Good Morning,
What does the word “Stake” mean for a driving class? Well, it means a race to which a prize is paid out. Can anyone participate in a race? Yes, if they participate in a qualifying race or in this case a driving class before they can enter a “Stakes” class. In our association a qualifying driving class is a youth, amateur, open. You just have to drive in that class to move on to the “Stakes” class. You don’t have to win your class just participate in your class. Your stakes class is your over-all “champion” driving horse with money attached to it. In most of our shows that we attend there isn't any stakes payback for those stakes classes. Our club did payback stakes money this year at our Area V Show and we had everyone come back for those stakes classes that participated in their qualifying class.
I believe the confusion comes in with the word “Stakes” instead of “Champion”. What you have to keep in mind is that this class is judged as a separate class. A driving horse can perform very well in its qualifying class, even win its qualifying class and come back into the stakes class and bomb. That horse can break while driving, it can buck it can do all sorts of things to prevent it from winning. A horse that might have placed lower in their respective qualifying class can be your winner. Why you ask? They may have needed more warm-up time to be at their upmost, they may have had problems with equipment or the horse just wasn’t itself during the initial round. As someone who does drive I sometimes use my qualifying class as a warm-up to see just how hard I need to perform in order to have my horse do what I want it to do through my hands. I don’t care if I don’t place first or second in my qualifying class but I DO care how I place in that championship class. That is where you earn your Hall of Fame recognition. You have to have (5) five Stakes wins with 70 points. You can win all you want in the qualifying classes, rack up the points there, but without those Stakes wins you are dead in the water.
Now, the other side of this coin with the reason behind “why” stakes classes were held on the final day is so that those driving horses would be at their peak or fresh. This kinda follows what the Shetland driving classes do. Most of your miniature people drive, drive, drive and come back at the end of their driving division and drive that miniature in the championship (Stakes) class. Is that horse really at its peak? Some will say yes and some will say no, but the majority of the time those miniature driving stakes ARE at the end of each of their driving divisions at their local shows. With Shetlands, the Shetland people want the break so that their horses ARE at their upmost and can come back and perform at their best.
So, if there was a proposal to change the word “Stake” to “Championship”, just like in the halter division, if you DON”T come back into your Grand class, then you forfeit your points from your qualifying class. Now, tell me why would anyone want to NOT get those hard earned points? As it stands right now, a driving person can still get their points from their qualifying class, may have even placed first or second, but for some reason didn’t feel their horse is at its upmost, then the choice is theirs as to whether they participate or not in that Stakes class. They are the only one that knows how many stakes championship they have to finish their horse Hall of Fame. If they don’t care about a Hall of Fame then that is their choice. I do care as it is an important accomplishment.
I can see the AMHR Nationals & Congress having a Stakes “Incentive” class for those that did want to pay the $50 dollars to enter so that they have a chance at winning the big prize, just like we do with the Amateur Incentive classes. Then ANYONE, a youth, amateur or professional can enter the Stakes Incentive class and take their chances competing for that grand prize.
So, for the majority of you that do drive miniatures, if you feel you want your championship class right after your division for the AMHR Nationals, then let the BOD know and Lenard so that they can prepare next years National show lineup. Then on Sunday, they can hold a ‘Stakes Incentive” or money class for those that want to drive and try to win the money.
Karen
