By Tom Sumners

Special to the Tribune

Something took place Saturday night at the 75th Annual Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration that hasn't happened in 47 years.

Not since 1966 has a stallion younger than five years old won the big prize, but it happened this year. In 1966, Shaker's Shocker and Betty Sain of Bell Buckle were the winners.

This year it was a four-year-old stallion named I Am Jose who walked away with the top prize at the annual Celebration. His trainer, Casey Wright, completed the history-making event as he celebrated his 32nd birthday early Sunday morning.

Billy and Debbie Woods of Lexington, Tenn. are the proud owners of the big black stallion. Wright hails from Reagan, just south of Lexington, between Henderson and Parsons.

I Am Jose won the two-year-old stallion grand championship in 2011 and the three-year-old title last year, as well as winning the four-year-old stallion preliminary on Sunday night.

Wright and Charlie Green were co-winners of the Walking Horse Trainers' Association Trainer of the Year Award on Saturday, the first time that two people have shared this distinction.

Green was the trainer of two World Grand Champions Saturday night. He won the Show Pleasure World Grand Championship with King of the Jungle, owned by Nestor Stewart of McMinnville, and the Two-Year-Old World Grand Championship with A Master Sky High, owned by Don and Lucky Collins of Bell Buckle.

The Reserve World Grand Champion was He's Vida Blue with Chad Williams of Shelbyville up for Dr. Jim and Kay Green of Meridian, Miss. He's Vida Blue had won the A division of the 5-years-and-over stallion class last weekend.

Mr. Heisman, Brandye Mills up for Randall and Sadie Baskin of Franklin, was third.

Link Webb and Santana's El Niño, the 2008 World Grand Champion, made a bid to become the first repeat winner in decades, but placed fifth out of the eight entries.

It looks as if I Am Jose will be a great ambassador of the breed as Tennessee Walking Horse World Grand Champion.

Other winners on Saturday were Mr. Copperfield, Kenny Compton up for Rick Compton of North Tazewell, Va., who won the Owner-Amateur World Grand Championship. He was the unanimous choice of the judges. In the Park Performance Walking Horses, Link Webb of Lewisburg was the winner, riding Hello Dollar for D.R. Mozeley of Charlotte, N.C.

Three unique double family wins were recorded at the Celebration this year.

On Friday evening Bill Callaway rode The Bourne Legacy to first place in the Three-Year-Old Stallion class A division and in the B division his brother rode Border Run to first place. In the next class, Link Webb of Lewisburg rode Santana's Storm Warning to first place in the Park Performance Four and Under class, while in the class after that, his son Lane Webb rode Mark Zone to first place in the Owner-Amateur Ponies Youth Riders.

In the Three-Year-Old World Grand Championship class on Thursday night, Bill Callaway and The Bourne Legacy were the champions, and on Friday night his brother John Allan Callaway and I'm Coach Cal were named Four-Year-Old (Junior) World Grand Champions.

See the Friday Tribune for more winners and pictures of Marshall Countians who attended the Celebration.