After several almost-victories over the years, Randy Moore and Ella Snyder finally broke through with a major win, topping the Professional’s Choice #9 Gold Shootout at the Dixie National Super Sort. The pair sorted 30 head over three rounds in 156.58 seconds to claim the championship and $5,832.
The win was a product of the strong partnership built over time. Moore, of Yatesville, Georgia, and Snyder, from Fayetteville, Tennessee, have teamed up often in the sorting pen, consistently advancing through rounds but previously falling just short of the top spot.
“We’ve just always rode good together,” Moore said. “We just clicked. We’ve always done good making it back to the second go, third go, but we’ve never been able to seal the bill… So, this was a really good one.”
Success in the Gold Shootout classes runs in the Moore family. At the Southeast Regional Super Sort earlier this season, Moore’s son, Gage, captured the Open Gold Shootout championship in Perry, Georgia, alongside partner Tanner Sperle. The Dixie National win marks another major milestone for the family in the sorting pen, and Snyder was equally excited to seize such a high-reward championship with her partner.
“We’ve been working for this for a while,” she added. “So, getting a big win like this, it’s nice. And it’s always good to ride with one of our good friends.”
Heading into the final round, Snyder knew they were in a strong position and focused on letting the run develop naturally.
“We were sitting pretty good coming in,” she explained. “So my thought was, ‘Hey, just roll them out, see how it’s kind of started off, and see how it goes from there.’”
Both riders relied on talented young horses to help carry them to the win. Moore rode 2020 gelding Cash Tags (Hashtags x One Time Clementine), while Snyder was aboard the promising 2021 gelding PRF Empire (Stevie Rey Von x PRF Purrfection).
Snyder noted that her young horse has recently started to hit his stride.
“This horse has really come along more recently as a 4-year-old,” she said. “He was a little immature, so it’s taken him a little bit longer to come on. But now that he has, he is going to be unstoppable.”