The Image of Ritz and Joe Cotten got the Fourth of July week of shows off to a strong start winning the Aged Championship at the McMinnville Horse Show. This was the second blue of the season for the team of Joe Cotten and the Dan McSwain family and runs the career record for Image to 17 blues and 1 third, a winning percentage of 94%.
Image was undefeated as a two-year-old in training with Larry Edwards winning four times including the Two-Year-Old World Grand Championship at the Celebration. Larry and Image suffered their only defeat tying third in the Three-Year-Old World Grand Championship in 2004 but won six other blues that season including one of the divisions of the Three-Year-Old Stallion Class at the Celebration.
Last year in Junior competition, Larry won four blues with Image but did not show at the Celebration. Joe Cotten took over the horses training and won the Open Stake at the Southern Championship Horse Show, capping a second undefeated season with 5 blues in five shows.
Joe and Image have shown twice this year and are undefeated with wins at the Gulf Coast Charity Horse Show and last night at McMinnville. Image is clearly one of the favorites to watch for this year's World Grand Championship.
Complete results from last night's McMinnville Horse Show are available on line.