April 20, 2004 – Katy, Texas – Reining competition at the 2004 National Reining Breeders Classic begins today!

The Non Pro preliminary competition starts at 8 am, and by day's end, the 20 finalists from each of the four divisions – Non Pro, Intermediate Non Pro, Limited Non Pro and Prime Time Non Pro – will be decided. Finalists will compete on Friday for a $139,816 purse, and the Non Pro champion will receive $26,690.

That competition gives way on Wednesday to the Open Preliminaries, which will wrap up on Thursday, setting the stage for Open finals on Saturday. Total payout for the 2004 NRBC should end up right around the $900,000 mark.

On Monday, the annual Reiners Golf Tournament was held at Cinco Ranch Golf Course, nearby to the Great Southwest Equestrian Center where the NRBC is held. At the end of a day of intense competition, the team of Elton Brownshadel, Joe Futtel, Bruce Hendricks and Ron Majewski emerged victorious, with second going to the quartet of Bubba Cahill, Connor Cahill, Stormy McCuistion and Steve Harris. Spearheaded by Non Pro reiner Rod Miller, the tournament was sponsored by Jim McCutcheon, Todd Sommers, Elton Brownshadel and Rod Miller.

The last few days also saw the emergence of the Reining Dummy Look-alikes at the NRBC. "They have already been a big hit," commented Cheryl Magoteaux of the NRBC Management Team, referring to the dummies put into place in the judges' chairs during the paid warm-ups."

The contest, begun this year, had different groups and farms creating dummies to be judged during the course of NRBC week. The winning dummies will earn donations to the favorite charities of their creators. Judges for the event are Lance Griffin, Marc Wagman, Ken Eppers, Donnie Bricker and Sherry Dooley.

The National Reining Breeders Classic is the most successful stallion incentive program in reining history. In just five years, the NRBC has grown to include over 240 subscribed stallions and the payout at this year's show is expected to exceed $800,000. For information on the NRBC, visit the web site at www.nrbc.com or call 580-759-3939.