Governor: 'Tremendous strides' made

Bluegrass Bandit, a World Grand Champion Western trail horse and Breyer's model horse, carried the flag to open the TWHBEA Futurity Wednesday night with Jared Carrier up. (T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Click to enlarge]

If anyone noticed the cluster of "suits" traveling around the mezzanine of the Calsonic Arena during the early part of the Futurity Wednesday night, they didn't have to wonder what it was all about for very long.

Gov. Phil Bredesen stopped and visited with dozens of show spectators, vendors and staff as he and his entourage made their way around the concourse and down to the center ring.

"I've come lots of times," said Bredesen, wearing a suit and tooled cowboy boots, speaking to a visitor who welcomed him to The Celebration.

"I feel the industry has made tremendous strides since then," he later said at a press conference after his appearance in the ring, where he awarded a floral horseshoe to Allison Thorson on I'm Ritz.

"There's a much better feeling. I feel really good (about it) … It's such an important industry to our state, a signature industry."

Thorson took her blue in the 3-Year-Old Trail Pleasure Western Specialty class, adding to a serious collection of blues the young rider has earned so far this year.

Bredesen said he felt the walking horse industry has come a long way in recovery since the 2006 Celebration, when no World Grand Champion was named.

Bredesen joked that the walking horse industry may not be as big as Dolly Parton or Elvis, "but it's big!"

He confessed he doesn't own a walker, but has ridden them several times.

Gov. Phil Bredesen and 5-year-old Brandon Brewer pose for a photo at the Futurity Wednesday night. (T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

"In most of the parades I go to, I ride a walking horse, and it's always a Tennessee walking horse. I take great pride in the Tennessee walking horse," he said.

The Futurity, well under way when the governor arrived, continued after his departure, with 181 of the breed's best specimens competing. There were some new names in the winner's circle, as well as familiar ones. Naples Ritz, who won three-year-old stallion classes both at Wartrace and the Moore County Show with trainer Tim Gray or owner Bill Johnson, of Waterfall Farms, won the three-year-old stallion class at the Futurity, as well.

This marked the first year Yearlings In-Hand extended gait was held, where the yearlings were "parked out," then led at a flat walk pace one at a time for the judges to observe.

"Isn't that a great way to showcase our yearlings?" asked announcer and Celebration PR director Chip Walters.

The winner of the class, Pride of Stonecutter, belongs to one of the oldest names in the business, Charles Brantley, and his wife.

The flag horse was Bluegrass Bandit, ridden by Jared Carrier and owned by the Chip Carrier family of Franklin, Ky. Bandit has the distinction of not only being a World Grand Champion Western Trail horse, but a Breyer's model horse as well.