Smooth As A Cat / Matt Gaines move on to Super Stakes Open Semi’s with high score

First round leaders Sweet Lil Pepto / Mike Mowery also advance

(Fort Worth, TX) — What began as a class of 315 four-year-old horses in the 2003 Flowmaster / National Cutting Horse Association Super Stakes Open division has been narrowed to the top 62. Only those horses with cumulative totals of 429.5 or more after two initial rounds of cutting at Will Rogers Coliseum have qualified to move on to the semi-finals in a class that will pay out over $100,000 to the champion.

Leading the charge after rounds one and two with a cumulative score of 439.5 points is Smooth As A Cat. Smooth As A Cat is a stallion sired by High Brow Cat, and owned by Tommy Manion of Aubrey, Texas. Past Super Stakes Open Champion trainer Matt Gaines is riding Smooth As A Cat. The duo marked 221 points in the first go and added another 218.5 points to their total this afternoon.

Just half of a point behind that with 439 points is first round leader Sweet Lil Pepto, ridden by Mike Mowery. Sweet Lil Pepto is a stallion sired by Peptoboonsmal and owned by Rancharrah of Reno, Nevada. Mowery rode the stallion for 222 points in the first round and followed that up with 217 points in today’s second round.

The total purse for the Super Stakes Open is in excess of $831,000. The Super Stakes Open semi-finals will begin at 5 pm on Saturday, April 19 at Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth.

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.