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got to the last pole and I was thinking ‘don’t screw this up’ and I did.” A longtime fi xture in APHA—


Venerable World Show exhibi- tor Brandi Manning returned to the APHA World Show with three horses this year, determined to win a world championship in Amateur Barrels. Riding two horses in the class, it was Brandi’s second ride— aboard the 2003 buckskin tobiano mare Cruisers Doll—who made the horsewoman’s dream a reality.


“I said, ‘You know? If she stays


healthy, we’re going to go by that,’ ” he said. “It’s cool because doing run- ning events, you only have those three classes. We’ve been fortunate.” Sally came into the 2012 APHA


World Championship Show tied for the honor with Fleetstreet Max, thanks to a Youth Stake Race world champion- ship earned by Sally’s owner, Shelton Headley, at last summer’s AjPHA World Championship Show. A little sore immediately following the summer show, Sally has taken life easy since June; David, however, knew his stal- wart mare would be ready to tackle the premier Paint Horse event. “Nobody’s been on her since Youth


World—not even on her back. I said ‘I’ll just take her and see,’ ” David said. “It’s such a rush to get up there and point her in. She loves the game, and I love that horse.” Healthy and sound, it was clear the time off hadn’t hurt the plucky tobiano mare. Easily locking up the fi nal world championship needed to break the title, Sally also took home fourth in Amateur Stake Race in a run that might have led to yet another world title, had it not been for a mistake on David’s part. “She had a smoking run going,” David said. “She ate them up, and I


PAINT HORSE RACING  JANUARY 2013  17


David has shown Paints since 1966— the horseman says Sally holds special meaning for his family. The mare is a granddaughter of the Headley family’s 1964 sorrel tobiano stallion Joechief Bar, who earned APHA Supreme Champion title No. 3 with David’s brother, Mott Headley Jr., in 1971. Though Sally now has 23 world championships and 12 reserve world champion titles, David has no plans to stop running his top performer as long as she remains healthy. “She’s not through,” he said. “I just look forward to continuing to compete with her. She makes it so much fun.”


‘Snickers’ Satisfi es Though Brandi Manning has


enjoyed undeniable success on the APHA World Show’s stage, one title— a world championship in Amateur Barrel Racing—has eluded the horse- woman from Clinton, Oklahoma. “It seems like every time I came, I’d


have something, some bobble, happen. I’d stumble or slip,” she said. “I usually do well in the poles, but I just wanted to win the barrels in the Amateur or the Open—either one.”


With her goal defi ned, Brandi had two chances to make her dream a reality. Hungry for a win, Brandi’s second mount—Cruisers Doll, a 2003 buckskin tobiano mare nicknamed “Snickers”—certainly satisfi ed. With an expression of sheer determination on both of their faces, the duo blazed around the cloverleaf, clocking a time of :16.353 to clinch the fi rst-place spot. Accepting the elusive title with a beaming smile, Brandi didn’t stop there. At this year’s World Show, Brandi earned four world and reserve world championships and a slot champion- ship aboard her trio of Paints: Snickers, Streakin Tramp and Jivin Jody. “I’ve brought six or seven horses now


to Paint World and I’ve won on four of them,” Brandi said. “It makes me be a better horseman because they are so different. I have to shift gears in my mind and think, ‘What horse am I on and what do I need to do?’ But I think that makes me a better rider in the long run.”


Aside from the pride she takes in


proving her speedy Paints are among the best in the world, Brandi enjoys the camaraderie afforded APHA members at the World Show. “There are some people I don’t get to see except once a year when I come


Picture Perfect at the 2012 APHA World Show


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