Three horse-and-rider combinations shared championship honors in the Carolina Classic Derby Open Levels 2 and 1, but Tricia Tillman couldn’t have been any prouder of Boomin In Lace had the mare won it outright.
The 2012 perlino mare – who is grade – put in the best performance of her young show career to be one of three horses that marked a 216.5. She and Tillman were joined in the co-championship with Conquered This Town and Dany Pelletier, as well as Arc Shesa Walla and Nathan Morton.
“(Boomin In Lace) has always performed really well and just never placed very well. She probably only has a couple hundred dollars to her name and to win close to I think, what, $5,000 today…She just showed her heart out,” Tillman said of the mare owned by her mother, Kimberly Tillman. “I mean, she would’ve marked bigger, but we had a trip in our second stop and that cost us a point-and-a-half and minus maneuver in total.”
Tillman said the kind, calm mare was bred by her boss, National Reining Horse Association approved judge Robert LaPorta, at his Summer Wind Farm in Damascus, Maryland.
“I can give lessons to absolute complete beginners on this mare when the lesson horse has already been used, and she just takes absolute care of everyone,” said Tillman, 18. “She’s an old soul. Just the sweetest old soul there is.”
The daughter of Mr Boomerjac is unregistered because her mother was an Appaloosa born without spots and, thus, never registered. Tillman said she and her mother are currently trying to get Boomin In Lace registered through the Appaloosa Horse Club.
The mare earned more than $3,600 at the Carolina Classic, pushing her lifetime Equi-Stat record beyond $6,500. The total from the Carolina Classic does not include any money won through the Atlantic Breeders Incentive. Payout from the incentive in the Derby Open was not available as of Sunday morning.
Another young horse that put in a breakthrough performance was Conquered This Town. The 2013 son of Hollywoodstinseltown out of Conquistadors Sandy (by Conquistador Whiz) faced some setbacks earlier in his career, but has been putting things together this season, said trainer Dany Pelletier.
The Lucama, North Carolina-based trainer said it was a credit to the gelding’s owner that he stuck with the horse after the setback, allowing the horse time to show his potential.
“I’d probably like to give a special thanks to the owner Parker Minchin for their trust and patience and just for giving me the opportunity to show the horse,” he said.
Conquered This Town won more than $4,848 in the Derby, not including incentives. His Equi-Stat record is roughly $5,000.
Click here for the full results from the Carolina Classic Derby Open.
The third horse to tie for the win was Arc Shesa Walla. Ridden by Nathan Morton, the 2012 Walla Walla Whiz mare is out of Hickorys Holly Cee (by Doc’s Hickory), making her a maternal half-sister to 2018 World’s Greatest Horseman Champion Hickory Holly Time (by One Time Pepto).
Before the Carolina Classic, Hickorys Holly Cee had an Equi-Stat produce record of $491,624 in earnings from 17 performers. Arc Shesa Walla added more than $2,200 to that at the Carolina Classic.
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