News from NCHA --- November 29, 2000

World Championship Futurity

GO-ROUND LEADERS ADVANCE TO SEMI-FINALS

AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FUTURITY

Fort Worth, Texas ---- With a little more than $1.6 on the line, only sixty horses remain in contention as the field of semi-finalists was determined Wednesday evening in Open Division competition at the National Cutting Horse Association World Championship Futurity in Fort Worth, Texas. The 60 top horses from the original field of 619 entries will advance to semi-finals competition on Saturday, December 9, with the top twenty performers returning Sunday, December 10 for a shot at the $200,000 winners share.

After the two go-rounds, Stylish Play Lena, a mare ridden by Lloyd Cox of Fort Morgan, Colorado leads the field with a combined two go-round score of 440 points. Stylish Play Lena, owned by Linda Holmes of Longmont, Colorado, scored 222 in her first work and followed with a solid 218 in the second go-round to top all contenders. Two horses are tied at 439. They are Nu I Would, who marked one of the highest go-round scores with a 223, ridden by Matt Gaines of Weatherford, Texas and Spookys Cash, ridden by Gary Gonsalves of Paso Robles, California.

The top sixty horses, those with a cumulative score of 431.5 or better after the two preliminary go-rounds, qualified for the semi-finals round and a chance to compete in the prestigious Futurity Finals on Sunday, December 10.

This year's total NCHA World Championship Futurity purse is $2.8 million, and marks the richest Futurity event to date. All competition is held at Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas.

For complete semi-finals qualifiers, go the Futurity Schedule on the www.nchacutting.com home page.

For more information, visit the NCHA website at www.nchacutting.com, or call the Futurity Media office at 817-870-9722.