STOCKLEIGH couple Gary and Catherine Cunningham have conquered the world of showing with a filly purchased on a whim.
Mr Cunningham said he knew nothing about the breed but bought his 87 per cent Arabian filly Angel because he liked her colour.
"I've always loved palominos and we bought her purely because she was a palomino and because she was so pretty," he said.
After having mixed results in their first attempts at showing, the Cunninghams enlisted the help of Peaks Crossing trainer Michelle Thomas and hired a professional handler.
In the last six months, Angel has been awarded champion at the top three Arab shows in Australia.
Last month she was sashed the Australian champion derivative mare or filly at the Australian National Arabian Championships in Sydney.
In February she was named champion derivative filly in her age group at the East Coast Arabian Championships, also in Sydney, and in October she won supreme derivative Arabian exhibit at the Top of the Range show at Toowoomba.
Mr Cunningham said Angel's path to success was almost unheard of.
"People have been in the industry 20 or 40 years and never won a national title," he said.
"We've been doing it 12 months and she's won everything."
Angel's latest outing was to the Queensland Colourama at Gatton where she again blitzed the field as a coloured horse, winning grand champion palomino filly or mare and supreme palomino.
Mr Cunningham said Angel would soon be broken to saddle and at the end of the year she would be put in foal.
In the meantime, the Cunninghams are starting up an Arabian stud on their Stockleigh property.
Mr Cunningham said horse showing had become the couple's life passion since their children moved out.
"It's just like any kind of showing - you're trying to create something that's perfect," Mr Cunningham said.
"And for a part-bred Arabian that's what she pretty near is.
"The problem is she knows it."
