Jeanine Slaughter / Sons Jazzy Babe lay down 223-point run for $20,000 NP win

Reserve title taken by Rachel Johnson / Finally Got Smart

(Fort Worth, TX) — Jeanine Slaughter and Sons Jazzy Babe topped their class of 94 in the $20,000 Non-Pro at the 2002 Chevy Trucks / National Cutting Horse Association Eastern National Championships.

Slaughter, of Hempstead, Texas, rode her horse, Sons Jazzy Babe, for a sum of 223 points under the NCHA five-judge system. Slaughter qualified for the Eastern Nationals in the Waller CHA, to which 50 points will be directed in the AQHA Affiliate Challenge.

Rachel Johnson of Lewisburg, West Virginia, followed Slaughter’s lead in the $20,000 Non-Pro. Johnson rode Finally Got Smart for 219.5 in the class finals for the Reserve Championship. Her 40 affiliate points were added to the total for the Mississippi CHA.

For the first time ever, entries at the Chevy Trucks / National Cutting Horse Association Eastern National Championships have topped 1,000. A record 1,005 contestants will vie for a share of the $288,391 purse in the big show which opened in Jackson, Mississippi on March 11. The annual cutting will continue through March 22, with cutting beginning every day at 8 a.m.

The City of Jackson, Mississippi, has been home of the Eastern Nationals cutting for 22 years. The 2002 show will be another 12-day cutting, and will bring 1,005 cutters and their families to the metro Jackson area. Past figures credit the Chevy Trucks / NCHA Eastern National Championships for bringing an economic impact to the city of $8 million.

The public is welcome to come see what the sport of cutting is all about at the Chevy Trucks / NCHA Eastern National Championships. Admission is free to watch the top cutting horses and riders from across the eastern United States.

The Chevy Trucks / NCHA Eastern National Championships are also home to the AQHA Affiliate Challenge. The Affiliate Challenge format encourages affiliates to send as many entries as they can to the Jackson cutting. In addition to the individual competition, all entrants in the show will also compete on behalf of their local NCHA Affiliate.

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 14,000 people and oversees more than 1,400 NCHA-approved shows with more than $26 million in total prize money awarded annually. For more information about the NCHA, the Chevy Trucks / NCHA Eastern National Championships, or the sport of cutting, please call 817-244-6188 or visit www.nchacutting.com.