Chevy Trucks / NCHA Western Championships Showcases Sport’s Top Competitors

 

Fort Worth, TX (February 27, 2001) – While sports fans around the world vie for tickets to the 2002 Olympic Games in Utah, cutting fans are guaranteed a front row seat for one of their sport’s pinnacle events -- the 2001 Chevy Trucks / NCHA Western Championships, April 27 through May 5, at the Golden Spike Arena in Ogden, Utah.

Although cutting is not yet recognized as an Olympic sport, horse owners and breeders worldwide recognize the cutting horse as one of the equestrian world’s star athletes. And the Chevy Trucks / NCHA Western Championships features many of the sport’s top horses and riders competing for over $200,000 in prize money and a chance to show in the prestigious Chevy Trucks East-West Shoot-Out, during the NCHA Summer Cutting Spectacular in Fort Worth, Texas.

 More than 600 entries are expected for this year’s Chevy Trucks / NCHA Western Championships, an invitational event for top-ranking contestants, who have qualified in 11 divisions during NCHA regional competition. Qualifiers are also eligible to show in the Western Championship’s sister event -- the Chevy Trucks / NCHA Eastern National Championships, held in Jackson, Mississippi, March 13 through 24, 2001.

Last year’s Chevy Trucks / NCHA Western Championships Open winner, Dandyolena, was recently crowned NCHA World Champion Gelding, during the 2000 John Deere / NCHA World Championship Finals in Houston. The 16-year-old gelding, owned by Jim Milner, of Southlake, TX, was the only horse to rank among both open and non-pro 2000 Top Ten competitors. He placed fourth among Non-Pro Top Ten under Milner; Lawson Hadlock, of Ogden, Utah, rode him to finish ninth among Open Top Ten contenders.

The National Cutting Horse Association has more than 120 affiliates in the United States and 22 foreign countries, and sanctions approximately 1,400 shows annually, with over $24 million in prize money.

For more information on the Chevy Trucks /NCHA Western National Championships or other NCHA events, call (817) 244-6188 or visit www.nchacutting.com.