Sherry Chamberlin and Phil Hanson

LHR Smooth Jamie May (Smooth As A Cat x Just Scarlet x Smart Lil Ricochet) took over as the top-earning cutting horse so far in 2010 by securing a check totaling $46,465 for Sherry Chamberlin’s South Lazy H Ranch, Weatherford, Texas. The victory also placed the mare in solid contention for NCHA Open Horse of the Year honors despite the fact that she missed the first month and a half of the season due to an early health issue.

Pounce, another mare ridden by Hanson, tied for Reserve Champion honors with a 223. She led the event until LHR Smooth Jamie May topped her score from a No. 3 draw in the second cattle set. Pounce (High Brow Cat x Haidas Little Shorty x Haidas Little Pep) and Hanson earned $39,036 for Julie Clarke, Bend, Ore. Clarke, like Chamberlin, has sent horses to train with Hanson for several years.

This is the first time that Hanson had ever placed two horses in a Fort Worth limited-age final. He ended up winning with one, tying for second with the other and earning a combined $85,561 with five minutes of extremely solid work.

"It just feels fantastic,” Hanson said. “It turned out really well. The horses were great through the whole deal. The help’s been good. Everything went well.”

LHR Smooth Jamie May and Hanson did not fare well in their debut at the NCHA Futurity back in December, but that was due more to early soreness than her ability. After that event, Chamberlin and Hanson decided to give LHR Smooth Jamie May about two months off, skipping several shows in the process. The horse owner said that the rest has paid off. The mare is no longer sore and she never seems to have a bad run, Chamberlin said.

Rascal Cats (High Brow Cat x Keena Pep x Dual Pep), trained and ridden by Wesley Galyean, Claremore, Okla., also tied for Reserve Champion honors with a 223 to earn $39,036 for horse owner Steven Feiner, Los Angeles, Calif. Feiner bought Rascal Cats from breeder and original owner Billy Martin, Millsap, Texas, in early spring.

Wesley Galyean’s wife, Kristen, won the Derby Non-Pro title earlier in the night aboard Harley, a gelding who had carried Kristen to a Derby Limited Non-Pro title on July 17. Harley and Wes made the Open semifinals and missed the final-round bubble by one point.

Shes Twice As Smooth (Smooth As A Cat x Dually Lilly Pep x Dual Pep) and Tatum Rice, Jacksboro, Texas, finished fourth in the Derby Open with a 220 to earn $31,606. Shes Twice As Smooth and co-owner Jennifer Foland, Weatherford, Texas, also tied for 10th earlier in the night in the Derby Non-Pro finals with a 210 to earn $11,372. Shes Twice As Smooth was the only horse who competed in both the Open and Non-Pro finals. —Mark Thompson

Kristen Galyean and Harley Take the Non-Pro Title

Kristen and Wesley Galyean with Harley

“He’s like a shark in the water and has this amazing control over his whole body. He doesn’t stumble, he doesn’t fall over his feet, he just has this amazing body control,” Galyean said of the gelding she owns in partnership with her husband/trainer Wesley.

The laid-back horse doesn’t take much loping and prefers to relax before a run, which may have put him in good stead to overcome a halt in the proceedings between the first and second set due to a long shut down due to a power outage. To stay focused, Galyean stayed in the cow box and concentrated on her job.

“I was a little bummed out, but we waited it out. I went and petted on Harley and made sure he was relaxed. I didn’t chat with my friends or anything. Wesley always preaches to me don’t ever think about your score, just stay focused on what you have to do,” Galyean said.

“I was just so excited to get to show him. Making the finals on him – this was my second Non-Pro final on him. I made the Derby final last year and I am so excited that I get to show,” said Galyean, Claremore, Okla.

Wesley missed the Open finals on Harley by a point, but this win made up for that disappointment.

“She did a really good job tonight – the horse was really good tonight and the cows tried to eat on her pretty hard. He was extremely good today so we are thankful for that,” Wesley said. “He’s got some crazy eye appeal. The way he can stop and fold back up under himself without getting on top of the cows. He’s got extreme body control.”

According to the NCHA, Kristen had earned $113,804. Harley had won $96,337 and moved over the $100,000 by earning two checcks totaling more than $25,000 at the show .

The Reserve title went to Carl Smith, Jacksboro, Texas, and gelding Mr Rister (Mr Boonsmal To You x Ristos Sweet Play x Smart Aristocrat) with a 218. According to the NCHA, Mr Rister had earned just under $15,000. Smith has won just over $230,000.

Becky Elliott, Estill, S.C., was the only senior to make the final to give her the Senior title on the stallion Halos Rey (Dual Rey x Haidas Halo x Haidas Little Pep). —Bridget Cook

July 30 coverage

Lloyd Cox

Smart Stingrey (Dual Rey x Smart Sandhill Kay x Smart Mate), owned by John McClaren, McGregor, Texas, and ridden competitively since last August by Cox, Fort Morgan, Colo., marked the top score from the first draw in the first of five NCHA Summer Spectacular Derby Open semifinals sets at Fort Worth’s Will Rogers Coliseum. The two-set Derby Non-Pro finals start at 3 p.m., Saturday, July 31, followed by the Derby Open finals. Admission for both is $8 general admission or $10 reserved.

Despite posting the top semifinals score, Smart Stingrey does not rank as the odds-on favorite in a field of finalists including 2009 NCHA Futurity Open Champion Rockin W, Breeder’s Invitational and Bonanza Cutting Champion LHR Smooth Jamie May, and Super Stakes 4-Year-Old Open Reserve Champion Im Catman – the top earning cutting horse through the first six months of 2010. Still, Cox isn’t counting his horse out of the chase.

“He has a nice little way about him,” Cox said. “If I cut him good cows, you never know what might happen. It worked today [in Friday’s semifinals].” Horses don’t have to start their careers in Fort Worth to win there, he said. “I don’t think it makes a difference. If it’s a good horse, I don’t think it matters where you start.”

Over six-plus hours Friday, 60 horses failed to top Smart Stingrey’s leadoff 220. Many that tried earned considerably more during their early careers than Smart Stingrey’s $53,728 prior earnings total. Cox was quick to point out, though, that his main goal, and everyone else’s on Friday, was to simply score well enough to make Saturday’s finals.

“I was pretty surprised,” Cox said. “There are a lot of nice horses out there. It [leading the semifinals] doesn’t mean a whole lot, except that I made the finals. I was happy to have a nice run and a good score, but it’s just about advancing. You have to do that.”

It took a 214.5 to achieve that task. A total of 22 horses and 20 riders did. Two riders, Phil Hanson, and Mackie Hursh, made it aboard two horses.

Tatum Rice

“She’s been consistent all the way,” Rice said, adding he thinks the mare has enough gas left to compete well in both the Derby Non-Pro and the Derby Open finals.

Hanson, Weatherford, Texas, heads into the finals armed with a mare, LHR Smooth Jamie May (Smooth As A Cat x Just Scarlet x Smart Lil Richochet) that won May’s Breeder’s Invitational Derby Open title with a dominating 225 finish. She also posted the best Summer Spectacular Derby Open two-go score (220-219, 439) and a strong 216.5 in Friday’s semifinals. Pounce (High Brow Cat x Haidas Little Shorty x Haidas Little Pep), another mare ridden by Hanson, also marked a strong 216.5 in the semifinals.

Phil Hanson

“That’s an achievement. That’s a first for me,” Hanson said. “That’s the first time I’ve ever put two in a finals in Will Rogers. LHR Smooth Jamie May, she’s already proven she’s in the hunt for the championship. It’s just going to be a matter of where we draw and how it fits. Pounce, she’s been really good the whole time. She was good in the semifinals and we’ll just see how it works in the finals.”

Jody Galyean, Marietta, Okla., and his two sons, Wesley Galyean and Beau Galyean, all qualified horses for Saturday’s Derby Open finals. Jody’s daughter, Christina, and Wesley’s wife, Kristen, are also competing in Saturday’s Derby Non-Pro finals.

Limited Non-Pro

Alvin Fults

"Anytime you can win something in Fort Worth it’s a great deal, so we’re very excited about it,” Fults said after earning his first career NCHA limited-age rider victory in Fort Worth. Fults had earned a prior American Paint Horse Association World Championship in Will Rogers Coliseum. “My first cow was a little bit slow but then it (the run) built and the second and third cow got real fast. It was just what we needed for a finals run.”

Fults, a former roper, has earned more that $170,000 as a cutting horse rider. Tassa Cat (High Brow Cat x Smart Little Tassa x Smart Little Lena) had earned more than $180,000. The pair also competed in the Non Pro Classic/Challenge but ran into bad luck. Tassa Cat competed in the Open Classic/Challenge with trainer Beau Galyean and marked a 217 in the first round. They finished one slot shy of making the finals.

Fults purchased Tassa Cat from Galyean last year. Galyean guided Fults’ standout stallion Metallic Cat to a 2008 NCHA Futurity Championship and eventual 2009 NCHA Horse of the Year honors as the pair earned $637,711 together within one 12-month span.

Classic Limited Non-Pro Reserve Champions Cassity Mitchell and Special Blue Bayou (Blue Bayou Boon x Bobs Special Kay x Bob Acre Doc) were the first pair to work and marked a 216 to take the early lead. They earned $8,011 by finishing second.

After some early uncertainties, Mitchell’s run shaped up well.

“The first cow I was nervous because I didn’t know if it was going to take a hold of my horse right from the start but the help got it going and it got better as it went,” the Weatherford, Texas, rider said. “The second cow was there on the back fence and I was a bit nervous getting it cut, but it came right up the front and it felt like the second cow was very good. We got the third cow that we wanted and finished up very nice. It was a lot of fun.”

Mitchell has been showing on weekends since she was five. This was her top finish at Will Rogers Coliseum. She had previously earned more than $40,000 as a cutter. Her gelding, Special Blue Bayou, had earned $13,678.

Monte Strusiner, Northbrook, Ill. and his mare Smooth Asa Kitty (Smooth As A Cat x Cowsmart Playboy x Freckles Playboy) won the Senior Championship and took 16^th place overall with a 203. Two other senior riders made the finals.

John Deere Open

"Spud" Sheehan

Sheehan, 25, lead cutting trainer at Justice Farms in Camden, Ark., since last August and an employee there for seven years, also competed in Thursday’s event for horses ridden by trainers who had earned less than $200,000 before the start of 2010 with Sweet Little Kitten. Sheehan and Sweet Little Kitten (High Brow Cat x Sweet Little CD x CD Olena) compete again Friday at Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum in the Derby Open semifinals. They had a good run going in the John Deere Open, but lost their last cow at the buzzer.

The Native Australian trainer has been nicknamed “Spud” Sheehan since his youth, because larger kids that were watching him for adults took a shortcut by burying him up to his neck in sand to prevent him from going anywhere. “Spud” and Dualin Cats Merada (Cats Merada x RW Milagro x Dual Pep), owned by Carl and Debbie Sanders, Camden, Ark., made the NCHA Super Stakes semifinals and won the first round there.

Sheehan won a John Deere Open title at the NCHA Futurity in December aboard Jojo Boon (Peptoboonsmal x Bambi Freckles x Freckles Playboy) mmediately. Immediately after that victory, Jojo Boon’s former owner sold the mare to Weatherford, Texas, non-pro cutters Steve and Michelle Anderson. Kory Pounds, Lipan, Texas, now trains Jojo Boon.

Asked if he feared the same fate after taking his second John Deere Derby Open win in three tries, Sheehan said, “I’m not sure. I’m not going to say anything about that one.”

Jaime Beamer & his wife Cathy

GP Scooter Cat is owned and bred by Non-Pro Hall of Fame cutter and retired builder Gil Porter, Sandy Springs, Maryland. The horse competed with Beamer at the 2009 NCHA Futurity in Fort Worth. After that show, the horse suffered through a life-threatening infection, but recovered quite well. GP Scooter Cat did not compete for about three months until his back-to-back standout showings at May and June Oklahoma events.

Beamer, 40, and his wife, Cathy, relocated in May from Fort Worth to Weatherford, Texas. After splitting time in prior years as a working cow horse and cutting trainer, Beamer has concentrated on cutting the past three. He won two Limited Open cutting titles in 2009 before picking up his first Open limited-age title at The Non Pro in June.

July 29 coverage

Kelle Earnheart

Earnheart, 24, Weatherford, Texas, and Badgers Perscription (Reys Dual Badger x An Apple A Day x Doc’s Prescription), a gelding she purchased a few weeks before late fall's 2009 NCHA Futurity started, have competed at five Non-Pro limited-age events and they’ve now made five finals. After winning the Futurity Non-Pro in Fort Worth with a 219 in December, they reached 4-Year-Old Non-Pro finals at the Abilene Spectacular, NCHA Super Stakes and Breeder’s Invitational during early 2010. They finished as 4-Year-Old Non-Pro Reserve Champions at the Abilene Spectacular and they earned a combined $78,052 at their first four shows.

Earnheart, the daughter of NCHA Hall of Fame rider Pat Earnheart, Herndando, Miss., has already established herself as one of the leading Non-Pro cutters while earning big checks since her teens.

Three other horses that scored near the top of the pack during Thursday’s Derby Non-Pro semifinals, Shes Twice As Smooth and Sweet Lil Sombrero, both with 216s, and Harley, with a 215.5, also compete during Friday’s Derby Open semifinals starting at noon.

Sweet Lil Sombrero (Sweet Lil Pepto x Dandy Miss Hickory x High Brow Hickory) a gelding owned and ridden by Good, 36, Burleson, Texas, will compete again with his owner in Friday’s Derby Open semifinals. Good and Sweet Lil Sombrero qualified for the Open semifinals at the 2009 NCHA Futurity, but they did not compete in the semifinals then because the horse was sore. The horse returned to action with Good and they reached the Derby Non-Pro finals at the Breeder's Invitation to reap a big payday.

Jennifer Foland, Weatherford, Texas, and Shes Twice As Smooth (Smooth As A Cat x Dually Lil Pep x Dual Pep), a mare she co-owns with her husband, veterinarian Jeff Foland, tied for a 4-Year-Old Non-Pro Championship at April’s NCHA Super Stakes. Shes Twice As Smooth and trainer Tatum Rice, Jacksboro, Texas, will also compete in Friday’s Open semifinals. Rice and the mare made the Super Stakes Open finals.

Kristen Galyean, Claremore, Okla., competed with the busiest horse at the show, Harley, a gelding she and her husband Wes Galyean co-own. They cruised into their second finals at the event with a 215.5. Kristen and Harley (Spots Hot x Cattilion x High Brow Cat) won a Derby Limited Non-Pro title at the Super Stakes on July 17 with a 218 to earn $8,686. That win pushed the horse’s career earnings over the $100,000 mark. Harley and his trainer Wes Galyean will compete during Friday’s Derby Open semifinals.

It took a 211 in the Derby Non-Pro semifinals to advance to Saturday’s 3 p.m. Non-Pro finals. The Open finals follow Saturday’s Non-Pro finals at Will Rogers Coliseum. Friday’s Derby Open semifinals start at noon.

Sam Good

Stephanie Haymes Roven & husband Chuck Roven

Three more horses made Thursday’s Non-Pro semifinals and Friday’s Open semifinals, including two-go Non-Pro co-leader Shes Twice As Smooth (218-216, 434), No. 11 Non-Pro qualifier Im Catman (214.5-215, 429.5) and No. 21 Non-Pro scorer Harley (214-212, 426). They’ll each compete with two different riders.

Jennifer Foland, Weatherford, Texas, and Shes Twice As Smooth (Smooth As A Cat x Dually Lil Pep x Dual Pep), a mare Foland co-owns with her veterinarian husband Jeff Foland, tied for the best two-round Non-Pro total with a 434. The horse’s trainer, Tatum Rice, Jacksboro, Texas, qualified the mare for Friday’s Derby Open semifinals. Foland and Shes Twice As Smooth were 4-Year-Old Non-Pro Co-Champions at the NCHA Super Stakes in Fort Worth during mid April. The mare also made the 4-Year-Old Open finals with Rice at the NCHA Super Stakes and earned a combined $47,565 at that event.

Im Catman (High Brow Cat x Cowstruck x Smart Lil Lena), cutting’s top earning horse during the first half of the 2010 season with $184,336 earned through June, according to Equi-Stat records, started the second half well. He carried co-owner Stephanie Haymes Roven, Los Olivos, Calif., to Thursday’s Non-Pro semifinals and trainer Matt Budge, Weatherford, Texas, to today's Open semifinals.

Harley, owned by husband and wife cutters Wesley and Kristen Galyean, Claremore, Okla., competes with Wes in today's Open semifinals. Wes Galyean also competes today aboard Rascal Cats.

July 26 coverage

Wes Galyean and Rascal Cats

Sixty-one horses and 51 riders will compete during Friday’s Derby Open semifinals starting at noon in Will Rogers Coliseum. Derby Non-Pro and Derby Open finals take place Saturday, July 31, starting at 3 p.m.

First-round leader LHR Smooth Jamie May and Phil Hanson, Weatherford, Texas, followed an opening-go 220 with a second-round 219 on Sunday for the top composite score. Sherry Chamberlin’s South Lazy H Ranch, Weatherford, Texas, owns the talented mare (Smooth As A Cat x Just Scarlet x Smart Lil Ricochet) who earned more than $150,000, with Bonanza Cutting and Breeder’s Invitational Derby Open victories, during the first half of the year.

Non-pro rider Steven Feiner, Los Angeles, bought 4-year-old stallion Rascal Cats (High Brow Cat x Keena Pep x Dual Pep), a prior winner of $69,709, from his original owner and breeder, Billy Martin, Millsap, Texas, in early spring. At May’s Breeder’s Invitational, Rascal Cats and Galyean tied for third in the Derby Open finals with a 219 at the Breeder’s Inviational in Tulsa, Okla.

Rascal Cats and Galyean, a Claremore, Okla., trainer who had trained the horse for Martin since early in his 3-year-old season, rebounded Sunday after posting a nearly disastrous 208 in the first round. Their two-go 431 easily topped the two-go bubble of 425.5.

Asked about his attitude heading into the second round, Galeyan said, “You are beyond pressure. You are upset a little bit. You want to come cutting and show everybody what kind of horse you’ve got. You try to believe that you are supposed to be there. That horse is capable of doing about anything.”

He was upset with himself and the conditions, not the horse, after the slow start, Galyean said. The pair competed in a tough cattle set in the first round and after their opening 208, the trainer wasn’t too optimistic that they’d even get to try again.

“You never thought a 208 was even going to make the second go round,” Galyean said. “It does make it and you’ve got a chance. Then you see that you are next to last [Rascal Cats and Galeyean competed 15^th among the 16 horses and riders in Sunday’s seventh of nine cattle sets] and it’s going to be a tough draw, but that horse was just spot on. I was real proud of him. He’s always had that kind of talent.”

Earlier in the same set, Galyean and Harley (Spots Hot x Catillion x High Brow Cat), a gelding co-owned by Wes and his wife, Kristen Galyean, also marked a 211. That score paired with their first-go 217.5 also earned them a spot in next week’s semifinals. Kristen Galyean and Harley won the Summer Spectacular Derby Limited Non-Pro on July 17.

Both horses are capable of making the finals and winning it if they do, their trainer said.

July 25 coverage

LHR Smooth Jamie May & Phil Hanson

Other top Derby Open first-go scores included a 219 during Thursday’s first day by stallion A Smooth Criminal (Smooth As A Cat x Carolena Moon x Peptoboonsmal) and Matt Gaines, Weatherford, Texas, another 219 on Saturday by mare Momas Cats A Star (High Brow Cat x Star Fillaree x Grays Starlight) and Craig Thompson, Buffalo, Texas, and a 218.5 on Friday by stallion Whiskeynadirtyglass (High Brow Cat x Jitters Brown x Smart Little Lena) and Phil Rapp, Weatherford, Texas. Roxanne Koepsel, Aubrey, Texas, owns A Smooth Criminal, a prior earner of $47,215. Carrie Rhodes, Arlington, Wash., owns Mamas Cats A Star, a prior winner of $107,829. Vincenzo Vario, Weatherford, Texas, owns Whiskeynadirtyglass, a prior earner of $75,075.

LHR Smooth Jamie May (Smooth As A Cat x Just Scarlet x Smart Lil Ricochet) and Hanson won the Breeder’s Invitational Derby Open in Tulsa, Okla., on May 29 with a 225 to earn $80,619. The mare and Hanson, Weatherford, Texas, won the Derby Open at the Bonanza Cutting in Alvarado, Texas, in mid February. They also made April’s NCHA Super Stakes and winter’s Arbuckle Mountain Futurity 4-year-old Open finals while earning more than $150,000 during the first six months of the year.

“She’s a little cow blocker,” said horse owner Chamberlin, who worried before the mare competed midway through Saturday’s first of seven cattle sets, mainly because it included quite a few tough to handle cows. “She’s made the finals every time she’s competed this year and she’s won twice. I don’t know what else to say. She’s so solid.”

Hanson and his wife, Leah, formerly spent half of each year living in Oregon and the other half in Weatherford, Texas. They relocated to Texas full-time late last year. LHR Smooth Jamie May is named for Chamberlin’s Lazy H Ranch and a Weatherford, Texas, banker, James May. May helped Chamberlin complete a quick cash transfer to the mare’s prior owner so Chamberlin could buy the 3-year-old prospect before somebody else did.

Scott Johnston, a former standout professional rodeo rider who has assisted John Mitchell in training cutting horses at Slate River Ranch in Weatherford, Texas, the past couple of years, formerly owned LHR Smooth Jamie May. Johnston trained the mare as a 2-year-old and through most of her 3-year-old season.

LHR Smooth Jamie May ranked as 2010’s No. 2 midyear earning horse despite suffering soundness issues during the 2009 NCHA Futurity in Fort Worth, then sitting out the first month and a half of the year. She’s been rock-solid and competitive since her return.

In a highly-anticipated Saturday run, 2009 NCHA Futurity Open Champion Rockin W (Dual Rey x Boon San Kitty x High Brow Cat), a stallion owned by Alice Walton’s Rocking W Ranch, Millsap, Texas, marked a 218. Rockin W advanced to the second round with original trainer Gary Gonsalves riding him for the first time at a limited-age show. They did warm up by competing at a small weekend event the previous week.

Gonsalves, who splits time at training bases in Millsap, Texas, and Carbondale, Colo., trained Rockin W as a 3-year-old leading up to the 2009 NCHA Futurity, but he opted to turn the horse over to Futurity Open Champion rider Tony Piggott shortly before the big event. Piggott recently left his former position as resident trainer at Rocking W Ranch to start an independent base. Gonsalves then fielded an inquiry from Walton asking whether he’d like to take another shot at riding Rockin W. It didn’t take the trainer long to reply.

“I told her bring him over,” Gonsalves said. “We [the trainer and Walton] talked about it at the Breeder’s Invitational [during late May in Tulsa]. I took him to Colorado with me and got him to work. Just the last couple of days, he’s been working really well. I just hope it all works out and I get to ride him a couple more times.”

While he did his best to help Rockin W and Piggott prepare for their 2009 NCHA Futurity win, Gonsalves said Piggott returned the horse to him ready to fare well again.

“Tony did a great job,” Gonsalves said. “Things changed, but he did an awesome job.” -MT

July 24 coverage

Jon Winkelried

“It’s so exciting. It’s thrilling. It really does add to it. This is the first Double Down win and I took great pride in taking his check,” Winkelried said. “To win in this building is what it’s all about and to win on a mare like that, particularly when she’s six and is about to leave her aged event years, really caps it off.”

Winkelried, Aledo, Texas and Cherry Chex Dually (Hes A Peptospoonful x Bueno Chex Dually x Dual Pep) were competing at their third show together. The pair made the finals of spring’s NCHA Super Stakes during the but were a last minute scratching when the mare came out of her stall sore. Cherry Chex Dually has earned more than $200,000. According to the NCHA Winkelried has earned $33,245.

Winkelried, owner of Marvine Ranch, has received instruction from his new resident trainer Roger Wagner since the Rock Creek Ranch dispersal on October 16 of last year.

“When you’re trying to learn any sport you need to have excellent instruction and an excellent coach. He (Wagner) is that,” Winkelried said. “He doesn’t have to say a lot to get you to realize what some of the key things are you need to do. He just takes the opportunity as we ride and work in the barn to focus on certain things and build up my riding skills and my competing skills.”

Reserve Champion Laura Landers, Weatherford, Texas, has enjoyed a spectacular year as a cutter. She marked a 217 aboard Sweet Lil Scoot (Smart Lil Scoot x Hickorydickorydolly x Freckles Playboy) to finish second and earn $5,838.

“She’s the kindest, sweetest, most willing mare,” Landers said. “She’s consistent and she gives you everything she’s got. I love her dearly. She’s easy to be around and easy to work. She’s the same and always consistent.”

T.W. “Tom” Donahue, Centerville, Texas, and gelding CD Sonita (CD Olena x Sonitas Magic Girl x Sonita’s Last) won the Senior title and placed 15^th in the class with a 205.

“This is it,” Donahue said after he’d accepted his bronze. “It’s always exciting to make the finals. No matter what you do in the finals, if you make the finals, I always think that’s winning because it’s tough.”

Donahue, 66, has returned to the show pen after a long break and is enjoying cutting now just as much as he did when he was 30, he said.

“I didn’t have anything else to do and I needed something to do. I like riding and I like the camaraderie of everybody.”

CD Sonita previously earned $6,324. Donahue had previously earned $14,312 as a cutter. -BC

July 20 coverage

Frank and Bonnie Martin

Bonnie Martin, 62, Las Vegas, Nev., a career winner of more than $650,00 following her latest win, and Rubys Royal CD (CD Royal x Smart Little Ruby x Smart Little Lena), a mare that had previously earned $224,759 while competing well with Martin and trainer Phil Hanson Jr., Weatherford, Texas, both picked up their first Fort Worth wins.

“This is a pretty important trophy, because this is her last Fort Worth show and she ended up being a champion,” Martin said. Three days earlier, on Saturday, July 17, her husband, Frank, 63, and a 4-year-old horse owned by couple also won a trophy as Limited Non-Pro Derby Senior Champions while placing No. 11 in the overall finals.

“We just have one little shelf in our motor home and he filled it,” Bonnie said. “I told him, ‘Where’s that leave me? He said, ‘I’m sure we’ll find room.’ I’m just going to tell Frank that it’s going to be awful hard when he rolls over at night and has an indentation of this trophy on his back, but he’ll understand.”

Frank Martin, a 1998 winner at the same Fort Worth show and in the same event, bought Rubys Royal CD for his wife from the father of the mare’s career-long trainer. Phil Hanson Sr., Lockeford, Calif., sold the mare to them as a 3-year-old prospect.

“You just have to give credit where credit is due,” Martin said. “She has packed both Phil and I. What I like about her the most is her heart. She’ll try and try and try. She never quits.

Chad Bushaw, Weatherford, Texas, and Snow Rey (Dual Rey x Lenas Snow x Docs Stylish Oak), a 6-year-old gelding he purchased as an early 4-year-old, finished a strong second with a 220 to earn $12,432. Bushaw, cutting’s top non-pro money earner through the end of June, and cutting’s No. 5 earner among all riders halfway through 2010, according to Equi-Stat records, also placed 19th in the 24-horse finals to earn $5,500.

The first round of the featured Derby Open event starts on Thursday at 8 a.m., followed by the Classic/Challenge Amateur finals sometime early Thursday night. —MT

Derby Amateur

Kathleen Moore and Bernie Kirkland

Cutting two waspy cows on the winning run, she knew there was a larger degree of difficulty than on the run in which she tied for second on her other mare, Heres Lookin At You.

“I just stayed to the buzzer, I knew that I was either going to have a good score or I was going to loose it because it was getting pretty raunchy,” said Moore about the second and last cow she cut.

Moore, who has earnings of $90,370, says this is by far the biggest event win for her and tying for Reserve is just icing on the cake. This same team paired up recently to take third in the Derby Non-Pro Amateur. Sarenadual (Dual Pep x Sarnalena x Smart Little Lena) had previous earnings of $28,611.54 according to Equi-Stat.

“I have had seconds and thirds, but never a winning run,” said Moore of the big shows. “I still haven’t quite comprehended it.”

Moore placed second on Heres Lookin At You (Peptoboonsmal x Smart Lookin Hi Brow x High Brow Hickory), a mare on whom she won the Arbuckle Mountain Amateur Futurity in Ardmore, Okla., last year. The mare just wasn’t up to her usual standards today.

“She has had a 103-degree temperature, which actually broke the day before our first go-round run,” Moore said. “Usually, she is hard-knocking, let’s go and stop. She likes the faster cows.”

Bernie Kirkland rode Be Clever (Smooth As A Cat x TM Silhouette x Smart Lil Ricochet) to tie for Reserve with a 215. The mare had no NCHA earnings and he had owned her for only three weeks. He claims he is small time but with earnings of $34,753 and tying for second on a horse that he barely knew says different.

“I sneak up on them once in a while,” Kirkland said. “ I am a horse trader; my business card says, ‘Purveyor of fine horses.’ ”

Kirkland says he does this for fun and he couldn’t be happier with his run.—JS

Classic/Challenge Open

Third Cutting and Boyd Rice

Third Cutting and Boyd Rice picked up their fourth limited-age win in five trips to Fort Worth during the NCHA Summer Spectacular Classic/Challenge Open finals on Sunday, July 18, this time topping all rivals by five points with a 230 to earn $34,862.

“That was probably one of the best runs I’ve ever had on him right there,” Rice said. “When those finals start, he comes to the party every time. He’s an exceptional horse and he just proves it over and over. He’s got the mind and the strength.”

The 5-year-old stallion owned by Carl and Shawnea Smith, Jackboro, Texas, and bred by Polo Ranch, Marietta, Okla., has earned $370,284 at five limited-aged Fort Worth cuttings. He already ranks sixth among all-time “Triple Crown” limited-age earners, according to Equi-Stat records. All five horses ranked ahead of Third Cutting debuted with NCHA Futurity Open wins.

Third Cutting (Boonlight Dancer x Crab Grass x Smart Little Lena) and Rice, Spearman, Texas, tied for eighth place in the 2008 NCHA Futurity with a final-round 214.5. Since then, they’ve won or shared titles at four straight Fort Worth limited-age events. They did that while posting final-round 228.5, 230, 226 and 230 scores.

Horse owner Carl Smith and Rice said barring unexpected circumstances, Third Cutting will compete in Fort Worth two more times in 2011 while completing his limited-age career with a light schedule. Third Cutting will compete one more time this year, at fall’s American Quarter Horse Association World Show in Oklahoma City, they said.

Neither Third Cutting nor Rice had competed much since they tied as Co-Champions in the Classic/Challenge Open at the Super Stakes in mid April while posting a 226. Three days after that event ended, another horse fell on Rice’s right ankle and broke it. For about six weeks, the injury kept Rice from riding any horses. He temporarily turned all riding duties over to a pair of young assistants working at his Spearman, Texas, facility, his son, Tarin Rice, and Luke Hammerness.

Third Cutting did not compete at the Breeder’s Invitational in May, due to Rice’s injury, but the pair resumed competition a few weeks ago. They competed at one weekend cutting and then at an early July Battle In The Saddle cutting event in Oklahoma City.

Rice had a metal brace and seven screws attached to his leg after his injury. He continues to walk with a noticeable limp, but said he’s fine as long as he’s in the saddle. He added Third Cutting doesn’t require much practice to stay on top of his game.

Special Nu Kitty (High Brow Cat x Nu I Wood x Zack T Wood), a 6-year-old mare owned by Julie Wrigley, Weatherford, Texas, and ridden by Wrigley Ranches resident trainer R.L. Chartier, marked a 225 to finish as Reserve Champions and earn $30,847. That pushed Special Nu Kitty’s career earnings over the $200,000 mark. The mare and Chartier had placed third – behind Co-Champions Third Cutting and Dont Look Twice – in the Classic Open at the NCHA Super Stakes in April with a 222 to earn $30,375.

Rey Down Sally (Dual Rey x Solano Sally x Doc’s Solano), a 6-year-old mare trained and ridden by Gary Gonsalves, Millsap, Texas, finished third with a 221 to earn $26,831. Rey Down Sally, owned by Iron Rose Ranch, Carbondale, Colo., topped the $380,000 mark in career earnings and topped $240,000 in Fort Worth earnings with that finish, according to Equi-Stat records.

Dont Look Twice (High Brow Cat x Tapt Twice x Dual Pep), a 5-year-old mare bred and trained by Phil Rapp, Weatherford, Texas, and owned by Waco Bend Ranch, Graham, Texas, has been one of Third Cutting’s top rivals the past two years. Dont Look Twice lost a cow while competing from the last draw in the first set of two sets. She still topped $400,000 in career cutting earnings just by making the finals. Dont Look Twice earned more than $160,000 while making four straight Fort Worth finals as a 4 and 5-year-old.—MT

Derby Limited Non-Pro

Harley with Kristen and Wes Galyean

Kristen owns the gelding Harley (Spots Hot x Cattilion x High Brow Cat) with her trainer husband Wesley Galyean. The victory follows the same duo’s success at the Breeder’s Invitational in May, when they were second in the Non Pro and won a Limited title.

“This is definitely a huge win for me and to be in Fort Worth at the Derby and to win on Harley is really special,” Galyean said. “Harley is special to both Wesley and I because he’s from the first foal crop of Spots Hot and we’ve known he’s pretty special from the very beginning.”

Wesley Galyean trained and showed Spots Hot to a win the 2004 NCHA Futurity Open.

“That set of cows seemed to be a little tough. They were a little softer than I would have liked for the finals run but Harley is so fancy and creative he still did enough,” Kristen Galyean said. “My third cow was my best cow and I didn’t get to cut her as long as I wanted to. I only got to cut her for a couple of seconds, but it really let him excel and show what he could do. The other two didn’t challenge him much.”

Kristen attributes her win to a good horse and good help. She had her husband and Jody Galyean, her father-in-law, in the corners and appreciated those familiar faces.

“It’s nice to have Wesley down there to talk me through it and it keeps me calm and he knows the horse,” Galyean said. “Wesley is always telling me to sit down or send him and Jody does a really good job helping me find cows, so it makes a good team down there.”

According to the NCHA, Kristen had won $113,805 prior to the start of the Summer Spectacular. She has been cutting since the end of 2008. Harley, who made the finals of the 2009 NCHA Open Futurity with Wesley Galyean, has won about $100,000 so far.

Reserve Champion Lauryn Crouch, Noxapter, Miss., and her mare Pretty Girl Cat (Pretty Boy Cat x Weekiva Star x Hickoryote) marked a 217 to earn $8,386. Lauryn is married to cutting trainer Allen Crouch.—BC

Youth

Ali Good

Taylor Carbo