Contact: Amy Vorhes 817-244-6188 ext. 113
October 25, 2001
Bonelli and Rapp mark high at Sun Coast
Ladies step up at Las Vegas futurity
(Fort Worth, TX) — Non-Pro riders Sandy Bonelli and Mary Ann Rapp are known to be tough competitors in the arena. They have earned solid reputations among their peers based on good rides on good horses, and they proved themselves again at the Sun Coast Futurity in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 6 - 17.
Bonelli, riding Soula Jule Star in the Non-Pro Derby, and Rapp, who rode Cats Full Measure in the Non-Pro Classic/Challenge, each marked scores of 227 points in their respective finals. The ladies captured the high score of the event, and their portion of the $434,730 allotted to the Open and Non-Pro aged event competitors in Las Vegas.
Peptoboonsmal offspring topped the Sun Coast Futurity classes. In the Futurity Open, Betsy Mecom's DNA horse, Pretty In Pink, came out on top with Lloyd Cox at the helm. His payoff was $20,325. Dustin Adams, who gets his mail in Logandale, Nevada, rode Timely Boon for first place money in the Futurity Non-Pro.
The pink streak continued on into the Derby Open, where Randy Cherry rode Don Lester's Peptoboonsmal DNA horse, Pepto Taz, to win the class of 66. Bonelli bred and raised Soula Jule Star in Petaluma, California, and has shown the Grays Starlight stallion to wins at the Abilene Spectacular, the Sun Coast Winter Aged Event, and the Tejon Ranch Futurity. Those and other high placings in the 4-year-old horse's short career have garnered just over $104,300 in earnings to date. Debbie Day, Reno, Nevada, claimed victory in the Derby Amateur on Jazz A Lee.
Trainer Paul Hansma rocked the judges with a run worth 225 points in the Classic/Challenge Open on Dick Brown's mare, Bueno Chex Dually. Hansma has ridden the 1996 Dual Pep mare to victory at the Steamboat Springs Derby and the Bonanza Cutting, with total earnings now over $102,800. Mary Ann Rapp's ride, Cats Full Measure, has accumulated $225,000 in NCHA earnings with both Mary Ann and her husband, Phil, aboard. In fact, $91,000 of the High Brow Cat mare's money came from the 1999 NCHA World Championship Futurity when Phil and Cats Full Measure tied for 6th in the Open and won the Non-Pro cutting.
Donna Lu Campbell, Hazen, Nevada, and her horse, Dream Acre Doc, picked up their first win together at the Sun Coast Futurity in the Classic/ Challenge Amateur.The National Cutting Horse Association approves over 1,400 events annually for 14,000 members representing all 50 United States and 19 foreign countries. The sport of cutting has roots in Western ranching traditions where good horses were a necessity for everyday ranch work and cattle handling. The NCHA was formed in 1946 by a group of cowboys and ranchers who wanted to promote cutting competitions, standardize rules and preserve the cutting horses' Western heritage. For more information about the NCHA, visit www.nchacutting.com.