Every once in a while a foal will show him or herself to you. If you’ve seen one, you know what that means. Even at just a few weeks or months old they just have that “it factor.”

In the summer of 2022 Ocala, Florida competitor Tali Terlizzi was visiting Cole and Liz Baker’s facility with a friend who was looking at a couple of yearlings. But it was a pretty white faced two month old filly by the name of Smoooth Kriminal (Freckles) that caught her eye.

“I saw this beautiful white faced baby out in the field and asked Liz ‘what’s that?’  she recalled. “She was only a few months old but the way she walked, I knew she was going to be special.”

Terlizzi admits she is a “sucker” for a bay with a big white face but she was actually thinking long term.

“It was a huge plus that she just so happened to be a filly and immediately I thought about how I could cross her on my stud (Heres To The Blue, a 2020 bay colt by Good I Will Be out of The First Ride) later on down the line,” she explained. “She had this strut to her at the walk and hung her head right where it needed to be. She loped off three strides and I knew then I needed to have her.”

When it got time to start Freckles under saddle Terlizzi enlisted the help of Georgia trainer Jamie English.

“I’ve been riding her a little over a year now since I got her last January,” English said. “She has been very easy, willing and absolutely loves horse shows. She rides better at the horse shows than she does at home and I am very thankful for that.”

It is because of those qualities that Terlizzi and English decided that Smoooth Kriminal will make her show debut at the Sudden Impulse Futurity in the $30,000 National Snaffle Bit Association (NSBA) Maiden 3-Year-Old & Over Open & Limited Hunter Under Saddle.

“Her strengths are definitely her balance and being able to hold her top line level and swing her legs through at the same time,” English said. “Her trot is so easy for her, yet she wants to lope like a big western horse which I think is a very difficult thing to do for a big horse like her.”

But what really sets Freckles apart from others is the way she holds her ears and looks through the bridle and keeps such a great expression.

“She also has great balance,” English said. “She can hold her neck where it should be and is able to hold the ground perfectly. She just has a wonderful presence and profiles beautifully.”

And although both Terlizzi and English are impressed with Smoooth Kriminal’s talent level, they are equally impressed with her demeanor.

“She has the cutest personality. She is always so sweet and just loves attention,” English said.

That’s important as an amateur to Terlizzi.

“She is as sweet as they come, very calm and always in your pocket,” she said. “There’s not a mean bone in her body.”

Following the A Sudden Impulse Futurity, English will continue to show Freckles in Open 3-Year-Old events at all the majors this year and Terlizzi will show her in Non-Pro classes.

“She’s got big shoes to fill! My goal for her is to have a successful 3-year-old year, and then I have hopes she will be my amateur replacement since I have retired Al Be Bleu and sold Good Ol Boys Club,” she said.

Terlizzi has been working with both Jamie and her husband, Jason English, for over six years now. She says she counts on them to be honest about the horses and her own performances.

“I have had wonderful success with them for sure,” Terlizzi said. “We’ve found a couple great horses along the way that Jamie and Jason have both worked super hard on and prepared perfectly. I’m my biggest critic. I obsess on being better and I’d like to pride myself on being a straight shooter, I don’t want someone just telling me ‘oh it looks good.’ I want the truth, if it can be better, then tell me that, and let’s work on it together. Both Jason and Jamie are great in that aspect and there’s a great level of respect from both sides. They’re always there when I show or any customer for that matter, I look forward to passing them when I’m out showing so I can hear a “sit down, hold your hands still” or a ‘beautiful,’ it’s great.”

One of her favorite memories involving them is sitting in Celeste arena with Jason in 2021 as Jamie won her very first Quarter Horse Congress Championship in Junior Hunter Saddle riding Al Be Bleu.

“That was also my first Congress champion,” Terlizzi said. “Jason was so proud and had tears in his eyes, and I cried not only because it was my horse but because if you knew the bond those two shared, it was so rewarding to watch. I knew how hard she had worked for that. They won twice that day – winning the Limited Open Hunter Under Saddle Maturity later that day as well – and it was so special to be a part of. It is a day I will never forget.”

Jamie said Terlizzi has really progressed a lot in the past six years.

“She’s become very smart in the show arena and just has become more and more comfortable doing it,” she said. “I think we work well together because we’re open and honest with each other. We both have the same goals and it just works great.”

In addition to Smoooth Kriminal, Terlizzi is also looking forward to watching the future unfold for her 2-year-old bay stallion by Allocate Your Assets out of one of her own mares, The Good Bay, sired by Give Me The Goods out of Oh So Beautiful.

“I raised him and hope to see him in the 3-year-old Hunter Under Saddle novice events in 2026,” Terlizzi said.

He too is in training with Jamie.

“We are planning to save him for next year’s events,” she said. “He is stunningly beautiful and I’m very excited about him.”

Terlizzi also has a 2-year-old mare by Good Better Best out of Makin The Boys Blue (the dam of Al Be Bleu) in training with Georgia trainer Allison McDonald. And her a 2018 sorrel gelding by Machine Made out of Too Lazy To Pass, Pinball Machine is enjoying the expansion of his all-around career showing in Western Riding this year with Florida trainer Martin Doustou.

Terlizzi has been busy building a “mare palace” on 115 acres in Ocala, Florida. The 11,000-square-foot barn is fully equipped for a state-of-the-art breeding facility. It includes four 28-by-16-foot foaling stalls, 14 additional 16-by-16-foot stalls, a breeding room that includes a small lab and breeding stocks.

Terlizzi has 10 mares that she breeds and this year had nine foals by Allocate Your Assets, Good Better Best, Outlaw Enterprise, Fiire N Ice and Nothin But Nett. She is excited to cross several of her mares on her own stallion, Heres To The Blue, an NSBA World and Reserve World Champion, starting his career in the breeding shed this year, under the management of Pilot Knob Stud in Reddick, Florida.