2015 CRCHA show – HT
Bakersfield brings out the best!
Horsetrader Staff Reports – May 21st, 2015
CRCHA shows brings in the Big NAMES!
When the California Cow Horse Association puts on a show, you can count on competition. The Central Valley is the cradle of reined cow horse, the root of the National Reined Cow Horse Association, so when the local club competes, there’s a round-up of all-stars.
“You know, even just for our weekend shows down there in Bakersfield, we get the ‘big dogs’ because there are so many in this area,” says CCHA Board Member Lance Johnston, himself one of those big dogs. “Doug Williamson, Jake Gorrell, John Ward, Jon Roeser and Teddy (Robinson) comes over the hill with Tucker and Tina, and Ron Emmons comes down.
“You would think that our club would put on a nice little weekend show, where we go, have a little fun, and back the horses off a bit,” added Johnston. “But you really don’t get to do that if you want to place at all, or win. You still got to run pretty hard and compete. There are no freebies down there in Bakersfield.”
The “big dogs” as well as a large group of non pros brought the Sundance Arena to life April 24-26 Lifeline California Horse Trials, Derby and CCHA Show No. 4. Even with a rare threat of rain that had been forecasted — but never hit — in the week before the event, Sunday’s horse show classes had 160 entries, not including the seven sets of herd work, reining and fence work of Friday and Saturday’s Derby and Bridle Spectacular.
With the NRCHA Hackamore Classic relocated to Colorado, this CCHA event has proved attractive for Californians coming off NRCHA Stakes competition in Las Vegas.
Nicolas Barthelemy and Sheri Jamieson’s Very Red Remedy tied for the reserve Derby Open title, earning $4,421. One such competitor was Phillip Ralls of Paso Robles on Estelle Roitblat’s Call Me Mitch (Metallic Cat X Miss Hickory Hill), who followed a good showing in the $56,600-added NRCHA Stakes Open, earning $18,461, before heading to Bakersfield to win the Lifeline Derby Open Championship, earning $6,348.
“That’s a special horse, and Phillip’s doing real good with him,” Johnston said of Ralls, who was a Snaffle Bit Futurity Finals front-runner on Call Me Mitch at last fall. “He was a star as a 3-year old. He pretty much dominated our deal in Bakersfield and showed he was the best horse. I think he was the cream of the crop down there for the derby horses.”
New this year will be the club’s Post-Futurity, Derby and Bridle Spectacular, along with a horse show, in November at the Paso Robles Events Center. “We’re going to put on a good-sized event,” said Johnston. “We have a lot of people who live on the coast and come to our shows, and we’re looking forward to trying to have a few shows in different spots. Everybody loves going to Paso. And, it if rains, we’ll be covered!”
