Gladstone, New Jersey—May 23, 2002—Bryant Pace of Hasbrouck Heights, NJ and Gunner, owned by Debra Sloan of Newfoundland, NJ, won the 2002 Intervet/U.S. Equestrian Team (USET) Semi-Finals for the USET Reining Championship presented by Bayer. The Semi-Finals were held during the National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) Derby.

The quintessential show horse, Gunner was “on” for an appreciative Oklahoma State Fairgrounds crowd. To the cheers of the crowd, the distinctive American Paint Horse stallion exhibited his trademark stops and spins and marked a 225.5 to win the event and $6,080.

Gunner was the 1996 NRHA Futurity Reserve Champion, the 1998 National Reining Breeders Classic Reserve Champion and the 2001 USET Reining Champion. With over $165,000 in winnings, he is the second highest money earner in NRHA history. He was selected by the USET as the 2002 USET Breyer model horse.

According to Pace, the popular stallion was brought back from an intended retirement in order to compete in the qualifying events and a chance to ride on the USET World Championship squad at the World Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain.

The Reserve Championship of the Intervet Semi-Finals ended in a tie between Pete Kyle on Chexys Doctor Pepper, owned by Art and Carol Hurt and Darren Stancik on Chocolate Chic Olena owned by Carter Smith. Both scored 224.5 to win $4,864.

The top twenty riders in the Intervet Semi-Finals advance to the $75,000 added USET Reining Championship, Presented by Bayer at the 2002 Bayer/USET Festival of Champions, presented by State Line Tack, June 20-23, in Gladstone, NJ.