TENNESSEE STATE FAIR HORSE SHOW
Ace ' s Sensation Wins Championship
Once upon a time , there was a great horse show — the Tennessee State Fair Horse Show — but city politics got involved in horse show business and as a political reprisal the show was discontinued . This occurred in 1956 and since that time many people have talked of starting this once-famous show again . But it proved to be just that — talk — until 1969 . Substituting action for " lip service ,” the Hermitage Lions Club made the Tennessee State Fair Horse Show a reality , and the Tennessee Walking Horse breed played a prominent part in this fortunate turn of events .
Walking Horse participation at this show was once on a par with the Celebration but , when the show died , other post-Celebration shows featuring the Walking Horse sprang up to pick up the slack at the endol-the-season show schedule . Rekindling the interest of Walking Horse followers was a critical factor in the success of this year ' s show and this job was turned over to the personable Tommy Kerkeles of Nashville . Tommy has boundless enthusiasm for anything he does and he applied all of his enthusiasm and drive in his effort to make this show a success .
Determining the success of a show is no easy matter but looking at the quantity and quality of horses at Nashville , only one reasonable conclusion is possible . 1 here were 16 classes for Walking Horses with over nine thousand dollars up for grabs , and nearly 350 Walking Horses competing . Tommy and the show committee must have done a good job because there is no getting around the fact that the show was a tremendous success .
However , success doesn ’ t come easy , and there were individuals at the show who were doing their pest to complicate matters . If the run-of-the-mill problems in putting on a horse show were not enough , some misguided individuals tried to make a spectacle 0- ; themselves and the horse show under the pretense o ; checking for sore horses . ' Tommy had checked into this matter carefully during the week and quoted one of the most respected veterinarians in the south as having said that the horses were the cleanest he had seen at any show all year long . This was enough for Tommy and he promptly discarded his friendly nature to inform his agitators that they had better find another time and place to check horses . They apparently agreed because there was no further trouble .
But this was only one small incident in an otherwise enjoyable and talent-laden horse show . To let it detract from the success of the show is not fair to the sponsoring organization , the Hermitage Lions Club , or the exhibitors at Nashville . The horses were in excellent shape , they were walking , and it made you proud to be associated with this breed .
The show was held indoors at the Fair Grounds Coliseum and ran six days , September 15-20 . A three-man panel of judges was employed : Sam Yarbrough , Pulaski , Tennessee ; David Welsh , Union , Kentucky ; and George Witt , Athens , Alabama . The announcer was the popular Bill Carrington of Shelbyville , Tennessee .
' The calibre of the horses was mentioned earlier and , believe it or not , four of the top ten finishers in the Grand Championship Stake at the Celebration two weeks earlier were on hand for the show . While the competition did not reach this level in all brackets , many of the best-known trainers brought their top horses to Nashville . The 16 Walking Horse classes consisted of 12 professional classes , two amateur classes , one juvenile
class and one pony class . ' Three trainers captured exactly half of the blue ribbons in the professional
divisions , with Wink Groover , Steve Hill and Donald Paschal each winning two classes . Other blue-ribbon winners in professional competition were Pap Crutcher ,
Wallace Brandon , Doug Wolaver , Joe Martin , Ed Carothers and Billy Gray . Wallace Brandon with seven
ribbons was the biggest recipient of honors , with Joe
64 Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse