Cooper Cogdell / Croonin lead the way in Super Stakes Amateur finals

Tulia, Texas, champion comes from long line of cutters

(Fort Worth, TX) — Cooper Cogdell was one of the youngest riders in the 2003 Flowmaster / National Cutting Horse Association Super Stakes Amateur finals, but that did not stop him from showing his fellow competitors what he and his horse, Croonin, could accomplish.

Cooper is the son of Dick and Kippi Cogdell, and the grandson of Billy Cogdell, all of Tulia, Texas. Cooper rode Croonin for 220.5 points in the Super Stakes Amateur finals. Croonin is a four-year-old daughter of Peppys Boy 895. The class paid out some $56,989, and began with 114 riders.

Second in the finals was another young rider, Austin Blake. Blake, of Canyon, Texas, rode the DNA daughter of High Brow Hickory, High On Kitty, for 218.5 points under the NCHA’s five-judge system. In all, 34 of the classes’ original field qualified for the finals.

The 2003 Flowmaster / NCHA Super Stakes & Super Stakes Classic cutting began at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, April 2 and will continue daily through Sunday, April 20. A complete daily schedule and list of classes is available on the NCHA website at www.nchacutting.com. Admission is free through April 18^th, and then tickets begin at just $5.

The Super Stakes is a show for only the offspring of nominated stallions. However, with 140 of the industry's top sires on the list of nominees, the show is far from "exclusive."

Each stallion owner paid $3,500 to subscribe, the vast majority of which is added directly to the event’s purse. In addition, each Super Stakes entry paid a fee of $1,500 or more depending on the event division and time of payment, with a major part of that fee adding to the purse.

Flowmaster, a household name in car racing circles, is the title sponsor of the Super Stakes & Super Stakes Classic for the second year now. Over the past 19 years, Flowmaster's patented technology has also blazed new trails in the passenger car and tow vehicle markets. Their customers are saving 100 million gallons of fuel per year—a subject of increasing importance for everyone. Learn more about Flowmaster by visiting their booth in the Coors Light Trade Show during the cutting, or visit www.flowmastermufflers.com.

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 2003 Flowmaster / NCHA Super Stakes & Super Stakes Classic, or the sport of cutting, please call 817-244-6188 or visit www.nchacutting.com.