Lexington, Ky., Sept. 30, 2010 — All week, U.S. reiner Tom McCutcheon has been trying to keep his mount, Gunners Special Nite, fresh and happy. Thursday afternoon, the 6-year-old American Quarter Horse stallion returned the favor by turning in a score of 228 in the individual finals at the FEI Reining World Championship, presented by John Deere, held as part of the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The score was enough to earn the individual gold medal by a margin of 5 points.

“I knew he was pretty special tonight,” McCutcheon said. “I felt pressure, for sure, because I wanted to do him justice. He’s a great little horse.”

Earlier in the week, McCutcheon and his horse helped the U.S. team to a gold medal in the team reining competition. Gunners Special Nite is sired by Colonels Smoking Gun and is out of Mifs Doll by Mifillena. He is the 2007 National Reining Horse Association Futurity intermediate open champion and has $194,237 in NRHA lifetime earnings

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