said. “She is by Makin Me Willy Wild and out of My Impulses Are Good, who is by A Good Machine. Izzy is her first foal. We got her in December. She’s just so soft and supple, and she’s great minded. Everything is just natural for her. She showed great.”
Hunting Winning Rides
Amber Pickard guided The Irons Hot to win the $1,000 Added Open Hunter Under Saddle Maturity, showing for Heidi Marhofer and earning $803.04 for the win.
“We bought Shaq as a late three year old from Rick Klaus and Andrea Passe,” Amber said. “We showed him last year for the first time in Junior Hunter Under Saddle. He hasn’t really shown much, but he has a lot of eye appeal and he’s so strong behind. He kind of has a different style.”
Shaq is by One Hot Chocolate and out of Duplicated Irons and was bred by Nancy Klaus. The team plans to show him in Limited horse events this season.
Super Freek continued his winning ways with Jamie English in the irons, winning the $5,000 Added Open Three Year Old Hunter Under Saddle for owner Kelly Smith, and winning a pay check of $2,631.68.
“We found Roger by accident at Mark and Judy Zeitler’s,” Jamie said. “Jason went there to look for something totally different and found him as a two year old in a back field.”
“Jason called me and asked me if I would be interested in a two year old, and I really wasn’t, but he could see his potential from the beginning. We worked with him last year and decided to keep him back until his three year old year to mature. He has grown into the most handsome, beautiful horse – he’s just elegant.”
Kelli enjoys investing in young prospects, and her current plans are to have Jamie show Roger through the 2023 Congress. “We’ve had a lot of interest in him,” she said. “But we would like to keep him through the fall.”
Western Winners
The Cooki Monster had a monster day in the show pen, earning a unanimous win with Susan Roberts in the $1,000 Added Non-Pro Western Pleasure Maturity and with trainer RJ King in the $1,000 Added Open Western Pleasure Maturity, adding to Susan’s win on Friday in the 50 & Over Western Pleasure.
“I’ve only been working with Cher for about four months,” RJ said. “Capital and their team did such a great job bringing her along, so we’ve just been working on the little things to get it perfect. She’s been really consistent this week, and she seems to just get better and better as we go.”
Gotta Go Viral and Blakely Abbott took the win in the $1,000 Added 18 & Under Youth Western Pleasure class. It was a bittersweet win, however.
“We bought Ella in the NSBA Yearling Sale, and she’s four now, so I’ve waited a long time to get to show her for the first time,” Blakely said. “She was shown last year, but I was away at college – I go to the University of Tennessee Martin. I’ll be a sophomore this year and I’m studying political science. Unfortunately, this is my first time to show her, and my only time to get to show her this year – I have to miss the AQHYA World Show and the NSBA World Show to go back to school.
“Ella was really consistent during our go. She was always underneath me, and she’s just really easy going. She’s by Gone Viral and out of Ima Potential.”
Another repeat winner was Dark Ladee, shown by Shannon Curl for Haley Purkapile. The team won both the $1,000 Added Open Three Year Old Western Pleasure, earning $699, as well as the Super Sires portion of the class, earning an additional $2,520. Dark Ladee saw success earlier in the week, winning the $5,000 Added Limited Open Three Year Old Western Pleasure. Dark Ladee earned nearly $5,800 throughout the week in Berrien Springs.
More repeat winners were found in the $1,000 Added Three Year Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure, when Waffle House and JR Pickard were named the winners. They took home a check for $640.35, making a nice birthday present for JR’s mother, Katy Jo Zuidema.
Waffles won more than $8,600 throughout the Back To Berrien show.
VS Bettin On Jacks and Melissa Wilkes also saw additional wins on Saturday. They won the $1,000 Added Non-Pro Four Year Old Western Pleasure as well as the Super Sires division of the class. The duo earned $656.40 for the class win and $2,475 for the Super Sires win.
‘Sheldon’ won more than $6,300 in earnings throughout the week between wins with trainer Kenny Lakins in the $5,000 Added $5,000 Limited Horse Western Pleasure and Melissa’s Non-Pro classes.
To view complete show results from the Back To Berrien Futurity, please visit the Horse Show Tracker app.
