Brad Ost and Nothin But Nett Slam Dunk a $100K Payday at A Sudden Impulse 2026

“Years ago there wasn’t any money in the trail, and the numbers have grown so much over the years, this is just an unbelievably exciting opportunity for everyone in this big class.”–Brad Ost.

The $142K NSBA All Age Open Trail Finals at A Sudden Impulse 2026 at World Equestrian Center-Ocala offered another historic payout Friday evening, this time offering a $100,000 purse to the Champion.

Thursday afternoon 49 teams tackled a tough preliminary trail course in hopes of qualifying for Friday night’s Finals.

Here was the prelim course, designed by Tim Kimura and set by Garry McAlister:

Twenty teams rose to the top of the scoreboard, earning their spot in the finals. Then the finals arrived Friday evening, and each team carefully and gracefully completed the course, with an average run of 4 minutes and 32 seconds. See the pattern below:

When the teams had finally completed their patterns while the industry watched with bated breath, a champion was named.

With a score of 253, Brad Ost and Nothin But Nett were crowned champions, and when the Circle S team realized “Steph,” would win the championship, the cheers rocked the Grand Arena.

The 2017 bay stallion by Machine Made and out of KM Hot Number, (by RL Best of Sudden) bred by Bret and Candy Parrish, has made history more than once. One of his most memorable achievements was his L3 Amateur Trail World Championship at the 2022 AQHA World Championship Show with owner Jeffrey Johns.  Jeffrey had tied across the board for first in their initial finals patterns with both his horses, Nothin But Nett and KM Flat Out The Best, so Jeffrey had to ride in a tiebreaker against himself to determine his own World and Reserve Championships! Steph took the World Championship.

It was a feat hard to top, but tonight, Brad Ost and Steph completed their own contribution to the stallion’s career, earning the unprecedented $100K payout in the class.

“It’s wild, absolutely wild – years ago,the trail didn’t pay out, and having this is unexplainably exciting,” says Ost. “We’ll go celebrate, but we still have work tomorrow,” he laughs.  “And a three day drive home,” Jim Searles jokes.

Ost says everyone involved in Steph’s life and career have enabled his success, by getting him into the right programs and empowering him to do everything he’s done thus far. “I feel like I’m just a fraction of the piece of the puzzle that got to ride him tonight. All the great people – the breeders, the trainers, the owners, did all the hard work, and everyone involved with him did a wonderful job.”

The finals pattern, he says, was as expected: insane and pretty tight, but they did their homework, and then, they had to keep in mind it’s trail.  “There are just some things we can’t control, and we went into that mentality with it, and he was just prepared and ready to go. We prepared for the details and talked through our plan, but really, we just went out and had fun.”

He does admit, however, that his favorite part was: “When it ended!”

All joking aside, it wasn’t supposed to be easy for a big prize like that, Ost explains, and he is grateful for all the support and appreciation he has received from the Circle S team. “The emotions behind it meant everything. I feel so spoiled, with Jim and Deanna helping me with the pattern, Deanna warming him up, everyone helping get him ready, everyone helping with the day-to-day things- I’ve never felt so spoiled in my life.”

As a true horseman, when asked about his favorite aspect of WEC, he stays true to his first impression the first time he showed at the facility: “the size of the stalls and the footing; the horses are comfortable and happy and it makes a world of difference.”

Also to the delight of the audience, Lauren Martin of Simons Show Horses rode No Question Im Lazy (Lazy Loper x My Invested Machine) to top honors by winning the Champion Limited Rider title and bonus of $2000 for Cynthia Rasmussen.

 

Results:$142,000 NSBA All Age Open Trail Finals