Getting to know the competitors and their horses on a personal level helps Sternberg go beyond the stats, scores, and maneuvers when commentating The Run For A Million reining. The Sandhurst, Kent, United Kingdom, native has been coming to the event since its first year in 2019, and has commentated on both the Million Dollar Competition and the Open Shootout reining qualifier.
“It’s metamorphosed into this extraordinary event that we’re now seeing with a massive potential audience, so from the get-go, I tried to think of things the listeners and viewers would like to know about the horses and riders. Not just their lifetime earnings, not just that it’s a plus-one maneuver. Things that humanize the riders more, that people can engage with, and who bred or started the horses,” Sternberg said. “Every horse and rider here, you see just the pinnacle of the enormous iceberg of everything that went before, and that’s often never recognized or known.”
Sternberg also brings a plethora of reining knowledge to the broadcast as a Non Pro competitor of more than $602,000 in lifetime earnings and several titles, including the 2022 NRHA Non Pro Derby Level 3 co-championship.
Her perspective as a Non Pro rider nicely complements the expert professional horsemen whom she often commentates alongside, such as her current teammate, NRHA Professional and Judge Steve Ross, NRHA Professional, Judge, and Million Dollar Rider Gunny Mathison, and Taylor Sheridan.
“It’s a remarkable thing sitting in a group of people with such an extraordinary wealth of knowledge. I’ve been doing reining for 30 years, so I know quite a few of the people here, and I’m a Non Pro, so that gives me a whole different angle. I’m allowed to be stupid because I’m a Non Pro,” Sternberg quipped. “And, being a girl, I can talk about the shopping and things like that, because [the vendors here] are amazing — I can’t wait for the doors to open so I can go off for some retail therapy.”
Sternberg’s notebook becomes a sort of Bible by the end of her week at The Run For A Million. Spending time with the competitors and horses around the South Point, from the barns to the warm-up arenas to the vendor hall to the concourses, helps Sternberg bring a perspective to the broadcast that helps viewers become part of the entire The Run For A Million experience, no matter where they watch from.
“It’s a different aspect of commentating. The others are going to be watching it in real time, and Steve Ross has a huge historical knowledge of virtually everything, so he doesn’t need to write it down like I do. I’ve got the concentration span in memory of Dory the Fish, so if I don’t write it down, I might not remember it,” Sternberg laughed. “It’s talking to the riders to get a feel of how they are feeling before this. There are so many aspects and facets to this, and emotion. It’s an electric atmosphere, and it’s important to me to see it so I can embrace how they’re feeling so that may be able to come out in what I say about them.”
