There was just something about this new colt Matt Shiflet was training. He’s a showman with unique physical talent -- young but with the panache of a future champion.

Talking it over with owners Dr. John and Bridget Cummings last December, they knew this American Saddlebred needed a name that fit his style.

“Matt said something like ‘Well, this horse is a beast,’” Bridget Cummings said. “That’s when John said we should call him Tua.”

This process took place last fall as first-year starter Tua Tagovailoa set fire to Alabama’s record book in what was looking like a Heisman season. Videos Shiflet sent back to the owners couldn’t hide his excitement for the potential here. The promising show horse just had the presence of his left-handed namesake.

One event into his career in the ring, Tua the horse is following the script from Tua the quarterback. The four-legged version won his first competition, generated buzz in the industry and now has an eye on a world championship.

The cover boy of trade magazine “The Saddle Horse Report,” the high-stepping gelding is pictured above a “Roll, Tua, Roll” caption. He unanimously won the 3-year old, 5-gaited division at the Shenandoah Classic in June in Lexington, Virginia.

Now, he’s preparing for the World Championship Horse Show in August at the Kentucky State Fair. A packed Freedom Hall, best known as Louisville basketball’s former home, is the premier event in this corner of the equine business often overshadowed by the racing thoroughbreds.

Competing with other 3-year old geldings and stallions, Tua’s division is the training grounds for the Super Bowl of the sport, the 5-gaited grand championships at Kentucky State Fair.

That would still be a few years down the road for young Tua if things continue on this trajectory. But it’s clear he’s something special.

“Our colt took our industry by storm,” Shiflet said. “We’ve been overwhelmed with the comments and the comparisons people made of this colt to some of the older horses who have done great things. We have to show up and prove it but leading up to right now, we’ve had a great start.”

The name helped generate all the attention Tua received at the Shenandoah competition.

It’s the partially the result of Cummings family friends Elizabeth Ghareeb and Michael Petty. The Birmingham residents are big Crimson Tide football fans who hooked in Cummings and his wife, Bridget as Alabama supporters. They come down from their Lexington, Kentucky home at least once a year to see Alabama play in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

“Now, the whole culture of the team has us hooked,” said Bridget Cummings, a Kentucky basketball fan by blood.

Tua the American Saddlebred’s naming is unrelated to Tuaandtwentysix, the thoroughbred named for Tagovailoa’s heroic national title throw against Georgia in 2018. Cummings and Shiflet were unaware there was another horse out there with a similar name. (In five starts since last fall, Tuaandtwentysix best finishes were a pair of fourth-place runs in maiden races.)

READ MORE: The story of Tuaandtwentysix and his Alabama owners

A lifer in the horse game, Shiflet rode the 2016 world champion in Tua’s division with a horse named Texas Pete. The excitement for Tua is cranked up a few notches with buzz that’s “by far” unlike anything Shiflet’s experienced.

And there’s good reason for the attention. The natural stamina Tua shows in the ring is matched by his charisma, Shiflet said.

“Oh man, he has an outstanding personality,” he said. “He’s really kind but he’s really powerful. I mean, really powerful. You just don’t see colts his age … his physical ability is quite frankly like Tua (Tagovailoa). When he came out as a freshman, he looked like a senior. That’s what this colt is like. The way he rides and how much stamina he has, he never gets tired. He has a great work ethic.”

This horse is a gamer too.

Shiflet said Tua works hard in training, checks all the boxes back at the farm in Asheboro, N.C.

“But when he hits the lights in the ring,” he said, “it’s like you unleashed an animal, you know what I mean? He automatically knew it was showtime and he’d never even done it before.”

Bridget Cummings said they weren’t too sure what to expect when Tua competed for the first time.

“He went in there almost like he knew it was time to be on and he was on,” she said.

The Cummings were in Mercedes-Benz Stadium that night Tagovailoa threw the overtime touchdown pass to beat Georgia in a moment that’ll live forever in the college football world.

Now the hope is their horse can match the success in a much different sporting universe. The Cummings said there isn’t pressure to live up to the name, though Shiflet acknowledged the stakes with a horse they call Tua.

Shiflet remembers the conversation with John Cummings when they settled on the name.

“I said ‘John, I think he’s really good,’” Shiflet said. “‘And if he’s not, we’re going to feel kinda bad. But if he is and we named him Tua, it’ll be something everybody will always remember.’”

Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.