Wade Parks is having one heckuva year.

The 28-year-old married his sweetheart and training partner Carley Veldman on July 13, and in September won the Reichert Celebration Color Classic 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure riding Sensational Design with his bride taking reserve on My Sensational Star.

Then, on November 9, Wade did it again, riding My Sensational Star to a championship in the $40,200 Farnam 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure Stakes earning owner Tracey Hehr of Hollywood, South Carolina, a check for $13,668.

“I certainly have had a great year,” Wade said with a laugh. “But I also had a great horse out there.”

It was a tough class of 10 showing in only the second Farnam 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure Stakes, in which only Paints are eligible for if they have gone through the previous year’s Breeders’ Trust Select Sale. The first stakes in 2012 had nine entries with Randy Wilson riding Ann Cowan’s gelding Agent Dinozzo to a unanimous first place finish and a check for $12,800.

“This year was a really great class of horses,” Wade said. “The top six horses that were being pulled off the rail were all good horses. But you don’t think about the horses in the pen. You think about the horse you’re going to show. Is it prepared? Is it ready to go? Preparation makes it easier, and I have them broke before you get to the horse show.”

As the five judges lined up their placings, Wade and “Zoey” were in a duel for first place with Mike Hachtel and Hide Your Crazy, owned by Ken, Karen and Amalie Kennedy. But with three firsts, a second and a fourth, Wade won the match with Mike and Hide Your Crazy taking home reserve and a check for $10,854.

“I was on the edge of my seat when they were lining them up,” Tracey said. “But I knew the way she performed, that I was hoping that Wade had it in the bag with her because she was definitely the most consistent horse out there.”

Wade agrees.

“I knew I had a good horse,” he said of Zoey. “She did everything she could do, and there’s no more horse there right now. She was just as good as I could ask her to be.”

By all-time leading Paint sire Zippos Sensation and out of Red Shiney Shoes by Paint Me Zippo, Zoey was bred by Sandra Gattis Wiggins of Ellijay, Georgia. Wade saw her as a yearling in September 2012 and bought her for Tracey. They ran her through the 2012 Breeders’ Trust Select Sale with the goal of showing her at this year’s Farnam Western pleasure event.

“Zoey is such a trainable horse, and so mature, big and physical,” Wade said. “She can take the training and has been able to take it from day one. And she’s great minded. She’s been broke for months to where you could just treat her like an old junior horse. I can’t say enough good things about her.”

Zoey will show twice more at the APHA World Show with Tracey guiding her in the new Non-Pro 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure Sweepstakes on November 13 and Carley back in the saddle on November 14 in the 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure world show class.

Then that will be the last for the Parks and Tracey as Zoey will have new owners.

“I’ve sold her,” Tracey said. “She has done everything we’ve asked her to do and more. We’re going to miss her, but we’ve been very blessed to have her.”