Hesa Solar Flare sweeps Inaugural Yearling Maiden Open Gelding Halter Stakes

October 15, 2025 | Filed under: Around The Ring Galleries,Featured,Show Results & Gallery | Posted by: Delores Kuhlwein

By Delores Kuhlwein

When news broke that the First-Ever Maiden Halter Stakes with a $30K payday was coming to the 2025 All American Quarter Horse Congress, Jeffrey Pait knew it just might be time for Hesa Solar Flare to shine.

They entered “Coal” in the class, and Tim Finkenbinder led the yearling to a Congress Championship in the inaugural class with a unanimous win in the gelding division.

“Steve and Carol Day, longtime customers of ours who live down in Savannah, raised him in their program,” explains Pait, “and they actually raised his mother, a daughter of Rumerz and out of a My Intentions mare. This is the mare’s first foal, and he’s by Solaris.”

Pait says they’ve been watching Coal grow as Steve and Carol raised him, and since he was always a large colt and was developing well, and they wanted to take their time with him. “Then in July, we learned about the class for the maiden yearlings, so we decided to start fitting on him and working on him and getting him ready – he’s 16 hands now. And he’s just responded very, very well to everything we’ve done with him. His mother’s a great minded mare, and this colt’s fantastic minded and just really good to be around.”

As far as the payouts in a class of this caliber, Pait explains he thinks the class is fantastic because it sets the tone for the industry as a whole. “I think it’s going to entice us to let these big growthy colts just be babies and give them another futurity to shoot for. This colt was always a big, tall, growthy colt, and we were able to give him time to come into himself. I think it’s going to help the industry in several ways – it’s a great place to have it, a great time of year to have it, and it gives us some longevity and gives us another avenue for babies that were not ready to be show horses. I think it’s a wonderful class.”