Twenty-three horses are entered to compete tonight for a total purse of $91,050 in the Hylton Maiden 3-Year-Old & Over Western Pleasure at the Virginia Classic Quarter Horse Show in Lexington.

When the judges’ selections are tallied the winner will walk away with a check for $32,762.50. The highest placing Intermediate Rider will take home a bonus of $6,000 and the highest placing Limited Rider will pocket an additional $4,000.

The Hyton Maiden 3-Year-Old & Over Western Pleasure event, now in its fifth year, is made possible by the generous financial support of Cecilia Hylton, of Hylton Quarter Horses in Gainesville, Virginia, who contributes $50,000 herself to the class.

“We at Hylton Quarter Horses are pleased to continue to be one of the highest paying futurity events in the country,” says Lucas Cash, head trainer at Hylton Quarter Horses.

Originally the class was held during the Reichert Celebration but in an effort to bring interest back to the East Coast and to her home state, Hylton moved the class to the Virginia Classic in 2010.

“Some of the best horses are on the East Coast and there aren’t many big events,” Hylton says. “The class has been received really well and a lot of trainers and owners hold horses back so they can qualify for it.”

In fact, the idea of the class being a maiden event for 3-year-old and older horses was in an effort to discourage trainers from pushing 2-year-old horses too early, and Hylton hopes the large purse will encourage trainers to wait on their young horses.

“I have seen so many good horses go to the pen as 2-year-olds that are never seen again,” Hylton says. “I can’t twist anyone’s arm but I hoped to set an example with this class.”

The class is scheduled to get under way at 7p.m. and InStride Edition will bring you results live from the arena.

Tonight’s entries include:

1452 – Ready Set Lope (Certain Potential x Lopins Dream), Rusty Green for Debbie Brehm.

1454 – Erin For Certain (Certain Potential x Zippos Erin) Cleve Wells for Jerry Kimmel.

1456 – Seriously Im Good (Zippos Mr Good Bar x Mega Hot) John Roberts for Marion Valerio.

1458 – Huntin We Will Go (Huntin For Chocolate x Glowin Around Slo) Shane Dowdy for Adria Smith (leasee) / Gumz Farms.

1460 – Batta Batta Swing (Batt Man x No Way By Me) Maggie Grandquist for Haley Purkapile.

1462 – Forevea In Fashion (Too Sleepy To Zip x Dynamic Fashion) Donnie Rechuitti for Michael Stupak.

1464 – Chum Machine (Machine Made x Radical Roxanne) Troy Oakley for Courtney Chown.

1466 – Rolling In Hot – (Blazing Hot x Impulsive Love) Katy Jo Zuidema for Tankersley & Cameron.

1468 – My Own Cowboy Story (How Bout That Cowboy x Rosys Story Two) Bobby Cooper for Fritz Leeman.

1470 – RR A Moonlite Stroll (Only In The Moonlite x RR A Matter Of Time) Jeff Long for Greg & Kathie Engelbert.

1472 – Southern Comfort Zone (Inesistable Sudden x Flashy Looking Lady) Steve Reams for Wesley Smith.

1474 – Life Is A Breeze (Invitation Only x Zippin The Breeze) Brian Baker for Looney Quarter Horses LLC.

1476 – Made By J (Machine Made x Dark Jasmine) Taft Dickerson for Hall/Seebach.

1478 – RR On My Own (Only In The Moonlite x RR My Time To Shine) Will Burris for Steve & Jill Bennett.

1480 – Shes A Lopin Machine (A Good Machine x Hot Lopin Louise) Kristy Starnes for Cathy Starnes.

1482 – Wisely Lopin (Lazy Loper x Wisely Zippin) Brian Rastall for Andrea Rowland.

1484 – Amazin Dream (A Dream Remembered x Suddenly A Miracle), Brandon Burr for Amy Bauer.

1485 – Momma Knous Best (RL Best Of Sudden x Hot Little Moma) Katie Green for Capital Quarter Horses.

1486 – Im Hot In Blue (VS Code Blue x Simple Stuff) Pat Heeley for Knapp Quarter Horses.

1488 – The Monie Man (Certain Potential x Huntin For Money) Cole Baker for Carla McMullen.

1461 – Whos On Fire Now (Certain Potential x Radically Fired Up) Drew DeBuhr for Knapp Quarter Horses.

1490 – U Cant Fire Me (Diesel Only x Cant Be Fired) Tony Burris for Angie Schmeck.

1492 – Not Too Beforgotten (Too Sleepy To Zip x Only Begotten) Ray Carmean for Craig Koch.