The highly anticipated $142,000 NSBA All-Age Open Trail Finals brought together some of the nation’s top competitors, all vying for the first-ever $100,000 winner’s payout in trail history at the Sudden Impulse held at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Florida.

The top 20 combinations from Thursday’s prelims returned to the WEC Grand Arena on Friday night with their sights set on the top prize. When the final results were announced, the crowd erupted as Bradley Ost rode Susan Johns’ Nothin But Nett to victory. With the milestone win, Ost also secured his place in the NSBA Quarter Million Dollar Club following the night’s earnings.

Pattern designer Tim Kimura, along with builder Garry McAllister and the WEC crew, delivered a technical track featuring 120 poles paired with a mix of intricate and eye-catching obstacles.

Looking ahead to the finals, Bradley anticipated a demanding test. 

“You plan on it being pretty hard with a lot of things out there, and it being really high. It was challenging, but that’s how it should be when you’re going for a big prize. Jim and Deanna (Searles) have been great this week, at grounding me and reminding me that things happen. We plan for it, we do our homework, but at the end of the day, there are sometimes things you can’t control and that is the mentality we came into this with. We had a plan, and went in knowing he was prepared and ready to go. We went out and we had fun.”

Nothin But Nett rose to the occasion, and Bradley credits the stallion’s exceptional foundation. “He comes from greatness,” he said of the 2017 stallion by Machine Made out of KM Hot Number. 

“What an incredible animal,” Ost said. “He comes from greatness. The people who bred him are great, he had great trainers, he got put in the right program from the very beginning. Jim and Deanna (Searles) and the Johns family found him through Katie and Rusty Green and purchased him. He was successful in the Pleasure and then went on to do everything he’s done thus far. I feel like I’m just a fraction of the piece of the puzzle that got to ride him tonight. They did all the hard work. Everyone involved with him did a wonderful job and me getting to be the last piece of the puzzle has been awesome.”

The pair secured the win with a score of 253, finishing 6.5 points ahead of second place. 

“It’s wild, absolutely wild,” Ost said. “Years ago, there wasn’t money in the Trail, so just having the opportunity to go for something like this is unexplainably exciting. To be here and actually get it done is even more exciting. It’s insane.”

Blake Weis secured both second and third place honors in the prestigious class, scoring a 246.5 aboard Mary Alice Nielson’s 2020 gelding, Made For Naturdays (Machine Made out of KM Little Bit Of Me), and a 243 with Megan Gieringer’s 2018 gelding, Hes N Like Flynn (RL Best Of Sudden out of Shes A Lopin Machine).

$142,000 NSBA All-Age Open Trail Finals Top Three Results

1 Nothin But Nett, Bradley Ost, Susan Johns
2 Made For Naturdays, Blake Weis, Mary Alice Nielson
3 Hes N Like Flynn, Blake Weis, Megan Gieringer

Lauren Elizabeth Martin claimed the $2,000 Limited Rider Bonus with Cynthia Rasmussen’s 2012 gelding, No Question Im Lazy (Lazy Loper x My Invested Machine). 

The 2026 A Sudden Impulse concludes today. 

Story courtesy of WEC.

Learn more about the Orange Blossom Classic & A Sudden Impulse here.

Photos courtesy of Shane Rux Photography.