Shetland Pony Race!

Well if we look up towards the entrance we can see some very many jockeys about to join us here at the Washington International Horse Show. But let's tell you a little bit of history about Shetland ponies. Shetland ponies come from Scotland, from the very very top of Scotland where it's really really cold and that is why they have such furry coats and they're normally a but they're very very powerful ponies because they can carry and pull twice their own body weight so they are very powerful ponies indeed and it's great to have this race here at the Washington International Horse Show. We saw the USA's first ever Shetland Pony Grand National on this stage exactly a year ago today. We are going to see a race that's bound to be even faster than we saw last year and we have celebrity judges here to make sure everything goes to plan. We've got McLean Ward and we've got Kent Farrington down here as our celebrity judges. So we have the athletes, our little jockeys, we have the ponies and we also have Will O'Keefe down here and he is going to be taking us through the race here tonight. We are literally a minute or two away though and these ponies are going to be going very very quickly indeed. Will O'Keefe is going to be your racing announcer and he is going to tell you a little bit about each of these ponies and of course each of the jockeys that we see here tonight. But have a look, decide who you think is going to be our winner and who you are going to be cheering for here tonight and while we do that we're going to hand you over now to Will O'Keefe, he'll tell us about our runners and riders. Will, tell us about your runners and riders. Riders to your horses in the paddock, riders to your horses. Our six Shetland ponies are now in the paddock preparing to go out onto the racecourse. Our riders are now going to their horses and we have the following six will be in our first race. Number one, sail the sun is owned and ridden by Phineas Westerlin. Number two, Carraway Uncle Jake belongs to pink ribbon racing, trained by Joe Davies and ridden by Teddy Davies. Number three, cricket belongs to Darby Hyde, is trained by Lanny Hyde and is ridden by Delaney O'Neal. Number four, only smarty pants belongs to Sophie Perry, trained by Katie Perry and ridden by Colin Smith. Number six, Knights Taffy is owned and ridden by Taylor Brimsfield, trained by Diana Brimsfield. And completing our six horse field is St. Timothy School's only quick draw. Nicholson is a rider and for our call to the post, and the field is now coming onto the course and in this race they'll jump eight fences, they'll start in the far right hand corner from where I'm standing, they'll go two times around and they'll finish down through the middle. And that's only smarty pants. Completing our group with cricket right in front of them. Whoa! He has a strong opinion of what's going to happen here. Our field is now preparing to line up for the start. Our starter, Dina Welsh, looks like she has an assistant with her. The field is preparing to and running, going for the win!