Craig Schmersal

Mister Montana Nic (Reminic x Mollie Montana x Montana Doc), owned by the Mister Montana Nic Syndicate, Moore, Okla., is an experienced reiner. He's a 1998 bay stallion and at 12 years old, he was the oldest horse showing at the recent WEG. At the Sr. Reining finals Nov. 20, he bested a field of 16 horses in the finals from the ninth draw to win the AQHA Sr. Reining World Championship with a score of 225.5. However, this won't be the horse's last trip to OKC in 2010. Ericka Smith, a National Reining Horse Association non-pro, will be bringing Mister Montana Smith back shortly to compete in the Rookie of the Year competition at the NRHA Futurity.

Sr. Reining Reserve and Superhorse award

Casey Hinton

Taking the Reserve Championship were Casey Hinton, Whitesboro, Texas, and Play Dual Rey (Dual Rey x Hiccup N Play x Doc's Hickory) with a score of 222. The night was a big one for Play Dual Rey, aka "Reymond," and his owners, the Play Dual Rey Partners, which includes Hinton.

It took until the end of the roping finals on Nov. 20 for the coveted title of AQHA Superhorse to be determined. Play Dual Rey was in contention and was entered in the Sr. Working Cow Horse, Sr. Reining, Sr. Tie-down Roping, Sr. Heading and Sr. Heeling. In the heeling, Play Dual Rey was not able to make it out of the prelims with Rick Rosaschi, Gainesville, Texas. But he qualified for the finals in all the remaining events. Placing fourth in the Cow Horse with Todd Crawford, Blanchard, Okla., fourth in the Heading and 11th in the Tie-Down with C.R. Bradley, Collinsville, Texas, and winning the Reserve Championship in the Reining with Hinton was enough for Play Dual Rey to beat out the other contenders for the title. The Superhorse award comes with $25,000 from Farnam.

"Everybody loves Reymond," Hinton said after his win. Hinton noted that it has been a three-year process getting Play Dual Rey to this point. The horse also won the reined work portion and placed ninth overall at this year's Worlds Greatest Horseman in San Angelo, Texas, with Crawford and was No. 1 in the Open Calf Roping with Bradley at the 2008 American Rope Horse Futurity in Salado, Texas.

The Superhorse competition is open to horses in any Open division and goes to the horse who accumulates the most points at the World Show. Points are determined by a horse's placement in each class in which it competes. It's a tought title to haul for, particularly for a Western performance horse competing in high-impact, demading disciplines. And, there's always the cows.

“It’s a very difficult plan when you have the cattle and all the variables in your roping,” Hinton said. “The stars have to align to make it work for you.”—EH

Sr. Working Cow Horse

Shawn Hays

Shine Smartly, owned by Walter Greeman and Tammy Hays, captured the American Quarter Horse Association Senior Working Cow Horse World Championship with her rider, Shawn Hays, Nocona, Texas.

That was no easy task, considering how deep the Nov. 19 cow horse finals were in Oklahoma City. Shine Smartly (Shining Spark x Smartly Dressed x Smart Little Lena) faced off against 17 of the best senior (6 years old and older) reined cow horses in the industry piloted by the likes of Todd Crawford, Benny Guitron, Jay Mclaughlin and Robbie Boyce, just to name a few.

Shine Smartly is owned by Shawn Hay's wife and her father. Shawn said Tammy already owned the mare with her dad, Greeman, before the couple were married. The marriage resulted in more that just wedded bliss between husband and wife; Shawn and Shine Smartly have had a pretty good thing going on, too. This year, their union produced a win worth $30,100 at the first annual Holy Cow $50,000 Open Bridle Spectacular and a Reserve Championship and $12,000 at the National Stock Horse Association's Worlds Richest.

The cherry on top of the sundae that was 2010 happened from the 12th draw of this year's AQHA Senior Working Cow Horse finals. Although Shawn said he was battling nerves because Shine Smartly was feeling a little "wired up," the duo got hooked-up in the pen and produced a 218.5 in the reining work and a 225 in the cow work for a winning composite of 443.5. All this success comes after the 11-year-old mare was brought back from several years as broodmare

Jay McLaughlin

Senior Cutting

Keith Feister, Boyd Rice & Dale Koller

Competing at his only major cutting event of the year, 8-year-old breeding stallion Sophisticated Catt reunited with trainer Boyd Rice, Spearman, Texas, to earn his third straight AQHA Senior Cutting World Championship Thursday night in Oklahoma City.

The stallion and Rice marked a 225 from the third draw in the 16-horse finals to claim that title, while 6-year-old mare Lil Bit Reckless and Russ Westfall, Los Olivos, Calif., finished as Reserve Champions with a strong 222 as the last duo to compete in the event.

Sophisticated Catt (High Brow Cat x Shania Cee x Peppys Boy 895) and Rice also marked a 225 to finish as Senior Cutting World Champions last year. Just like last year, Rice received the horse from co-owners Keith Feister, Gainesville, Texas, and Dale Koller, Bethlehem, Pa., about 40 days before American Quarter Horse Association World Show cutting competition started last week.

Just like last year, Rice also took Sophisticated Catt to one small weekend cutting to tune up. They won with a 75 and then moved on to the AQHA World Show to compete against an assortment of top rivals also vying for one of cutting’s most prestigious titles.

“We got done breeding in October and he went back to the trainer Oct. 5. He [Rice] had 40 days to get him ready,” said Feister, who operates a horse breeding facility in Gainesville, Texas, that includes his own horse as a client. “He breeds from January through October. He’s busy breeding until October for Australian orders. Since he was qualified [AQHA World Champions are automatically invited back the following year to defend their titles, without having to re-qualify] we decided to try him one more time.”

Koller, a concrete business operator who has known Feister since the early 1990s, said aside from making a smart business decision together and purchasing the stallion as a Shania Cee embryo in 2001, they really haven’t had much to do with his show-ring success.

“We just haul him here,” Koller said. “It’s all him and Boyd.”

Darren Simpkins, Weatherford, Texas, actually initiated Sophisticated Catt’s training and guided him to several high-profile limited-age finals as a 4-year-old. The horse then competed sparingly and did not fare nearly as well as a 5-year-old. Rice took over training the horse early in his 6-year-old season. He then won 12 of 14 finals that year.

Feister and Koller, who purchased Sophisticated Catt from breeder Billy Cogdell, Tulia, Texas, had considered retiring him after he had teamed with Rice to win his first of three AQHA Senior Cutting titles in November of 2008 to complete his 6-year-old season. They eventually decided to go ahead and send them to the AQHA World Show again last year, when they also won with a 225.

Asked if they’ll send the stallion and Rice back for a fourth try next fall, the owners said they’ve got plenty of time to consider that question. If they ask, Rice said he’s certainly willing to help the horse knock off a little dust and head back to the show ring again. He’s never competed with a similar a once-a-year wonder, Rice said.

“He’s just that caliber of a horse. They don’t forget,” Rice said. “This year, he was real easy to get ready. He came back and he was perfect. He’s a good horse.”

Speaking of good horses, Lil Bit Reckles (CD Royal x Trouble Lynn 495 x Smart And Trouble) and Russ Westfall gave Sophisticated Catt and Rice a strong run for the title with their 222. Lil Bit Reckless, a career earner of more than $170,000, is a mare co-owned and bred by Russ and his wife Janet Westfall. The mare enjoyed her top season so far as a 6-year-old.

Faith In My Cat and trainer/owner Tommy Lyons, Grandview, Texas, also finished a strong third with a 219. The 7-year-old gelding (High Brow Cat x Faith In Your Mate x Smart Mate) had previously earned more than $340,000 during his career, according to National Cutting Horse Association records. —MT

Junior Working Cow Horse

Jay McLaughlin & Art Nicholas

The 5-year-old stallion (Shining Spark x Kings Masterpiece x Peppy San Badger) and McLaughlin, a former Missouri trainer now based at Carol Rose Quarter Horses in Gainesville, Texas, clicked from start to finish in a combined reining and cow horse run. They nailed a solid reining performance then backed it up with a strong cow horse work.

While Genuine Masterpiece had done enough to make a name for himself by placing well in several high-profile finals, this was his first official major-event victory.

“That horse just felt ready when he went in the gate,” McLaughlin said. “When I trotted into the middle and loped off, I could tell we were there to show. He was just perfect the whole way.”

Reserve Champion Solano Cat and Ralls, Gainesville, Texas, dominated the fence work part of the finals with a spectacular 224.5 effort, but they couldn’t overcame a glitch or two in their reining and finished 2.5 points off the pace with a 213-224.5-437.5. Sharon and Herschel Reid, Pilot Point, Texas, own Solano Cat (High Brow Cat x Smartest Solano x Smart Little Lena), 5-year-old gelding bred by Mark Marek, Austin, Texas.

Genuine Masterpiece breeder and owner Wagonhound Land & Livestock, Douglas, Wyo., is much more well-known at this point for success with cutting horses, including one of the year’s hottest new cutting sires, WR This Cats Smart. Genuine Masterpiece (Shining Spark x Kings Masterpiece x Peppy San Badger), affectionately called “G-Man” by McLaughlin, gave the Wagonhound brand and its owner Art Nicholas their first non-cutting World Championship as an owner and as a breeder. Nicholas credited Carol Rose with a big assist for making sure all arrangement took place so that her stallion with his mare actually consumated the deal.

“These are the kind of horses that we are trying to raise,” Nicholas said. “When we are lucky enough to get somebody like Jay to ride them, it all comes together.”

Genuine Masterpiece represents Wagonhound Land & Livestock’s “first serious effort” with a working cow horse, Nicholas said. He added “G-Man” set the bar high. “It’s tough to have this much success right out of the chute,” Nicholas said. “Now you are really expecting it. This is an event I like. It puts all the components together. We are big fans of the cow horse program.” His program also currently has a young reining prospect.

McLaughlin previously earned an AQHA World Championship with another cow horse. He earned an AQHA Junior Reining World Championship last week at the same show while riding A Shiner Named Sioux, a Palomino stallion owned and bred by Carol Rose. McLaughlin moved from Missouri in early 2009 to work as resident cow horse trainer at Rose’s Gainesville, Texas, base. He has achieved considerable success since then.

While out-pointed in the cow work during the finals, “G-Man” and McLaughlin’s solid 218 reining effort made the difference in their win. That success might have been in part because of an extra emphasis that included McLaughlin showing Genuine Masterpiece to a 218 and an eighth-place finish during last week’s AQHA Junior Reining finals.

“He had never been a reiner in his life, other than at the cow horse shows,” McLaughlin said. “Before he came here, he’d never seen a judge’s chair. When I trotted into the middle [during the Junior Reining], he had never seen a judge’s chair and he wasn’t sure what to do. He was good all the way through.”

Ralls finished as the Junior Working Cow Horse event’s Reserve Champion and third-place finisher aboard Solano Cat and Im A Smokin Mister (219.5-214.5-434). He said Solano Cat’s 224.5 fence work run was simply outstanding.

“Those cows are strong and really powerful,” Ralls said. “I got a little worried I was going to run out of horse, but we got through it. We got it done.”

Regarding he and Solano Cat’s 213 in reining, Ralls said, “I had that scotch on that one stop there. It didn’t help. But that happens. It did today.”

Ralls added that he’ll take second and third in the finals any time. “I’ll take it and I’m happy to have it.” —MT

Junior Cutting

Laney Rey Too, Guy Woods & Jo Ellard

It looked like a mismatch when 5-year-old mare Laney Rey Too and Guy Woods, Pilot Point, Texas, ended up in a Junior Cutting work-off Wednesday night at the American Quarter Horse Association World Show in Oklahoma City with 5-year-old stallion Third Cutting and Boyd Rice, Spearman, Texas, and it was – but with a surprise twist.

Junior Cutting World Champion Laney Rey Too (Dual Rey x Laney Doc x Doc Quixote), teamed with Woods to mark a 221 to make the work-off. They competed first in the work-off and marked an even better 223 to earn an estimated $13,157.

Third Cutting (Boonligh Dancer x Crab Grass x Smart Little Lena), has won 4-of-5 limited-age Open titles in Fort Worth so far, plus Open titles in Abilene, Texas, and Paso Robles, Calif., with another full year of limited-age eligibility remaining. He and his career-long trainer and rider Rice also made the work-off with a 221. But in the showdown, they couldn’t hold a first cow that bolted past them and ran back to the herd. They settled for Reserve World Champion honors and a check estimated at $10,526.

The work-off probably worked to the advantage of Laney Rey Too, Woods said, because she had competed more than once many times at any-aged cutting events this year. “She gets better and better. The second run will be better than the first run and the third one will be better than the first two,” Woods said. “When we had to work-off, I thought, ‘She’s going to be really good this second time.’ She came and showed us what she’s got.”

Still, Woods quickly responded, “No,” when asked if he felt confident his horse would prevail after her work-off 223. “That [Third Cutting] is a fabulous horse. I knew we’d laid down the gauntlet for them, but that horse can beat anybody. We’re just elated that it worked out the way it did.”

Laney Rey Too is the final foal produced by Laney Doc, a signature broodmare for Laney Rey Too owner and breeder, EE Ranches Inc., Whitesboro, Texas. The talented but injury-plagued mare had never won a limited-age title until winning her Junior Cutting World Championship Wednesday night in Oklahoma City. She is also a 2008 NCHA Open Futurity finalist and the 2009 Augusta Futurity Open Reserve Champion

Laney Rey Too is the third Laney Doc foal to earn an AQHA Junior Cutting World Championship. She joins half-siblings Laker Doc and Meradas Dee Jay. Wood also guided both of those horses to their titles. EE Ranches owner Jo Ellard said she has high hopes for Laney Rey Too as a broodmare once her competing days are through.

The World Champion's earnings stood at $111,196 prior to her victory. She competed often at small any-aged shows in 2010, once it was determined she could get back to cutting again early this year. That plan was designed make up for seasoning the mare lost due to missing most of her 4-year-old campaign. She will compete at many high-profile limited-age cutting events next year, Woods said.

Third Cutting has earned well over $400,000 with a full year left to compete in 2011, despite a limited schedule. He’ll definitely compete again in Fort Worth, but the rest of “TC’s” schedule has not yet been decided, said owner Carl Smith, Jacksboro, Texas. The stallion came up with another strong effort, but just didn’t catch the right breaks with his cows in Oklahoma City, the horse owner said. “He showed the people here what he’s got [with a crowd-pleasing first run]. He put on a great show. He always does,” Smith said.

Laney Rey Too and Third Cutting had competed in an Open final one other time before Wednesday’s work-off. Each debuted by making the Open finals at the 2008 NCHA Futurity in Fort Worth. Third Cutting tied for eighth at his first career show with a 214.5 to earn $79,286. Laney Rey Too tied for 12th with a 212 to earn $67,904. —MT

Amateur Reined Cow Horse

Karen Stallings and NMSU Truckin Chex

Stallings said everything was right on tonight during the rein work, as "Elvis" made easy circles and perfect lead changes. In fact, Stallings was so "jacked up" after the rein work that she had to tell herself to slow down and not overdo it.

But the remarkable 12-year-old stallion (No Chex To Cash x NMSU Doc Truckle CJ x CJ Sugar) and the Tucson, Ariz., cowgirl, with her signature ponytail flying, had a spectacular, sharp run in the cow work and marked a huge score of 225. With the 214.5 they scored in the rein work, their composite of 439.5 beat the next closest competitors by 5 1/2 points.

Stallings will be showing NMSU Truckin Chex in the Senior Working Cow Horse as well. Stallings will also be competing in the Junior Working Cow Horse aboard Chexy Little Sister, a 4-year-old mare sired by the great NMSU Truckin Chex. Her husband, Kevin Stallings, will also be competing in Junior Working Cow Horse with two other 4-year-old mares by Elvis.

Melinda Susan Horn and Heza Nuther Digger

Reserve Champions were Melinda Susan Horn and Heza Nuther Digger (Diggers Rest x Hotroddin Suzy x Colonel Hotrodder) as they marked a 212.5 in the rein work and a 221.5 in the cow work for a composite score of 434. Horn said her 10-year-old gelding, known as "Maverick," didn't warm up very good the night before, and she just wanted to show him. "I just wanted to win a jacket," she said laughing.

Horn, Maxwell, N.M., trains with Don Murphy. She also showed in the Barrel Horse class.

Gay Lenz and Musical Jazzy

Amateur Cutting

Dean Holden and Willys The Boss

There was a field of 16 finalists that dealt with some cattle that made for some tough cutting, creating a high degree of difficulty for competitors. After marking 216.5 scores, Dean Holden and Willys The Boss and Don Perkins and Suns Highball were called back for a work-off. Tiffani Banuelos and Tronas Choice just missed the cut with a 216.

Don Perkins and Suns Highball

Don Perkins, Flint, Texas, and his 10-year-old stallion Suns Highball (Mr Sun O Lena x Sons Martini x Son O Sugar) took a more conservative approach to the cutting as the first pair to work off and marked a 212 to capture World Championship Reserve. Perkins brought two horses to the Amateur Cutting and fulfilled his goal of getting them both shown in the finals. Both are Mr Sun O Lena studs that were raised at the Perkins Ranch.

Tiffani Banuelos and Tronas Choice

Tiffany Banuelos and Tronas Choice had a strong and impressive run, but the judges marked the duo a half-point less with a 216 to keep them from the work-off. However, the score was good enough to give the Tomball, Texas, cowgirl and her 13-year-old gelding (SR Instant Choice x Smart Little Trona x Smart Little Lena) third place in the World and a bronze trophy. —SW

Amateur Reining

Carrie Von Uhlit and Ricochet San

The 2010 American Quarter Horse Association World Championship Show, held Nov. 6-Nov. 20 in Oklahoma City, is under way, and the Amateur Reining got the Western disciplines rocking with a work-off between two World Show veterans. The show has already lived up to its championship-status billing, and qualifiers will be looking to grab a piece of the more than $2.5 million in prize money and awards.

The reining scores are held to the end at the World Show, adding to the drama and excitement for which this much-anticipated event is known. The drama was intensified as the 15 finalists, who scored well enough out of a field of 48 competitors to challenge for World Show gold and a chance at the $22,094 purse, were told over the loudspeakers that there would be a work-off.

Carrie Von Uhlit

Carrie Von Uhlit and Ricochet San marked a stellar 225.5 to win the work-off and take home the coveted gold trophy. A past AQHA World Show Amateur Reining Champion on Ricochet San two years ago and a recent graduate of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, Uhlit was pleased to finally get to keep the money she's earned for her win.

Uhlit says she will now go down the cow horse road to run down the fence with this same horse. Uhlit has already shown Ricochet San in the limited divisions of cow horse competition. Seven-year-old stallion Ricochet San (Smart Lil Ricochet x Peppy Pinata x Mr San Peppy) is owned by Lise Von Uhlit, Winters, Calif.

Samantha Griffin

Griffin also rode This Chic N Whiz (Smart Chic Olena x This Chex On Top x Topsail Whiz), a 5-year-old mare to take the bronze. Griffin's next stop will keep her in Oklahoma City as she has several horses she will be showing at the National Reining Horse Association Futurity. —SW