Cremona, November 15 — The $700,000-Added IRHA/IRHBA/NRHA Futurity presented by DeNiroBootCo. concluded with the highly anticipated $353,600-Added Quarter Dream IRHA/IRHBA Open Futurity. In front of a full house, reining was showcased at its best, with NRHA $2 Million Rider Bernard Fonck storming to victory aboard DG Andy Crush. Their faultless run saw them dethrone Arnaud Girinon—who unofficially became an NRHA Million Dollar Rider—riding Con Calma, who had taken a short-lived lead.

With the top ten riders tightly packed, and as the first of the final five to go, NRHA $2 Million Rider Bernard Fonck riding DG Andy Crush (NRHA Million Dollar Sire PS Mega Shine Chic x Gunners Specialolena) set out to beat Arnaud Girinon’s 224. With a powerful ride that set the crowd on fire, the Belgian professional and the flashy sorrel stallion, owned and bred by Diego Dalla Gassa, delivered a flawless 226.5. Their score held strong, securing the L4 Open Championship.

“He’s a special horse. When we arrived, he didn’t really like the ground, and our farrier Carlo Vercesi helped me a lot. My wife [NRHA Million Dollar Rider Ann Fonck] is always there—critical in a good way—and makes me better. A huge thanks goes to the owners for keeping the horse for me to show, even though they had a really big offer on him,” said Fonck, who also thanked Mark from Horse Spa Equine Therapy and Chicco Ferrero, DVM, for always keeping his horses comfortable and happy. “In the first go, in our first turns, he slowed down a little bit. In the second go, in the transition to the small circle, we had a one-point penalty, but tonight he went in and said, ‘OK, what do we have to do?’ and he did everything he needed to do to win. What makes this win even sweeter is that my wife won a lot on this horse’s dam, Gunners Specialolena.” For Fonck this is his third IRHA L4 Open Futurity Championship having won in 2014 and 2018.

The Run for a Million 2025 Champion, Arnaud Girinon, rode Con Calma (AB Peppy Diamond x Whiz Me a Diamond), a black American Paint Horse owned and bred by Jennifer Kronsteiner-Nixdorf, to a 224—enough to claim the L4 Open Futurity Reserve Championship and to unofficially surpass the million-dollar mark in NRHA lifetime earnings, becoming the first French NRHA Million Dollar Rider.

“This horse has a very special story: I first saw him at the European Futurity, and my friend and former boss, NRHA Million Dollar Rider Rudi Kronsteiner, asked me if I wanted to hop on and try him. I did, and I told him he had done a good job and that I really liked the horse. A little later he called me again and asked if I wanted to show him here. I said yes; he’s a good horse and fun to ride. So, he brought him to the Belgian Futurity, and that’s when we decided he would come to Italy with me,” said Arnaud. “I didn’t want to push too hard tonight—I just wanted to keep the run clean—but he exceeded my expectations, and here we are.”

Kronsteiner added with pride, “Arnaud reached a million with a horse owned by my wife, Jennifer; I reached a million with a horse owned by Jennifer’s mother. Tonight was truly special.”

$65.000-Added Level 3 and $32.500-Added Level 2

Dominik Reminder and CSG Rocket (NRHA $4 Million Sire Colonels Shining Gun x Dun Its Deja Vu), a mare owned by NRHA Million Dollar Owner Katarzyna Roleska and bred by Toyon Ranch LLC, closed with a 223.5 to clinch both the L3 and L2 Open Championships. “This mare is really nice. My wife, Nina Lill, was supposed to show her here, but she got pregnant—which is the best thing that could happen—so I took over,” said the German native, now based in Poland, where he trains with his wife at Roleski Ranch. “I showed her in Belgium and Germany, but honestly, I hadn’t found the right buttons until tonight. She was amazing…the button was the ‘woman’ button. She’s a mare, and I had to ride her completely differently than I usually do since I tend to show more stallions. Tonight, she was fantastic in both the warm-up and the arena. I was already happy to make the finals, so I did not expect these two results. She gave everything. Kate [Katarzyna Roleska] is thrilled because this mare was very green when we started working with her in January, but she always believed in her talent and presence.”

The annual IRHBA Breeders Futurity Mare’s Best Award recognition was for the owner of the L4 Open Futurity Champion.

In the L3 reserve spot with a 222 was Markus Gebert riding Vintage Avatar (NRHA $4 Million Sire A Sparkling Vintage x Wimpys Little Shine), a stallion owned and bred by Rene Driever.

Italy’s Pierluigi Fabbri took Reserve honors riding The Force Is Back (Maytheforcebewhizyou x Great Eva) to a 220.5, a stallion bred by Maycol Gardani and owned by Antonio Pedron.

$15.000-Added Level 1

Pamela Sartoni and her own Moon Eclips Again (Gunner Dun It Again x West Coast Mercedes), a stallion bred by Manuel Balzani, scored a 218 to take the Championship title.

“This win is so unexpected, even though I believed in my horse a lot—just less in myself,” said Sartoni. “I believed in him because I chose his sire, had the dam at home, and watched him grow. I broke and trained him with Manuel Cortesi’s help, and then we came here. He was good from the first go, he listened the whole way, and he reminds me so much of his dam, whom I also showed.”

Barbora Prekopova and her own SZ Keep The Face (NRHA $4 Million Sire) Pale Face Dunnit x Ses Lady Crome), a stallion bred by Stefanie Zotti, earned the Reserve Championship after posting a 215.

Prime Time

Dario Carmignani and Yankee One Force (Yankee Gun x CL Gun Sarah) scored a 218 to take home the title riding his owned and bred Paint Horse mare.

Claiming reserve honors with a 211 score was Adriano Meacci riding AC The Last King (NRHA $4 Million Sire A Sparkling Vintage x MM Lollipop), a stallion owned and bred by Alessandro Cazzaniga.

A highly successful Italian Futurity turned off the lights on Saturday night in Cremona with yet another chapter of reining history made.

Photos by Bonaga Communication

Full results here

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