May 12, 2006—Lexington, KY--“He is outrageous,” said Chris Payne, Cincinnati, OH, about Tucker after they won the 3’ Pro Final on May 12 at the 2006 Legacy Cup, which is being held as part of the Kentucky Spring Horse Show in Lexington.

The 3’ Pro division started with a field of 62 horses entered in the first round which was narrowed down to the top 25 horses that competed in the Friday night finals. A total of $16,400 was given out in the division, which consisted of two classes—a Go Round and the Finals. The Finals determined four winners based on their level of experience. In addition to Tucker, the Restricted Pro Finals winner and Champion of the division was Say the Word ridden by Kristi Cardalico, Lake Worth, FL, and the Pre Green Incentive winner was Purple Label with Rob Bielefeld, Wellington, FL, in the irons.

Chris Payne and Tucker Shine

Tucker was the 15th horse to go and when the three pair of judges gave him a combined score of 262 the remaining riders knew that would be tough to beat. In fact no one else could surpass that score and they rose as the winners and the recipients of a check for $4,356. Second place honors went to Tammy Provost aboard Cabachon (254 - $2,236) for owner Stephen Martines.

Payne was impressed and appreciative of the fact that he gets to ride the 8-year-old, 15.3 hand, bay Hanoverian, owned by Julie Holzberger. “He’s such a good horse. He always tries his hardest no matter what the class is,” explained the 37-year-old.

“He’s soft, light and has a natural, high beautiful jump. He does the best he can every time and is so scopey,” he added about the horse who “loves to be appreciated. He loves attention. He’s such a sweet kind horse to be around.”

When asked how he did in the first round, which was sponsored by All Seasons Farm and won by Jennifer Papiernik and Montrachet the day before and where they placed ninth he explained, “I had a bird incident. At the last fence a bird spooked my horse but he was good up until then.” Montrachet also won the Restricted Pro Go Round sponsored by Gray Wolf Farm.