Gina Schumacher Pilots Gunnastepya to First NRBC Victory

For Gina Maria Schumacher, her ride in the NRBC Non Pro Classic L4 Finals aboard Gunnastepya was a lot of fun. For the judges, it was top of the class, and the 227.5 score reflected that feeling.

Schumacher, from Germany with Gordonville, Texas, being home in the United States, is an NRHA Million Dollar Rider. Gunnastepya (Gunnatrashya x SDP A Lasting Step) didn’t have quite as extensive of a résumé, but the stallion is continuing to build it, one event at a time.

“He comes to a horse show and just cruises. It doesn’t bother him to run hard,” Schumacher said. “I think this is the only horse that I say has no weak point. I’ve ridden a couple really nice ones, but he is by far the nicest I’ve ridden. He is good minded, has big turns, big stops and circles really nice.” After Schumacher’s XCS Ranch LLC purchased Gunnastepya, bred by Adh-Mor Ranch, following the NRHA Futurity, Schumacher had her hopes for his 4-year-old year dashed when COVID restricted her from coming to the United States. Now, though, she and the 2016 stallion are clicking.

“We qualified for The Run For A Million at our first show together, but I never managed to put it all together [in a run],” she said. “He’s matured and now he is super chill, relaxed and does his job. Sometimes I get nervous, but he will do it. There is nothing I can pick on him with.”

Coming into the Non Pro Classic

Final on Friday, Schumacher didn’t plan to run Gunnastepya to his maximum. “It all went as planned today, except he didn’t circle as well as he usually does because we weren’t going as hard as we were in the Cactus Reining Classic. The faster you go, the more tuned in he gets, but I didn’t want to run him super hard because we need to go to Vegas in August, and I wanted to save some horse. He can make points in the turns and stops. He just listens to whatever I do and if he does anything wrong, it is because I screwed up.” The young rider is now focused on getting better. “The industry is going crazy now, really good, and we breed and train our horses, and that is what I want to do at one point. That is what made me want to come here and do my best. My ultimate goal now is to train my own horses, push our breeding and the horses we raise, and promote our stallions. Triple threat, that is the dream!” she said. “I have a really good team,they work tirelessly and I am really lucky to have Duane Latimer by my side to help me be better at what I do as well as my boyfriend who pushes me, and my mom, Corinna, of course, who couldn’t be here but is behind all of this.”

For the L4 win, Schumacher won the use of a Twin Cities Trailer’s deluxe two-horse Sundowner bumper pull and a slew of other prizes, earning $50,000.

Level 3 and Level 2 Non Pro Classic Champions: Kelsey Price and In My Glory Days

Kelsey Price and In My Glory Days (SG Frozen Enterprize x Gunners Glory) won the Novice Horse in the Non Pro Classic Preliminary round and took the L2 and 3 Non Pro Championships scoring a 222. Her husband and trainer, Kole, thought her mare would be at peak for the finals. “She is a lot of horse, and I am eligible for a lot of levels so I could win a lot of money,” Price said. “I was just going to give it my all, I was going to go fast and that was my plan.” www.internationalhorsepress.com

Price noted the mare loves her turnout time so at the show, the plan was to continue to let her be a horse. For one of the mare’s two exercise sessions during the day, Price would take her in a hackamore on a relaxing walk at the Tulsa Expo Square. With the win in both levels, Price takes home $25,000. The Prices plan to turn the mare out at home and let her be a horse before getting her ready for the NRHA Derby.

Price thanks her husband, Kole, and their assistants and groom, who always make her looking amazing, she said. She also thanks her veterinarian and farrier. Without this team behind her she says she couldn’t have achieved this result.

Level 1 and Prime Time Non Pro Classic Champions

Paul Queen has a new goal: to win the L4 Non Pro Classic. He’s well on his way, locking down the L1 and Prime Time Championships with a 222.5 aboard Makendiamonds (Whizkey N Diamonds x Makeit In Tinseltown). “This is my first Finals and I made all four levels,” he said. “It was pretty damn cool. There were a lot of them [in the preliminaries] and to make the L4 pretty easy, was cool.”

The palomino mare nicknamed “Josie” is owned by Queen’s mother, Dorothy Queen. He rides with Jared Leclair, and the pair spent time getting Josie back to being a horse after her Futurity year. “Now, she loves to go show, and she’s getting a personality. She’ll dig a cookie out of your pocket,” said Queen, of Whitesboro, Texas. “Sometimes you have to rehab their mind a little bit, and that is what we did with her. Now, she is doing really well. Jared and I both love her. I’m going to try and push her in the Derbies; My goal is to make her a $100,000 horse.”

His other goal is to keep climbing the Non Pro ladder. The preliminary round was tough, and while making the Finals in all divisions was not expected, Queen now aims to do it again. He knows, though, that competition is steep.” I know most of these people in here and we are not competing against one another but against ourselves to do better than the last time.”

Queen earned $2,000 for the Prime Time Non Pro Classic win, and added another $5,000 in the L1. He tied for reserve in the L2 adding another $5,000, and for the L3 adding $11,250. He and Makendiamonds placed ninth in the L4, earning another $5,750.

2022 Nominations & Leading Sires

2021 NRBC nominations: 2,674

2022 NRBC nominations: 2,914 ( the highest number of enrollments since the program’s inception in 1997)

Leading sires of enrolled foals in 2022: Spooks Gotta Whiz: 185

A Vintage Smoke: 124

Colonels Shining Gun:117

Inferno Sixty Six: 115 Spooks Gotta Spark: 108

By Simona Diale

2023

DeNiroBootsCo Euro 134.000-Added IRHA/IRHBA/NRHA Open

Derby: Czechowicz Reins CSG Wisemanfear to Top Honors

In front of a full house in Cremona, Italy, Poland’s Lukasz Czechowicz performed beautifully to a 227 score with CSG Wisemanfear between the reins seizing both the Euro 67.000-Added IRHA and Euro 67.000Added IRHBA Level (L)4 Open Championships.

March 28 - April 1, 2023 | CremonaFiere - Italy

Owned by Katarzyna Roleska, the elegant 5-year-old chestnut stallion by NRHA Million Dollar Sire Colonels Shining Gun out of Tejana Chic (by NRHA Seven Million Dollar Sire Smart Chic Olena) was bred by Brent Loseke. “He’s just an amazing horse, I’m so happy for him, for me, and for the owner. He’s always great with me! Ever since I started riding him, he was cool to train and now he’s cool to show. He's a phenomenally good-minded horse,” said Czechowicz. “He was really good the whole week and I was very quiet with him in the qualifier as I didn't know what to expect in this first show of the season; our last outing was the Italian Futurity in November. He was great there, but after that, I never showed him again so I am really happy.” The Polish Professional also took third place honors by performing to a 225.5 with Roleska’s CSG Kenzo, also by Colonels Shining Gun out of Shiner Brimolena.

NRHA Million Dollar Rider Ann Fonck rode to the L4 IRHA and IRHBA Reserve Championships posting a 226.5. “I’m really happy with him and he was super nice,” said Fonck about her mount, Colonels Whize Gun by Colonels Shining Gun out of Alicias Conquistador, a 7-year-old gelding owned by Anneliese & Hermann Meinert and bred by Roel van Dijk. “Managing to make it to the winner's circle is always great for us: It’s a 16hour drive to get here, you have to do a good job in the qualifier, and for the finals, we all hope that everything comes together. We are super happy and so are the owners with how everything turned out.”

Level 3

Francesco Barbagli and Steppin To Amarillo, a 5-year-old palomino stallion by Steppin On Sparks out of Frosted Wimped Cream owned by Riccardo Abati, clinched the Euro 12.000-Added IRHA and Euro 12.000-Added IRHBA L3 Championships. “I started riding him around the end of February and we immediately clicked. The horse is physically small but he’s all heart. I just tried to get us connected and give him the wake-up call since one of his characteristics is that he is very calm. The beautiful story behind this victory is that I started reining with Riccardo [Abati] at

"The collaboration and joint effort between IRHA, IRHBA, and TFY resulted in an important purse that attracted a large number of European riders showing in the IRHA/IRHBA Open and Non Pro divisions," said Doardo. "The added money offered is bound to grow in the next two years along with the number of entries, which is the goal that we set. This also gives us the opportunity of offering a better service to the competitors, horses, owners, and the public with the intent of keeping the four major reining events held in the Old Continent - the European Futurity, European Derby, Italian Derby, and Italian Futurity - in the Top 10 world rankings as far as purses are concerned. On a side note, it was a pleasure to witness the appreciation of all those present during this event."

Filippo Masi's facility. The last horse I rode owned by Riccardo was in 2003…that’s 20 years ago. After so many years, when he called me to ask me if I wanted to try the horse, I immediately accepted. The rest is history.”

The Open Derby Numbers: Added/Entries

Euro 42.000-Added IRHA L4 – 77

Euro 12.000-Added IRHA L3 – 92

Euro 7.500-Added IRHA L4 – 99

Euro 5.500-Added IRHA L1 – 54

Euro 42.000-Added IRHA/IRHBA L4 – 64

Euro 12.000-Added IRHA/IRHBA L3 – 60

Euro 7.500-Added IRHA/IRHBA L2 – 57

Level 2

Winning the Euro 7.500-Added IRHA and Euro 7.500-Added IRHBA L2 Open as well as claiming Reserve Honors in the L3 division was Italian Professional Max Ruggeri who rode Spook Sunburst (Great Sun Burst x All About Spook), owned by Silvia Garuti, to a 221. The 8-year-old gelding by multiple

NRHA Open and Non Pro World Champion Great Sun Burst was bred by Manuel Bonzano. “I am very happy with this result because he’s a very particular horse. He has already given a lot in his career and we came here following a few special events where we made the finals but then we weren't able to express ourselves. This time we succeeded and I'm really super excited for me, the horse, and of course the owners. The day before the show he needs to work a little more to be perfect the day after. I’ve been trying to find the right way to handle the pressure for a while now and this time I can say... mission accomplished!”

Level 1

Taking home the Euro 5.500-Added IRHA L1 and Euro 5.500-Added IRHBA L1 Open Championships along with the L2 IRHA and IRHBA Reserve honors with a 218 score was Andrea Sanfelici of Italy riding Boomer Little Uno (Mister Little Uno x Make A Boom), a 6-year-old gelding owned by Cristian Gorni and bred by Francesca Zerbi.

“Boomer has been at our barn for two years now and during this period I showed him in reined cow horse events winning several shows in the Open classes. The current owner is Cristian Gorni, and the goal for this season is now for him to compete in the cow horse Novice Riders classes. Two months ago, Gorni suggested entering the horse in this Derby and I obviously