On the Road to the American Performance Horseman, Next Stop the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity: Q - You won your first Snaffle Bit Futurity in 2001.
Did you foresee that 20 years later that you would still be so competitive?
A - I am not sure that I foresaw that, but I did hope that in the back
of my mind, like any trainer. You want to be competitive a long time, and I guess that it goes back to wanting to prove that you are not a one hit wonder. Just one good horse and that’s all you were. I wanted to stay competitive and train a number of horses and have a number of Championships. I think if you ask any trainer, that is what they would hope for.
Q - Back then, would you have believed that the prize money
would reached a purse of the 1 Million Dollar mark that it has today, at the American Performance Horseman competition?
TODD
BERGEN
INTERVIEW BY TRACY WAGER
A - The winner does not get a million dollars, the total purse is
a million. But, this is a lot of money that we are running at. It is exciting that the prize money has gotten to where it is, and hard to believe. And there again, did any of us foresee this, I do not know, but we sure hoped and dreamed for it. When you start into something, you hope and dream of it being big and you being on top and one of the best. So, I think all of this stuff that is happening, is all of the stuff that we have been dreaming and thinking about and hoped for a very long time. As exhibitors we have all dreamed of this day. Hopefully it just keeps getting bigger.
Q - The American Performance Horseman is taking cow horse to
the next level of competition and prize money. For you personally, and as a Teton Ridge team member, how does that make you feel?
A - Excited! Very excited. Anybody coming up thru the ranks, just
starting out as an assistant trainer, we all dream of being a head trainer and having a barn full of horses and getting to go show at the big shows and win the big prizes. We are all excited. I myself am very excited. It is something that we all have dreamed of. Being able to perform in front of 10’s of thousands of people, televised to a global audience, in a huge arena, that is very exciting! Getting to compete in that big coliseum, and big venues like that. Being on television. That is what we have all hoped and dreamed would happen someday. It’s like being a kid playing Little League Baseball. You are in your back yard playing and dreaming of being a star player for the Yankees and someday playing in the World Series in front of hundreds and thousands of people. That is pretty much every young trainers dream, everyone dreams at some point. To see this happen and to be a part of the Teton Ridge team as well as being part of the process of making this happen, well that is super cool. When I was asked to be a part of the Teton continued on page 32
Smartly Starstruck - Photo: Carolyn Simancik
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