Page Bowman, Simpsonville, Ky., and her seven-year-old gelding Tom E Boy scored 222 points on Tuesday to win the $25,000 Novice Non-Pro championship of the NCHA 6666 Eastern Nationals. Kathy Sokol, Seville, Fl., was reserve champion with 218 points on Bet On Finale, while Lauren Middleton and Sweet Reyvenge placed third with 215.5.
This was the third Eastern Nationals title win for Bowman, who showed Athena Mad Man as $5,000 Novice Non-Pro champion in 2015, and was 2010 Junior Youth champion with Snazzy Easter Bunny. In addition, Bowman and Tom E Boy placed second in last year’s Eastern Nationals $5,000 Novice Non-Pro division.
Bowman, LTE $525,508, has also won seven major championships in limited age events, including the 2014 NCHA Derby Non-Pro on Big Daddys CD and the 2015 Augusta Futurity 5/6 Non-Pro with Tom E Boy. She took reserve with Tom E Boy in the 2016 Augusta Futurity 5/6 Non-Pro, as well as reserve with him in the 2016 Congress 5/6 Non-Pro.
Bred by Bowman’s parents, Mike and Libby Bowman, and trained by Austin Shepard, Tom E Boy LTE $113,388, is by Thomas E Hughes and out of an unshown half-sister to Snazzy Easter Bunny LTE $165,637 and Scoot Over Here LTE $100,857.
This was Kathy Sokol’s second reserve title in the Eastern Nationals and her sixth time to qualify for the finals. She was reserve champion in the $20,000 Non-Pro division of the 1999 Eastern Nationals riding Peppy Sandalena, and placed third in the 2015 Non-Pro division on Catsmall, who her husband Ted showed as an Open Finalist last Thursday for current owner, Stacey Burkins.
Sokol, LTE $162,378, also showed Bet On Finale, by Bet Hesa Cat, to place in the 2015 NCHA Futurity Non-Pro Limited and to win the 2016 Southern Futurity Non-Pro Limited.
NCHA Hall of Fame Non-Pro rider Lauren Middleton, LTE $583,901, Weatherford, Tex., is an eight-time NCHA Eastern Nationals champion. She won the 2002 Non-Pro championship on Widows Freckles and the 2010 and the 2015 Non-Pro championships, as well as the $15,000 Novice Non-Pro 2010 championship on Cees Little Poo. Swoopn Indian, Spoonful Of Tears and Sweet Reyvenge have all carried her to four more Novice Non-Pro wins.
In 2017, in addition to her ride in the NCHA Eastern Nationals, Middleton showed Sweet Reyvenge to win the 2017 Mercuria NCHA World Series in Houston. She also claimed the Ike Hamilton Futurity Non-Pro reserve championship and placed sixth in the Bonanza Futurity Non-Pro on Cake By The Ocean, by Sweet Lil Pepto.