Andrea Fappani (left) and Arno Honstetter

(left to right) Brent Loseke, Russell Giles and Andrea Fappani

The Fappani domination continued when, from draw 17, the Scottsdale, Ariz., trainer secured a 225.5 on his second mount of the night, the 2008 mare Spook Off Sparks, owned by Arcese Quarter Horses USA. As the remaining half of the set ran their best through the show pen, it seemed no one would be able to match Fappani’s first- and second-place scores. After the last drag of the night, there was one rider, draw 31, Arno Honstetter, with a chance to claim a Level 4 title.

Honstetter, whose lifetime earnings are close to $250,000, was last year’s NRHA Futurity Level 3 Intermediate Open Champion on Chicsdundreamin (Magnum Chic Dream x Goody Goody Dun Drop x Hollywood Dun It). He is also an associate trainer and valued team member at Fappani Performance Horses, which operates out of Pat Warren’s Rancho Oso Rio. Honstetter made the last ride count and scored a 225.5 on Show Me The Buckles (Wimpys Little Step x Sunset Whiz x Topsail Whiz), owned by Rebeca Martin, Gold River, Calif., and bred by Michael and Barbie Boyle, Princeton, Ky. They tied Fappani and Spook Off Sparks for the Reserve Co-Championship. Each rider earned $119,133 for second place.

Three amazing horses, two great riders and a one-two finish and total of $388,266 for Fappani Performance Horses. Fappani’s total for the night, with his Championship and Reserve Co-Championship checks, was $269,153. This is the first time a rider has claimed first and second in the Open at the NRHA Futurity.

See the Open finals results

“It was a special night. The week has been great because we did good in the go-rounds,” Fappani said. “It’s been kind of a weird ending. I drew up first with my best horse, and that’s never good. At first I was disappointed about it, but then I just turned it into something to push me again. I knew I had the horse that could win it. It won the composite in the go-rounds [223 first go/223 second go/446 total] and it’s been on top all week. I told myself I was going to go out there and lay out as correct a pattern as I could, and I knew the horse had the quality of maneuvers to be at the top.

Lil Joe Cash and Andrea Fappani

Giles, Waco, Texas, purchased Lil Joe Cash at the 2009 Legacy Reining Breeders Sale for the bargain price of $7,700. The horse was originally named RS Nu Money, which simply didn’t suit the stallion, Giles said.

Lil Joe Cash’s sire, Nu Chex To Cash, owned by Hilldale Farm, Brashears, Texas, is no stranger to the circle of NRHA Futurity Champion sires. He is the father of Wimpys Little Step (out of Leolita Step x Forty Seven), the stallion Shawn Flarida rode to win the 2002 NRHA Futurity Open Championship with a 233 score. He is also the sire of Big Chex To Cash (out of Snip O Gun x One Gun), the stallion Fappani rode to the 2005 NRHA Futurity Open Reserve Championship. Nu Chex To Cash is an Equi-Stat Elite $2 Million Sire and is a member of the NRHA Hall of Fame. His leading offspring are: Big Chex To Cash ($219,265), Wimpys Little Step ($203,865), Hot Smokin Chex ($184,296; out of Snip O Gun) and NMSU Truckin Chex ($170,119; out of NMSU Doc Truckle CJ).

RS Lilly Starlight (out of Play Zanna Express x Zan Parr Express) was bred and is still owned by Kurt Harris, Whitesboro, Texas, who nominated her foal, Lil Joe Cash, to the NRHA Futurity Program. Harris, and his wife, Angie, won $7,500 as the nominator of the Futurity Champion horse. RS Lilly Starlight actually won the Intermediate Open at the 2002 Kansas Reining Horse Association Futurity with Casey Hinton. The mare then diversified her portfolio by competing in cow horse, reining and roping with riders that included Don Murphy and Todd Crawford. The mare was the 2006 American Quarter Horse Association World Show Superhorse and an AQHA World Champion in Senior Heeling. She has two other money earners: RS Peppier Starlight ($3,418; by Peppier Gray) and RS Lean Upon A Star ($1,609; by Lean With Me). As for what’s in the pipeline for RS Lilly Starlight, she has two 2-year-olds, a colt by Einsteins Revolution and a filly by Lena Spark, plus there’s a yearling Lena Spark colt.

After buying the colt at the Legacy Sale, Giles placed Lil Joe Cash in training with NRHA Professional Brent Loseke, Aubrey, Texas, before Loseke sent the colt to Fappani eight months before the Futurity.

“If it had not been for Brent Loseke, then none of this would be possible,” said Giles, who has only been involved with reining for three years.

“Fappani without a doubt is a prolific showman,” Giles added, “and he has said that the horse not only has incredible talent, but he is the most athletic horse around.”

“I knew right away when I got on him that he was pretty special,” said Fappani, who doesn’t usually show Futurity horses that he hasn’t ridden himself as 2-year-olds.

Including the newest earnings from the NRHA Futurity, Fappani is right on the edge of becoming an Equi-Stat Elite $3 Million Rider. Coming into the big show, he had $2.6 million on the books, money earned since his first check in 1994. Counting only NRHA Futurity winnings, Fappani had won $1,015,492 prior to this show. He won the big event the first time 10 years ago on RR Star (PT) (Like A Diamond [PT] x RL Miss Kitty x Nu Cash) and then placed Reserve twice, in 2003 on NQH Little Jac (Jac Daniels Neat x Annies Little Squaw x Squaw Leo) and in 2005 on Big Chex To Cash (Nu Chex To Cash x Snip O Gun x One Gun). Fappani has been an Open finalist at the NRHA Futurity many times, and his best per-year NRHA Futurity years have been (Futurity division money only): 2001 ($195,468), 2003 ($178,862), 2005 ($142,235), 2010 ($135,933), 2008 ($72,843) and 2007 ($89,052). His first major NRHA Futurity Open success was in 2000, when he rode Hagans Sugarman (Lenas Sugarman x Hagans Hickory Too x Doc’s Hickory) to the Intermediate Open Championship and third in the Limited Open.

Fappani’s Reserve Co-Champion, Spook Off Sparks (Smart Spook x Setting Off Sparks x Shining Spark), is the first mare Fappani has ever shown in the NRHA Futurity Open. Half way through 2011, Equi-Stat’s leading owner of reining horses, Eleuterio Arcese of Quarter Horses USA, Weatherford, Texas, who has always had a great appreciation for mares, Fappani said, purchased Spook Off Sparks. The mare was the NRHA Cowtown Classic Pre Futurity Level 4 Open Reserve Champion and Scottsdale Classic Futurity Level 4 Open Champion before coming to Oklahoma City.

Spook Off Sparks was bred and nominated to the NRHA Futurity Program by Rosanne Sternberg, who is also the owner of the mare’s sire, Smart Spook (Smart Chic Olena x Sugarplum Spook x Grays Starlight), the stallion who won the 2004 NRHA Futurity with Shawn Flarida. Smart Spook won $40,886 in lifetime money that included winning the 2005 NRHA Derby, plus the Junior Reining at the 2005 AQHA World Show with Flarida. This latest money puts this stallion’s offspring earnings right close to $1 million, as he had $643,470 coming into the show.

Spook Off Spark’s dam, Setting Off Sparks (out of Buco Little Bit x Bucolena), earned $90,403 in reining money, which includes the winnings she posted for finishing 10^th in the 2001 NRHA Futurity Open with Mike Berg riding. The mare has been quite a producer. Not including this latest success, she has nine other money-earners that have posted $267,220, according to Equi-Stat, a list led by Whizin Off Sparks ($112,494; by Topsail Whiz), Steppin Off Sparks ($47,403; by Wimpys Little Step) and Sparkin Tinsel ($24,122; by Tinsel Nic).

Honstetter’s Reserve Co-Champion, Show Me The Buckles, was bred by Mike and Barbi Boyle from Kentucky. His sire, Wimpys Little Step, requires few introductions. This is the stallion Shawn Flarida rode to win the 2002 NRHA Futurity Open Championship with a 233-point score. The sire, now owned by Xtra Quarter Horses in Oklahoma, immediately embarked on a breeding career, and prior to this NRHA Futurity, his offspring had posted better than $3 million. His leader is Wimpys Little Chic (out of Collena Chic Olena x Smart Chic Olena), the mare who won the 2007 NRHA Futurity with a 231.5 and who is the reining industry’s all-time leading horse with $539,244 in earnings. Wimpys Little Step’s other list-toppers are: RC Fancy Step ($351,302; out of Sonita Wilson x Doc Wilson), Wimpys Little Buddy ($233,813; out of All Thats Dun x Hollywood Dun It), Wimpys Tonnob ($113,183; out of Powder Playgirl x Powder River Playboy) and Yellow Jersey ($94,181; out of Miss Clara Melody x Mr Melody Jac).

Show Me The Buckles’ dam, Sunset Whiz (Topsail Whiz x Silk And Satin Chex x Double R Doc), was ridden by the Boyles and their son, Brandon, to $11,902 in earnings. Bob Loomis bred that mare, and the Boyles have owned her since 2000. She has two money-earning offspring and it’s Show Me The Buckles who tops the list.

Martin, who owns Show Me The Buckes, also nominated her stallion to the NRHA Futurity Program. She and Sternberg each earned $5,957 as the nominators of the NRHA Futurity Open Reserve Co-Champions.

OPEN LEVELS 3, 2 AND 1

Jason Vanlandingham, Whitesboro, Texas, had a great first go-round score of 221.5 on Sunrise Ranch’s A Smokin Whiz (Topsail Whiz x PF Nu Miss Royal Rsk x Royal Silver King). Vanlandingham decided to cruise the stallion through the second go-round, but took it a little too easy, he said, and some bobbles resulted in a 210.5 score. The 432 composite put him out of the Level 4 finals and just made the Level 3 finals.

Jason Vanlandingham

Vanlandingham’s score held the Level 3 lead until draw 23 of the 31-horse section of the finals. That’s when Eduardo Salgado rode in on Gunner Boy (Colonels Smoking Gun [Gunner] x Kat Jordan x Nu Chex To Cash), owned by Jefferson Abbud of Brazil. This was not only Salgado’s first time to make the NRHA Futurity Open finals, it was the young Brazilian’s first time to show at the NRHA Futurity, and in the United States, for that matter. Gunner Boy was shipped from Brazil for the competition and made a big impression by scoring a 220.5 in both go-rounds of Open competition. Salgado matched Vanlandingham’s 223 score, to the exuberant cheers of Brazilian fans and supporters in the Coliseum, who also got the rest of the crowd cheering on the Futurity first-timer and charismatic Gunner colt.

Vanlandingham said he wished for nothing more than to get the opportunity to show A Smokin Whiz during the Saturday night finals, and he got his wish. After Salgado matched his score, Vanlandingham ran with his team back to the horse's stall, and after pulling him away from his hay and saddling him, the trainer had 20 minutes to warm up his mount before heading back into the pen for a runoff. A Smokin Whiz delivered a crowd-rousing 226 score for his rider. Gunner Boy also gave his all, but fell short by a mere half a point, marking a 225.5.

Vanlandingham and A Smokin Whiz walked away with the Futurity Level 3 Open Championship and $31,184. Sunrise Ranch won an additional $1,559 for nominating the colt to the NRHA Futurity Program.

A Smokin Whiz arrived at this year’s NRHA Futurity with just a tad over $1,000 in earnings, which he recorded at the NRHA Cowtown Classic with Vanlandingham. The stallion was bred by Sunrise Ranch. His sire, Topsail Whiz (Topsail Cody x Jeanie Whiz Bar x Cee Red), is the reining industry’s leading sire with $8.2 million earned by 665 horses (this does not include 2011 NRHA Futurity money). His leading offspring is The Great Whiz (out of Shirleys Folly x Great Pine), the gelding Duane Latimer rode to win the 2003 NRHA Futurity ($273,969) followed by Easy Otie Whiz ($233,611; out of Miss Poco Easy x My Lucero), Whizkey N Diamonds ($194,494; out of Princess In Diamonds x Shining Sparl) and Walla Walla Whiz ($187,817; out of Shiney Walla Wanda x Shining Spark).

PF Nu Miss Royal RSK (Royal Silver King x Nu Patty Smoke x Nu Bar) is a 1991 mare who did not earn performance money. She does, however, have a performance record with A Smokin Whiz and three other horses that had $12,213 in show money posted prior to the 2011 NRHA Futurity.

Eduardo Salgado

Abbud bred Gunner Boy, who was born in Brazil, and he was bred to rein. His sire is the great Colonels Smoking Gun (Colonelfourfreckle x Katie Gun x John Gun), the stallion who earned $177,386, including taking the Reserve Championship at the 1996 NRHA Futurity with Clint Haverty. As a sire, Colonels Smoking Gun has offspring that won $3.1 prior to the 2011 NRHA Futurity, a list topped by Gunnatrashya ($225,798; out of Natrasha x Trashadeous), the horse Shawn Flarida rode to win the 2009 NRHA Futurity. His other top earners are: Gunners Special Nite ($222,974; out of Mifs Doll x Mifillena), Tinker With Guns ($198,767; out of Tinker Nic x Reminic) and The Great Guntini (PT) ($144,260; out of Miss Wicked Filena [PT] x Great Pine).

Kat Jordan (Nu Chex To Cash x Playmate By Chic x Smart Chic Olena) is a 2004 mare who was bred by Rosanne Sternberg and owned by Two Hawks Farm in New York before Abbud purchased her in December 2005.

The Reserve Championship in the Level 2 and Level 1 Open divisions went to Resting Whiz (Topsail Whiz x Forget The Rest x Be Aech Enterprise), who was ridden by Loris Epis, an Italian native training out of St. George, Ontario, Canada. Epis rode the 2008 mare for owner John Fletcher, also of Ontario, Canada, to a 220 score and a total of $21,404. Wagman Ranch, Talala, Okla., bred the horse and nominated it to the NRHA Futurity Program. For that, they won a total nominator’s paycheck of $1,070.

Primetime Open

After handicaps were applied to the finals scores, the Primetime Open division ended in a tie between Cashn Rooster (Gallo Del Cielo x Booming Cash x Boomernic), ridden by Todd Crawford, and Easy Lil Lady (Easy Otie Whiz x Docs Lil Bullet x Lenas Gyrator), ridden by Mike Boyle. Each horse-and-rider pair earned $1,794 for the Primetime Co-Championship.

Cashn Rooster, owned by Archie Mangus, Norman, Okla., and Crawford scored a 222 in the second section of the Open finals and also placed ninth in the Level 4 Open and third in the Level 3 Open for an additional $49,482. The horse was nominated to the NRHA Futurity Program by Cowan Select Horses LLC, Purcell, Okla., which received a nominator’s check for $2,474.

Easy Lil Lady, owned by Darling 888 Ranch, Princeton, Ky., and Boyle scored a 220.5 in the second section of the Open finals and also tied for 12th in the Level 4 Open for an additional $21,742. Cinder Lakes Ranch, Valley View, Texas, nominated the horse to the NRHA Futurity Program and earned $1,087.

Be sure to see the Jan. 1, 2012 issue of Quarter Horse News for full coverage of the 2011 NRHA Futurity!