How I Approach Prep for our Regional Champs (TRXC)!

 Hi all!

I know most of us are focused solely on BreyerFest at this point - I am very focused on that too - but I needed to take some time out today to take stock of what my qualifications are looking like for this fall's Regional champ show (TRXC). It'll be the first year back since 2019, and the show is accepting qualifying cards all the way back to 2017 in order to help encourage folks to enter. Unlike NAN, we do not turn in cards for entering the champ show - only when we are applying for Regional Achievement Awards, which are very similar to the NAMHSA Merit Awards. So we can use the cards for multiple years of the show! It's usually the current year plus the previous 3, but it was chosen to extend the dates for this year due to the few years off.

Currently, I have 231 models qualified for OFP Halter as of the most recent show in early May. I'm also planning to attend at least one in August and one in October (if that one happens again). I already need to make cuts to what I'm bringing to TRXC as that as is would be more than I've ever brought before (my record is 225) and I'd worry about it all fitting in the car (even though a lot of them are medium or small size). And this is just qualifications, not taking into account any models I'd want to enter into the last minute qualifier Maiden classes. 

The overall breakdown of qualification types is:

Breed - 78

Breed & Collectibility - 22

Collectibility - 131

However, so far I've mostly made cuts to the Collectibility group. The main reason for this is that the TRXC Champs are double judged with classes categorized by Breed - unlike NAN, which offers separated divisions. So, even though many shows in the region are starting to offer separately judged Breed & Collectibility divisions more frequently, they're not currently offered the same chance to compete "apples vs. apples" the way Breed is for the Championship.

When classes are double judged, this means the "secondary" grouping ends up as a hodge-podge of various levels of competitiveness. Your current regular run, for example, might do really well in Breed, but unless the class is really small it will likely be totally passed over on Collectibility. Shows that offer separate divisions for Collectibility are able to focus on different levels or groupings independently. Due to this, I have a bunch of models that have qualified in Regular Run, Larger Special Run, or very niche grouping classes, which I don't feel will hold up to what other folks may have qualified in the same Breed class. 

Another consideration is the greater occurrence of Mini Shows & Mini Divisions in recent years. While I believe there is less overall bias against minis in Breed (particularly when it comes to some of the newest SM molds and the G1's), Collectibility is tougher, because there's a bit of a gulf between mid-range stuff and truly rare/HTF pieces in either the Modern or Vintage category. The vast majority of SM are runs of 500 or more. The Exclusive Event gift SM's are some of the only exceptions, along with the Riegseckers Draft set and a nominal few others when you think of anything in between the modestly hard to find and the true rarities. 

Honestly the only solutions I could potentially see for adapting in future years would be to:

1. Find a larger event space capable of handling the accommodation for splitting out the divisions. This would be a major challenge due to venue costs
2. Move the show to a 3-day format, similar to NAN. This could present a challenge due to the cost of using the hall an additional day, but also if many folks cannot or do not want to take off work to attend the Friday divisions. I do think this would be the best solution to keeping the Championships going on all at once, though.
3. Have two Championship shows at different times of the year (maybe one spring, one fall). Again, there are potential pitfalls of cost. However, there may be a good opportunity to split out by finish (Artisan divisions one show, OF divisions & Novice other show), or by scale (Minis would not need a huge hall to have enough space, so a less expensive venue could be used, however, I don't know that this would solve the problem of having enough space at the show for larger scales, which would still be nice to split out Collectibility for)
• If changing by finish, I'd suggest the splits by days of:
• Artisan Show - One day of Halter, One day of Performance. Or split so it's CM Halter/AR Performance and AR Halter/CM Performance. If the CMG folks want to be included in this weekend, that would be fine, otherwise keep those with the rest of the Breakables
• OF & Novice show - One day of OFP Halter, One day of Performance, Novice, and Breakables Halter

Of course, those are just some insights which I think could be brought up for future years. It's awesome that we are getting a show this year and had a host step up to take on the format as is :) My main concern for the future is that we've reached a point where there is so much diversity in what people collect and want to show, that is it no longer sustainable in most cases to offer the big "everything in one weekend" format of show in only two days. 

Anyway, with some of that additional background, here is the Excel sheet that tells me how many I have qualified for each class, by type of qualification, and split into sections based on whether I do want, possibly want, or don't want to take a model to the show!

It's so useful to see at a glance which classes I may want to focus on most for the next few shows! If you were to adapt this format to show just general qualifications (for NAN, your region champs, etc.) it would definitely improve your visibility on what models to bring to your upcoming shows, or even identifying gaps in your show string where you may not have very many models.

An interesting note on the Breed side of things! You'll notice I have two classes that are much fuller than the rest - Spanish Breeds and Light Foals. This appears to be due to the increase in splits of these classes at the local show level, so I've ended up with more qualifications than I would if the Champ list reflected these updates more closely. 

The Spanish category in the past 10 years has evolved quite a lot, with the introduction of several new Spanish type molds from both Breyer and Stone. It's now not unusual to see 2-3 classes for Spanish, and it may even have it's own Breed Section with a champ/reserve depending on how the show is structured. Most commonly seen is a separate class for Andalusian/Lusitano, but it's also not unusual for Gaited Spanish breeds like Paso Finos to have a class, and then one remaining catch-all for other Spanish breeds that aren't gaited. 

Due to the gain in popularity and expansion of class offerings, most foal divisions offer separate classes for Light, Spanish, and Gaited Foals. Unfortunately, these classes are bundled together under the Light Foal group for TRXC. And more unfortunately for me, I ended up with a lot of good candidates in both Breed and Collectibility. All of my Flockie rocking horses go into this class, plus my factory blanks, chalky CAF, honey bay PAF, and my Treasure Hunt prize foal on the Collectibility side alone. The 3 qualified in both I strongly expect to do better in Breed. I might trim down the Breed side more, but it's more difficult for me to make those predictions about what will perform the best. 

Although, if I'm honest, splitting the foal classes into 3 might not make as much of a difference as I thought! Out of all my qualifications, total 14 are Light, 14 Gaited, and 3 Spanish. I only have one Spanish in the Yes category (Breed) and 2 No (1B/1C). Light has 2 Maybe (1B/1C) and 3 No (1B/2C). Gaited has 2 No (Cllct). So maybe the ideal split for me would be Light Foals and Spanish/Gaited Foals, haha. (I still think it would be best overall for everyone to have all 3 separate, I'm sure some folks out there have a lot of Spanish foals!) 

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of my tactics for preparing my TRXC show string! I'm using this to help determine where to store some of my models in the next few months, and which ones I may want to enter in shows prior to TRXC as I unpack from the last show. 

I want to try another format for entering shows next year - previously, I'd default to using the strategy of shelving a model once currently qualified in the category that I felt like it could succeed in (or both for some), unless my pool for a certain class was very small. Considering that many shows are now getting more creative with class list organization and offering specialty shows/divisions, I think it would be fun to extend myself on that challenge further! I think an interesting next step would be to focus on models that have not qualified in the last 10 years (so for next year, 2014-2024) or are new additions to the herd, except for certain shows where if I eliminated that many options, I wouldn't have much to enter. My other rule here would be if I'm using any models qualified in the last 10 years to fill a class I'd otherwise not have anything for, I'd make a preference for models which aren't currently qualified, and I'm not allowed any buy-ins for that class if the show allows for those. 

As odd as it may seem, having personally imposed "rules" does actually make it easier in some cases to make decisions! Especially if I'm planning for a Mini show, I have so many Stablemates that it's easy to fall into decision fatigue, which results in me bringing too many models and running myself ragged all day to keep up. Even though I've convinced myself that the challenge is "fun", it's not fair to put my body through that to appease my brain nor is it wonderful to deal with getting everything put away again after I'm home. 

I'm also starting to find that some of the models that didn't do very well in the first few years after I got them are making a resurgence now in how favorable judges find them, particularly for Collectibility, so it may be fun to pull out some older herd members that haven't attended a show in a while and see how they do now. My allowance for new additions to also participate without strings attached should help ensure I don't put myself at too much of a disadvantage in Breed. Not saying all my older stuff is garbage breed wise, but it's not the "latest and greatest" certainly. 

Do you have a favorite strategy for tracking qualifications, or planning for championship shows like Region level champs or NAN?