SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. — The big red stallion named I’m Copperfield was a clear crowd favorite Saturday night at the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration.
His picture was on the front of Saturday’s edition of Walking Horse Report, a trade publication published daily during the Celebration, and a billboard at the gate of the Calsonic Arena showed him off with his trainer, Knox Blackburn.
But the golden-maned 5-year-old owned by Mike Walden didn’t take the title of 2012 World Grand Champion. Instead he is the 2012 Reserve World Grand Champion, coming in second to another big chestnut red stallion, Walk Time Charlie.
Walden, with family and friends at the barns behind the Calsonic early Sunday morning, was clearly disappointed but still able to joke.
“Reserve” means “first loser,” he quipped, but he patted his horse affectionately.
“That’s five people’s opinion,” he said about the judging. “I’ve agreed with their opinion most of the week, so I guess even though things didn’t go my way, I’ll still have to agree with their opinion.”
See complete story in Monday’s Times Free Press.
Pam Sohn has been reporting or editing Chattanooga news for 25 years. A Walden’s Ridge native, she began her journalism career with a 10-year stint at the Anniston (Ala.) Star. She came to the Chattanooga Times Free Press in 1999 after working at the Chattanooga Times for 14 years. She has been a city editor, Sunday editor, wire editor, projects team leader and assistant lifestyle editor. As a reporter, she also has covered the police, ...
