There were more than a few delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a venue change and plenty of sleepless nights for the organizers but you would never know it on Saturday, June 13, when a total of 22 maiden western pleasure horses competed for $45,000 in cash and prizes in the 2020 Virginia Maiden 3-Year-Old & Over Western Pleasure class held at the Tar Heel Summer Classic in Raleigh, North Carolina.

John Briggs, Danielle Burns, Terry Cross, Garth Gooding and Jonathan Meilleur officiated over the class of horses showing for the first time. High and low cards were dropped and when the scores were tallied there was a tie between Katy Jo Zuidema riding Martina Mckride and Rusty Green showing Nothin But Nett. Martina Mckride, a 2017 sorrel mare by The Best Martini and out of Invited Forever won the tiebreaker but they each took home checks for $8,500.

Martina Mckride is a 2017 sorrel filly, sired by the Best Martini and out of Invited Forever and is owned by Robert Roger. The win marked the second straight year the winner was sired by The Best Martini. Last year, Randy Wilson rode Extra Dirty Martini to a win in the class held in Lexington, Virginia. In addition to the cash prize, Martina Mckride took home the NSBA trophy and a beautiful rose neck sash.

Nothin But Nett, a 2017 bay stallion is sired by Machine Made and out of Quarter Horse Congress Champion KM Hot Number is owned by Susie Johns. In addition to the $8,500 check, Nothin But Nett earned a custom saddle, designed by Harris Leather & Silverworks and donated by Dr. Candice Hall and Dr. Cory Seebach, for being the highest placing horse in the class sired by their stallion, Machine Made.

Brian Ale placed third in the class and was the Intermediate Champion riding Son Of A Machine, owned by Amanda Mehaffey, earning $5,500 plus the Intermediate bonus.

Jess Duffy was the Limited Champion in the class riding Ive Been Mooned, sired by Only In The Moonlite. They took home $1,650 plus the Limited Bonus.

Other placings were:

• Fourth: Yall Hashtag This owned by Brent and Kate Bamford and shown by Aaron Moses; $3,250.

• Fifth: Hotty Totty owned by Chav3z Enterprises and shown by Randy Wilson; $3,250.

• Sixth: KM BestInTheMoonlite owned by Robin Labar and shown by Karen Hornick; $2,000.

• Eighth: For What Its Worth, owned by Capital Quarter Horses and shown by Andy Cochran, $1,250.

• Ninth: Made In Madison, owned by Melanie Parker and shown by Jason English, $1,125.

• 10^th: My Best Version, owned by Gina Janke and shown by Dawn Baker, $1,000.

Formerly known as the Hylton Maiden 3-Year-Old and Over Western Pleasure Class, the event was sponsored for many years by Cecilia Hylton, owner of Hylton Quarter Horses in Gainesville, Virginia. Hylton introduced the class at the Reichert Celebration to encourage trainers to refrain from pushing young show prospects. The class was moved to Lexington, Virginia (Hylton’s home state) in 2011 and was the highest paying Western Pleasure futurity class in the nation for many years. When Hylton decided to discontinue sponsorship of the class, Cameron Van Sickle stepped in to help keep it alive for the Virginia Quarter Horse Association and with the help of Meghan Tierney and Samantha Schinness, the event has continued to thrive. In March, when the coronavirus forced the cancellation of the Virginia Spring Breakout, where the event is normally held, organizers worked to reorganize and at first planned to hold the Virginia Maiden class at the National Stock Horse Show in Lexington in early June and add additional futurity classes. When the Lexington facility was still not going to be open in time for that the decision was made to hold the contests with the Tar Heel Summer Classic, sponsored by the North Carolina Quarter Horse Association and managed by An Equine Production. This year’s Virginia Maiden drew twice the number of entries than last year’s class.

In addition to the Virginia Maiden 3 & Over Western Pleasure, other VQHA futurity class winners from the weekend include:

• 3-Year-Old Limited Open Western Pleasure: Rockin The Crown, owned by Debra Anderson and shown by Ashley Rastall, $550.

• All-Age Non-Pro Western Pleasure: Forever Kool, owned and showb by Nancy Wilkerson Ditty, $750.

• 3-Year-Old & Over Limited Horse Western Pleasure: Lazy On The Rocks, owned by Whitney Wilson and shown by Randy Wilson, $3,000.

• 3-Year-Old & Over Novice Horse Hunter Under Saddle: Hez Really Exotic, owned by Kelly Smith and shown by Jamie English, $3,000.Complete results from the show, including circuit champions, can be found at: https://www.anequineproduction.com/nc-quarter-horse