Warpion is lucky James and Martha Campbell came into his life.
When the palomino stallion was foaled in 1997, his dam didn’t produce any milk. The Campbells, who lived next door to his breeder Patty Oliver, found a mare that had recently foaled and extracted milk and colostrum for the newborn foal.
“We asked Ms. Oliver what she was going to do with the colt, and she said she was going to sell him because she does halter horses and didn’t need a running blood horse,” James recalled. “So we bought him the day he was born, basically.”
The Campbells named the yellow colt Warpion.
“My wife named him,” James said. “He goes back to Starpion on his sire’s side, and his dam, who was an appendix mare off the racetrack, went back to Man O’ War. So we called him Warpion.”
Warpion was trained in poles, and at the first Bayer Select World Championship Show in 2003, James and Warpion won their first world trophy. They came back again each year but it wasn’t until this year that they returned to the winner’s circle.
James and Warpion were last in the draw for the pole bending finals. When they entered the Amarillo National Center, Gary McCoy and Mr Flit To Kill were leading with a time of 22.246.
“I didn’t know the exact time because they wouldn’t let us go into the alleyway, but I thought it was 22 seconds or something,” James said. “But I liked where I was in the draw. To me, I’d rather be first or last. When you’re last, if everyone else hits a pole, you could almost trot if you needed to.”
James gave Warpion his head and sped toward the poles.
“I normally just let him run any pace he wants to run,” he said. “Some days he runs real fast, and sometimes he runs pretty slow ... he’s about like me. But today, he ran about average.”
However, average was good enough. Their time was 21.650.
“I was happy with him. It felt good to win again,” James said.
Warpion is already qualified for the 2008 Bayer Select World. However, James also hopes to bring his 4-year-old son, Kid O War, next year too.
“That’s my ultimate goal,” he said. “We’ll be back again next year if the good Lord is willing and the creek doesn’t rise.”
