FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 25, 2005 Contact: Kristina Gardner (817) 244-6188 Ext. 121
The NCHA Super Stakes and Super Stakes Classic wrapped up in
Fort Worth, TX
(Fort Worth, TX)—After the
sun faded in the Fort Worth sky, the 2005 NCHA Super Stakes and Super Stakes
Classic concluded with 11 new Champions.
One Time
Pepto, who set an all-time record when he sold to Jeffrey Matthews for $380,000
at the 2002 NCHA Futurity Sales,
captured his first championship title with a 224- point win in the NCHA Super
Stakes under Matt Gaines.
Rockin By
Choice, ridden by Paula Hansma for Elizabeth Queen, was just one-half point out
with 223.5 for the reserve championship.
“Paul had a
darn good run,” said Gaines. “I thought he might have had me. It was close.”
Gaines drew
third to work in the second bunch, followed by Hansma, who was fourth.
“My first cow
wasn’t very good,” said Gaines. “It didn’t test my horse very good. But my
second cow was tough and that’s what we needed. “This horse is so smart and
stops so hard and gets around so good, you need a cow to show him off.”
Gaines was a
leader on the Peptoboonsmal son throughout the go-rounds and split the
aggregate high score of 440 points with Dualin Boon, ridden by Ronnie Rice, and
NCHA Futurity champion Spots Hot, under Wesley Galyean. Quintan Blue, by Mecom
Blue, ridden by Roger Wagner for Jim Vangilder, won the Semi-Finals handily
with 225 points, but was limited by the cattle to 217.5 points in the Finals.
“He’s really a phenomenal horse,” said Gaines, who won the 2001 Open Super Stakes with the late Sunettes Dually. “It just feels good to get him shown so people can see what he is.”
Dual Rey Me
came into the Super Stakes Classic Open Finals as a favorite and rode out as
the champion. His 223-point run came midway through the first bunch, when
owner/rider Jeremy Barwick cut three tough cows that kept the action fast and
furious.
“We hauled
him al l last year and I think that came in handy with the cattle here,” said
Barwick, who rode the six year-old gelding to earn more than $100,000 in 2004
and claim the NCHA Reserve World Champion title in the $10,000 and $3,000
Novice divisions.
Dual Rey Me,
who came into the Classic off a reserve championship performance at the
Bonanza, won the first go-round with 222 points and the cumulative average with
441. He was also the NCHA Reserve Champion, $10,000 Novice and $3,000 Novice
horse in 2004.
“He’s a part
of the family,” said Jeremy. “We’ve had a lot of offers for him, but he’s not
going anywhere.”
Riding Chita
Cash Cat, by High Brow Cat, Paula Wood
came late in the second bunch of cattle to
score 219 points and claim the Non-Pro championship.
“The cattle
made me nervous,” Wood, a former NCHA Non-Pro World Champion admitted.
“Everybody had good horses and had gone out. Kobie said, we’ve got three cows
and you’d better cut them. So I did.”
Kobie is
Paula’s husband, a five-time NCHA Open World Champion. Two of his world titles
came aboard Cash Quixote Rio, the dam’s sire of Chita Cash Cat.
“Cash Quixote
Rio puts so much smarts into those broodmares,” said Paula, who rode Chita Cash
Cat’s dam, Chita Cash, to win the 1997 NCHA Non-Pro Derby.
Having drawn
dead last, after scoring 206 on her “favorite” mount Sues Barn Cat, Sandy
Bonelli just wanted to hold three cows.
It was deja
vu all over again for Benjie Neely, who won the Super Stakes Non-Pro Classic for
the second consecutive year on Little Lacey, by Little Trona.
Riding midway
through the first bunch, Neely scored 220 points. Chad Bushaw, who was the
next-to-last rider in the last bunch, marked 218 points on Badgers Playdough,
by Playdox, for the reserve championship.
“I didn’t ever expect to win once,” said
Neely. “Twice is like a dream.”
“That was the
biggest thing. We wanted to take a hold of those cattle and control them from
the get-go because this week, the cows were a little bit better, if you went
ahead and controlled them.”
Neely cut
three cows to her liking, but took a chance on the last one.
“The first
cow was a great one,” she noted. “And the second cow was really tough, which Lacey
likes.
“We had liked
the third cow when we were watching, but we figured she’d be either really good
or really bad. I just stepped in there and cut her and it worked out great.”
Neely had
tied for fourth and fifth in the first go-round with 218 points, and 216 in the
second go-round — the same scores she had marked in last year’s event. She won
the 2004 championship
with 219
points.
Little Lacey
is sired by Little Trona, a Freckles Playboy son bred by Neely’s family out of
Trona. Little Trona was Neely’s first four-year-old mount.
“She’s a lot
like her dad,” said Neely of Little Lacey. “She’s real gritty and showy, but if a cow gets in her face, she
gets tougher. I just think she’s a show horse and knows she’s under the big
lights.”
Little Lacey has NCHA career earnings of $105,812.
Michael Kemna made the most of his first
time to show in a finals at Will Rogers Coliseum. Riding Little Koko Telesis, a
gelded son of Lenas Telesis, Kemna scored 221 points, as the third cutter in
the last bunch, to claim the Amateur Super Stakes championship.
“This is my
biggest accomplishment so far,” said Kemna, who was an amateur finalist on the
gelding in the Memphis Futurity. “Everybody hopes one day they’ll be able to do
it. Today was my day.”
Kemna purchased
Little Koko Telesis last summer from trainer Kevin Parker, who acquired the
horse as a two-year-old, during the NCHA Futurity Sales.
“Kevin told
me this horse was going to mark some big numbers and earn a lot of money some
day,” said Kemna. “I’m just glad the day was today.”
Kemna, who
owns Kemco Waterproofing, a Dallas-based construction company, entered Little
Koko Telesis in the NCHA Amateur Futurity, but didn’t make it past the first
go-round.
“He just got
star struck and never looked at a cow at the Futurity,” he said. “That was my
biggest concern in the first go-round here. But he felt strong and it worked
out good.”
Introduced to cutting eight years ago by Tom Hastings, his
neighbor in Valley View, Texas, Kemna advanced to the finals with a go-round
score of 213 points.
Riding last in
the first bunch, Chris Martin scored 219 points on Smart Lil Espinoso, by Smart
Little Lena, to win the Super Stakes Classic Amateur championship.
Alex Graves,
aboard Smart Oh Cay, by Smart Little Lena, and Joe Montana, on Catty Merada, by
High Brow Cat, tied for the reserve championship with 218.5 points.
“It’s hard in
a lot of cuttings to go last, but down
here there are fresh cattle to cut,” said Martin, whose late uncle, Dick
Martin, was an NCHA judge and helped set up the guidelines to form the Pacific
Coast Cutting Horse Association.
NFL legend
Joe Montana was the next-to-last rider in the Finals and came out with 218.5
points.
“Anything can
go wrong in there, that’s the fun thing,” said Montana, who was riding a
homegrown mare trained by Andrew Coates.
“Andrew has done a tremendous job keeping my
horses ready to show,” Montana noted. “When I came down here, I hadn’t ridden
since the Futurity.
“I just don’t have the
time to run and jump on a horse. So I came here and practiced on another horse
that Andrew brought down. After that, I just went out and hung on, and listened
to (Andrew).”
William Cowan
wasn’t too concerned cracking the herd as the first rider in the Classic
Non-Pro Limited Finals. “I just wanted to cut three good cows that would take
me someplace,” he said.
Cowan’s first
cow was a little softer than he had hoped. His second one was a player. But it was
his third cut, a fast and feisty black heifer that really took him where he
wanted to go.
“That third
cow was a little unexpected,” said Cowan, who marked 218 points aboard Miss Bay
Gun, by Playgun. “I got off my second cow with about 30 seconds and turned
around and chipped the third cow. It wasn’t one that I had picked and it really
pressed on me. I owe it all to my mare. She held the line right to the buzzer.”
Cowan, who has
been cutting for three years, is a former roper who began showing in snaffle
bit events at the urging of his wife, Michelle, who also cuts. He struggled at
first with the transition from roping to cutting, but found that snaffle bit
and cutting go hand-in-hand.
“With roping
they’re always telling you to stand up and get over the top of them,” he noted.
“In cutting they’re always telling me to sit down deep and relax. It’s been a
challenge.”
This past
winter, Cowan won back-to-back championships on his four year-old, Pop N Stop
CD, with wins in the Augusta Futurity Limited Non-Pro and the Memphis Amateur
Futurity.
Decimate,
ridden by Grant Simon for Nelson and Suzanne Knight, scored 215 points
yesterday to win the Super Stakes Limited Open title. The Smart Mate gelding
had scored 215 and 214 in the go rounds
to qualify for the Limited Finals and qualified for both the Open and Non-Pro
Gelding divisions, as well.
“He’s just a
real cow horse,” said native Australian Simon, 27, who has worked for Glade
Knight’s Slate River Ranch, under trainer John Mitchell, for six years. “He’s
got a real low-headed swoop and he’s smart in those turns.”
Knight
purchased Decimate following last year’s NCHA Futurity from Amber Wilson. Simon
also qualified for the Open Limited Finals aboard Squeaky Cat, the horse he
rode as a Finalist in the NCHA Futurity. The High Brow Cat son is owned by
Slate River Ranch.
Super Stakes Gelding Non-Pro
Mike East, Sarita, Texas, won the Super Stakes Non-Pro Gelding Division with 220 points on The River Rider, by Laredo Roan, then qualified for the Non-Pro Finals on the same horse with 214.5 points.
East was also a Non-Pro go round leader with 218 points in the first round.
“This is probably the best horse I’ve ever had,” said East. “I’ve been cutting for a long time, but not consistently.”
Lu Liles, Ada, Oklahoma, sold her Super Stakes slot several months ago because she couldn’t get along with her mare Tachitas Brigalena. After purchasing someone else’s slot during the Super Stakes, Liles won the Super Stakes Non-Pro Limited with 219 points on the Brigaboy- sired mare; she also qualified for the Non-Pro Finals.
“I guess I
was probably the biggest longshot in the Non-Pro,” said Liles, who graduated to
Non-Pro status just this year.
Liles, who
manages her family’s ranch in Ada, bred Tachitas Brigalena and showed the
mare’s haf-brother, Justa Lena, as $50,000 Non-Pro champion at the Suncoast
Cutting, and placed well in several other major events.
Rockin By
Choice and rider Paul Hansma had a big win in Fort Worth. Hansma rode the SR
Instant Choice son, owned by Elizabeth Queen, Lipan, Texas to win the Super
Stakes Gelding division with 221.5 points, and came back yesterday evening to
qualify for the Open Finals with 216 points.
“He’s a good
little horse,” said Hansma, who has been riding Rockin By Choice since the
gelding was a two-year-old.
“I didn’t cut
the best cows, but he made them good. He’s got a big stop and is real
lowheaded, and is cool-minded,” Hansma added. “He’s not a hot horse and he
doesn’t take a lot of preparing.”
Hansma showed
the gelding for the first time at the Abilene Spectacular and won the Open
championship. Both he and Queen qualified Rockin By Choice at the Memphis
Futurity, where Queen finished third. Queen placed fourth in the Super Stakes
Non-Pro Classic last week on Instance, also sired by SR Instant Choice.
The sport of cutting has
roots in Western ranching traditions, where good horses were a necessity for
everyday ranch work and cattle handling. The National Cutting Horse Association
was formed in 1946 by a group of cowboys and ranchers, who wanted to promote
cutting competition, standardize rules and preserve the cutting horses' Western
heritage. Today, the Fort Worth-based NCHA represents over 16,000 people and
oversees more than 2,200 NCHA-approved shows with more than $35 million in
total prize money awarded annually. For more information about the NCHA or the
sport of cutting, please call 817-244-6188 or visit www.nchacutting.com.
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