The action was fast and several upsets were made during the CINCH First 2 Finish Trail Duel, when the finals were held on Wednesday night at the NSBA World Championship Show.
The CINCH First 2 Finish Trail Duel saw eight finalists compete head to head in side-by-side patterns to determine the final four, who then ran a second pattern to reach the top two competitors who would advance to the final round in the contest. The patterns included a spin in a box, slicker run that wrapped around poles before setting the slicker down to maneuver a complicated rope gate pattern with 180 degree turns, then a run to a cross-shaped box that included tight turns then tight turns around and over poles as well as picking up a grooming bag to run a cloverleaf barrel pattern before a sprint to the finish.
Prior to the finals, all eight riders were sold Calcutta style to the highest bidder, with 60 percent of the proceeds benefitting the NSBA Trainer Crisis Fund. The Calcutta auction raised $6,250 with $3,750 going to the Crisis Fund. Chad Evans was the highest selling exhibitor, raising $2,500.
In the first go, top seed Michah Hanson and second seed Chad Evans were eliminated due to being off pattern, which advanced eighth seed Troy Compton and seventh seed Will Knabenshue to the second round. Third seed Nadene Miller and sixth seed Kay-Lyn Huffaker battled for the second go with Kay-Lynn advancing with a clean run. In the second round, off pattern woes took Troy Compton and Will Knabenshue out of the bracket and set up the finals between Mike and Kay-Lyn..
It took three seconds to separate the first and second place finishers in the finals, with Mike Weaver posting a 132.630 clean run, while Kay-Lyn posted a 122.970 but received a ten second penalty which included dropping the grooming bag during the run.
Mike showed Zippos Untra Gold to the win for owner Hillary Reinhard, earning the $3,500 first place check. "My biggest strategy was staying on pattern," Mike said. "I did look at where I could use the fastest gait through the course, and that worked pretty well."
Zippos Ultra Gold is certainly no stranger to the Trail course, and Mike showed him successfully in a bridless Trail Challenge in Arizona a few years ago. "He has probably won four saddles all for Trail in the last three years," Mike said. "He has won a lot of Trail classes and he has 500 AQHA points.. Zippos Ultra Gold is sired by Zippos Old Gold.
Kay-Lyn brought Zippos Black Pearl out of retirement to compete in the CINCH First 2 Finish Trail Duel to earn second place, and $2,500 for the second place finish as well as the $1,000 bonus as the highest placing Non-Pro exhibitor. "I've had her for 15 years, and she was my birthday present when she was a yearling. She's 16 now," Kay-Lyn said. "We did the All Around events, everything from Showmanship to Horsemanship, Western Riding and Trail."
Kay-Lyn reflected on her strategy. for the class. "My strategy was really to remember the pattern and do it correctly," she said. "The most challenging part for me was the rope gate. I got my spur caught in it in the go-round, and in the preliminaries last night, I got the bit stuck in it."
Zippos Black Pearl is by Zippo Jack Bar and out of a Dynamic Deluxe mare.
The complete order of finish in the finals of the CINCH First 2 Finish Trail Duel was:
Champion: Mike Weaver and Zippos Ultra Gold
Reserve and High Point Non-Pro: Kay-Lynn Huffaker and Zippos Black Pearl
3rd: Will Knabenshue and UF Certainly A Priss
4th: Troy Compton and Eye On The Ball
5th: Jacob Hartman and You Think Your Hot Chips
6th: Michal Hanson and Lopin Ona Goodbar
7th: Chad Evans and Set To Blaze
8th: Nadene Miller
