Saturday Trail and Western Pleasure NSBA Highlights at The Premier 2026
Saturday at The Premier AQHA and NSBA show in Lexington, Kentucky, saw two Trail futurity classes but one rider emerging as a double champion when Nick Mayabb took to the courses. The Stakes classes were part of the second day of the 2026 show.
Handy Hank Wins Four and Five Year Old Trail
Nick’s first win of the day came aboard Elizabeth Maggert’s Cookin Something Up. Fresh off their win in the Junior Trail Futurity at The Madness, Nick and ‘Hank’ gave another consistent performance to earn the $3,000 first place prize
Course designer Gary McAllister set a shorter course in the covered arena as a contingency plan to use part of the arena for other classes if needed.
“It was definitely a tight course today,” Nick said. “It helped to have a five year old that has kind of done this a little bit. He’s just so solid and consistent.”
Sarah Maggert will take the reins later in the week to show Hank in Non-Pro and Amateur Trail classes.
The top five placings in the class included:
Champions: Cookin Somethin Up, Nick Mayabb for Elizabeth Maggert, $3,000
Reserve Champions: Born Not Made, Carly Veldman Parks for Laura Bracken, $2,000
Third: Dun Gone Southern, Sara Simons for Josh Weakly, $1,500
Fourth: Blue Blazer, Brad Ost for Susan Johns, $1,100
Fifth: Chasing After You, Bruce Vickery for Nicole Heron, $1,000
Olive Wins Her Trail Debut
Nick’s second Trail futurity championship of the day came in the Four Year Old and Over Maiden Trail with Made Olive You Look, showing for Looney Quarter Horses. The five year old mare is by Machine Made.
“She came from the pleasure pen,” Nick said of the mare. “Kelby and Kaitlyn Hutchinson showed her last year in Western Pleasure, and they sent her to me after the Congress last year to start the Trail.”
Nick was patient in planning ‘Olive’s debut. “She’s actually been ready to show for a little while,” he said. “We were going to show her at the A Sudden Impulse, but then I had three horses to show there. The Looneys like the Premier show better, so we decided to come and debut here.”
Nick was quite happy with the mare’s go. “She’s just so broke with doing the Western Pleasure,” he said. “If you get her to the right spots, she’s usually in pretty good shape. She’s such a nice horse and being able to show off her movement is fun. We’ll show her the rest of this week, but we haven’t really planned too much after this show for her.”
The top five placings in the class included:
Champions: Made Olive You Look, Nick Mayabb for Looney Quarter Horses LLC, $2,320
Reserve Champions: Oh Goody Its A Blue, Brad Ost for Katherine Tobin, $1,595
Third: KM Bit Of The Best, Shannon Walker for Sandee Kraft-Noah, $1,370
Fourth: Makin Good Money, TW Grose for Merry Sharp, $730
Fifth: One Lazy Night, Reagan Schwartz for Jaden Barry, $664
McGraw, Gumz Win Four Year Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure Levels
The Premier Breeders Four Year Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure saw awards presented to Level 2/Silver and Level 3 exhibitors in a class that showed in the sunshine that followed midday showers in Kentucky.
Madeleine McGraw celebrated a full year of showing her horse, Shesa Cool Diva, by winning the Level 2/Silver division of the class. “Her name is Madonna, and we’ve had her since she was two years old,” Madeleine said. “The Premier was my first horse show with her last year, so it was fun to come back to show here again. She was really good”
The 12 year old was not intimidated at being the youngest exhibitor in her class. “I just went in and showed, and didn’t think too much about it,” she said. The duo has already been racking up accomplishments, earning an AQHYA reserve world championship in Western Pleasure last year, and Madeleine has also won the Youth Ranch Stakes at the A Sudden Impulse with her Ranch Riding horse.
Amy Gumz piloted her show partner Ten Kinda Southern to the Level 3 win. It was the duo’s first outing for the 2026 show season. “We gave him a pretty long staycation,” Amy laughed. “We had showed a lot last year, so we pulled his shoes, let him grow hair and just go out in the pasture for a while.
“It’s taken us a little while to get back into show shape, I think more for me than for him. He’s also learning new things, going over poles and learning how to change leads. I think it will be good for both of us.”
Other champions on Saturday included:
Breeders Four Year Old Open Hunter Under Saddle: RC Kola, Keith Miller for Madeleine Bayless;
Breeders Four Year Old Level 1 Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle: Its Martini Tyme, Erica Maletic;
Five Year Old and Over Maturity Hunter Under Saddle: Im Willy Good Today, Keith Miller for Madeleine Bayless;
Premier Magazine Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle: Flat Broke, Angela Fox for Three Fox Farms.
The Premier continues through Friday, May 29. To view complete show results, please visit premiersires.com/thepremier..
Results courtesy of NSBA: Two Trails Lead To One Champion At The Premier – National Snaffle Bit Association
