Jared Leclair made the 2008 Fort Worth Stock Show a reining to remember by riding Memorable Affair to the National Reining Horse Association Open Championship. Memorable Affair, a 2001 mare by Major Vaquero out of Coronas Affair by Corona Cody, has earnings of $93,840, according to Equi-Stat records. Dell Hendricks rode her to win the Tulsa Reining Classic Futurity in 2004 for then-owner Bob Stinner and went on to make the Open finals at the NRHA Futurity. Victoria Lambert purchased the mare and Jordan Larson showed Memorable Affair to the finals of the 2006 National Reining Breeders Classic and NRHA Derby, and then placed fifth at the 2007 NRBC.

The Stock Show was the first outing for Leclair and Memorable Affair, who earned $558 for their score of 146.5. The Pilot Point, Texas, trainer said the mare was simple to show. “She is really quiet and is a really big stopper, real easy to show. She was a lot of fun,” he said. Memorable Affair’s unique stopping style, with her neck and head stretched out as she buries her hocks in the ground, is the ideal for a reiner, Leclair said.

“That’s kind of what we’re looking for – one that breaks their back really hard, puts their nose down. She’s about the ideal, what you want one to look like and feel like when they’re stopping,” he said.

The mare will have a limited show career this year, Leclair added, as she continues her second career as a broodmare. “We’re going to concentrate on breeding her this year and just show her enough to qualify her for the AQHA World Show,” he said. She got a start on the year’s points by winning first under one judge and second under the other in the AQHA Any Age reining class, which also added $230 to her record.

Memorable Affair already has produced three foals, including Memorex, a 2-year-old colt by Dunnit In Hollywood who was the second-highest seller at the Legacy Reining Breeders Sale in October 2007, with Lambert as the buyer; and two yearlings by Wimpys Little Step.

“ ‘Mable’ is such a special mare,” Lambert said. “She loves to show and it looks like her babies will have her signature stopping style. I just feel blessed to have such an exceptional mare.”

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