 Hey folks, I'm here with the 2017 NCHA 5,000 novice world champion, Stephen Schlesinger, and he rode Czech counter to win that title. Congratulations to you. Thank you very much. Tell us about your go rounds in the world finals, how they went, and describe the best one to us. Well, the first round I won it with a 224. It was a really good run. My horse has been outstanding all year, so I was really happy to lay down that run. Good time to do it on the first one, really kind of cementing your position. Right. I needed to get one check here to guarantee that I'd win the world, so it was nice to kind of get it over with and be done with it. Yeah, because you were coming in fairly tight, weren't you? The second place could have caught you? $4,400 in some odd dollars, I think, and there was $4,593 to be had here. And so if he would have had to win both rounds, Mike Wood, which is an awesome competitor, had to win both rounds, and I wouldn't have got a check for him to win. Okay, so those circumstances didn't come about because you didn't allow them, you had that great run and obviously a good world finals. What does this title mean to you? It means a lot because I started this horse, trained him, made the fertility finals here on him as a three-year-old. Superstakes finals on him here. He's just been a great asset to me and the owners are amazing owners and have really supported everything I've ever wanted to do with this horse. So how old is the horse now? He's seven years old. So you've had that horse for obviously a few years. Tell us what it's like to, like you said, take it to the fertility, but then get to see it develop as it really gets stronger and, you know, better at cutting. Yeah, he's always been a really good, really smart horse. I had a little trouble with him early in his five-year-old year. We were breeding him and hard to get focused. So we sent him to Jamie Snyder for about seven months and then I got him back and here we are today. So did you have to spend a lot of time on the road this year? How many miles or how many shows do you think you did? You know, I don't remember. Last year I kept track when I was hauling for the world, but I didn't keep track as well this year. We hauled probably 40,000 miles maybe and we went to a lot of shows all weekend. We really pushed hard this last little month and a half. About a month and a half ago I was only $150 ahead of him. Like you say, Mike Wood is a very seasoned world champion competitor. He's amazing. I show against him a lot. He's an amazing showman, great sportsman. It's been a pleasure working with him. He helped me here. I helped him. It's been a great time. Now as an open competitor, as a trainer, how hard is it to keep that going while you're on the road competing in the world finals? It's really hard. You've got to have a great team. I've got the best wife in the world and two great kids. I also have a great assistant trainer at home plus great show help that has been on the road and busting through the blood and tears. It's tough and I've got a great support group of clients. They've all supported me all year long. I've actually got about 15 of them, half my barn here with me, just to watch me show. It's been a great year. Well, you did them proud then. Yes, ma'am. Thank you very much. Congratulations. Thank you very much.