Reloaded notches 'America's Most Wanted Thoroughbred' crown

Reloaded, trained and ridden by international event rider and longtime Thoroughbred and Mustang advocate Elisa Wallace, was voted “America’s Most Wanted Thoroughbred” at the Retired Racehorse Project’s $100,000 Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium this weekend at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Reloaded and Wallace sat third in a field of 95 horses competing in eventing at the Thoroughbred makeover following preliminary competition in dressage, cross country, and stadium jumping on Thursday and Friday. That made them one of five pairs to advance to Saturday morning's final round of competition - along with Wallace's other mount in the discipline, Sharp Johnny, who sat first after the preliminaries.

Saturday's flatwork demonstration, followed by a course that included both show jumping and cross-country-style portable obstacles, moved Reloaded into the winning position for the discipline. Big Ralph and rider Alison Wilaby finished second, followed by I'malreadythere and former jockey Rosie Napravnik. Sharp Johnny checked in fourth in the eventing finals, followed by Turkomani and Kate Samuels.

Reloaded and Wallace then were selected as the "America's Most Wanted" winners from among the winners of the 10 different disciplines at the Makeover – barrel racing, competitive trail, dressage, eventing, field hunters, freestyle, polo, ranch work, show hunters, and show jumping. That final honor is essentially a fan choice award, chosen by viewers at the show and watching online via textmessage voting.

"He's a pretty special dude," Wallace said of her winning mount. "He's super talented, very athletic. He can be a handful at times, but you put him to work and he’s amazing.”

Reloaded, a 5-year-old Magna Graduate gelding, was bred in Kentucky by Elisabeth Alexander. He was a $4,500 weanling purchase by Tracy Henline out of the 2013 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. He won once from 20 starts on the racetrack, earning $20,177.

Reloaded, now owned by Michelle Chisholm, last raced in August 2017, and joined Wallace's string last December. Competing under the show name "Sniper," he has already competed through the Novice level in eventing.

Wallace, based out of Georgia, has competed in the off-the-track Thoroughbred Simply Priceless through the four-star level internationally. They have three completions at the Kentucky Three-Day Event, North America's biggest competition, with their best finish an eighth in 2016, and have also competed at the renowned Badminton and Burghley events in England. Wallace, who has been attending the Thoroughbred Makeover since 2015, also competes in national Mustang training competitions designed to promote the trainability of wild horses available for adoption.

“Thoroughbreds are amazing horses; my four-star horse will do anything for me," Wallace said. "Give them something to go do, and they take that deep breath and they’ll do anything for you. It’s hard for me to talk about without crying; it’s just something that they do. People ask me why I deal with Mustangs and Thoroughbreds, and that’s why. And they’re very similar that way. They’re always the underdog.”

Reloaded and Wallace also competed in the freestyle division, in which they finished 17th. Their routine included liberty work and also incorporated one of Wallace’s Mustangs, Fledge. That discipline’s final was ultimately won by Looking My Way, ridden by Tik Maynard.

The winners of the other discipline finals were Miss Classy and Jade Wirick in barrel racing, Demarlboro and Houston Buflod in competitive trail, Sacred Promise and Skye Liikanen in dressage, Today's Tom Sawyer and Natalia Neneman in field hunters, Tanyas Pride and Courtney Asdourian in polo, Regal Justice and Toni Harmon in ranch work, Mr. Dusty and Samantha Gritz in show hunters, and Interactif Spy and Morgan Boyer in show jumpers. Cozmic One, the first foal out of Hall of Fame racemare Zenyatta, finished fifth in the show jumping finals with rider Isabela de Sousa.