John Hufferd tops the 2023 Sweepstakes earning a record $92,600!
DDF Janet (BKC Valiant Star x DDF Janie) brings it home for owner Dennis Bontrager and breeder Danny Fry
Wednesday evening, November 15th was an evening to remember as the show horse industry witnessed the largest distribution of prize money EVER. A total of 20 weanlings returned from an original group of 61 for the final evaluation by the five judges—Melissa Moore, Richard Boulé, Richard Wright, Nelson Green and Keith Friday.
The total jackpot of $336,400 made this Morgan event a spectacle of epic proportions with the heat turned up on these handlers, who were also the breeders and owners in some cases. But it was the in hand master of the game, John Hufferd of Triumph Stables, assisted by his brother Kurt Hufferd, who had Dennis Bontrager’s wonderful filly DDF JANET (BKC Valiant Star x DDF Janie, by Minion Millennium) in fine order and she was 150% show horse for the big event.
Earning a significant paycheck of $63,916 for owner/breeder Harry P. Weaver was one of the youngest stars in the show, HPW AMAZING GRACE (CBMF Over The Moon x Patchwork Ginger Spice, by SpiceOLife Present Tense GCH) who charmed the judges from start to finish. Presented by Lynn Peeples and Chris Barnard, no strangers to World Championships in hand, this was one of the two finalists sired by Harry’s stallion CBMF Over The Moon, which was quite an achievement for a sweepstakes eligible stallion, since there are only two sweepstakes eligible foals from any one stallion in a year.
The only other stallion with two foals making it to the finals was King-E Otto B, the World Champion sire owned by Valley Acres Morgans.
| Place | Entry # | Name | Earnings | Handler |
| CH | 56 | DDF Janet (BKC Valiant Star x DDF Janie), bred by Danny Fry, owned by Dennis Bontrager | $92,510 | John Hufferd |
| RES CH | 54 | HPW Amazing Grace (CBMF Over The Moon x Patchwork Ginger Spice), bred & owned by Harry P. Weaver | $63,916 | Lynn Peeples |
| 3rd | 35 | ECS Spicey Queen (ECS Made You Tense x Queen’s Alexandra), bred & owned by Aaron Fisher | $40,368 | Jacob King |
| 4th | 49 | Salem Shabby Chic (Jus’ Sayin’ x Not Too Shabby), bred & owned by Peggy & Phil Alderman, Salem Farm | $30,726 | Daryl Case |
| 5th | 23 | ConcreteAcresExoticImpact (Stonecroft Sudden Impact x Concrete Acres Plum Cute), bred & owned by Concrete Acres | $16,820 | Dennis Schlabach |
| 6th | 58 | RPS Mr. Anatomy (Roberto Cavalli x I Beg To Differ), bred by Romp N Play Stables, owned by Matt Schlabach | $11,774 | Matt Schlabach |
| 7th | 55 | PAMF Pretty Angel (Indian Creek Icebreaker x Indian Creek Maggie T), bred & owned by Premier Acres | $10,092 | John Hufferd |
| 8th | 44 | HPW Flatliner (SonOfAHotSummerNite x CRMS Suite Ferrari), bred & owned by Harry Weaver | $8,410 | Lynn Peeples |
| 9th | 42 | LPS Homecoming Queen (LPS Fire Power x Tralion), bred & owned by Lynn Peeples | $7,400 | Lynn Peeples |
| 10th | 17 | Marshall I’m Fired Up (Dragonsmeade Sea Dragon CH x Stonecroft Trivia), bred & owned by Daniel Fisher | $6,728 | John Hufferd |
| 11th | 68 | Dragonsmeade Cherry Bomb (Dragonsmeade Spectre x Dragonsmeade Wisteria), bred & owned by Dragonsmeade | $6,391 | Tim Roesink |
| 12th | 40 | Otto B Embraced (King-E Otto B x Embrace The Fire), bred & owned by Roy Miller | $6,055 | Andrew Beiler |
The remaining finalists each received a check for $3,971.
| 12 | CJY Flying High (LPS Fire Power x CJY Master’s Angel) | John Yoder |
| 16 | HSMF American Kid (CYS First Command x Divine Miss M) | Adam Schlabach |
| 18 | LRA Like A Rock (EKL Shakedown CH x Girl Gone Wild) | John Hufferd |
| 24 | Spiced Bourbon DRMF (Arboria Noble Masterpiece x Miss Prohibition DRMF) | John Hufferd |
| 32 | JWB Ramblin’ Man (Timeless Delight x A Star Someday) | John Hufferd |
| 33 | Vionnet (No Contest GCH x Designing Woman) | Tim Roesink |
| 34 | Annie’s Girl (ICF Reasonably Certain x Swanbrook Pistol Annie) | Luke Fry |
| 63 | SDMF Flaired Up (JDS Spectacular Flaire x SDMF DejaVu Spice) | Joe Zehr |
| 74 | Valley Acres Mar-A-Lago (King-E Otto B x JW FashionPlate) | Mike Wahl |