FlashAbout KEarnheart

Hot Non-Pro Horses and Riders Win Again As Brazos Bash Ends

FlashAbout KEarnheartFlash About and Kelle EarnheartKelle Earnheart and Flash About won the Derby Non-Pro finals with a 224 while Elizabeth Queen and Flash About topped the Classic Non-Pro with a 222 as a record-setting Brazos Bash ended Oct. 6 in Weatherford, Texas.

Earnheart and Flash About, a 4-year-old mare by Purdy Boy Flash and out of Play Miss, by Play Gun, earned their second straight win. They also topped the Derby Non-Pro finals at the Cotton Stakes Classic in West Monroe, La., in September with a 224. The mare that Earnheart calls “Flash Em” will take $91,053 in 2013 earnings, including $17,000 from the Brazos Bash, to her last show of the year in late October at the Pacific Coast Cutting Horse Association (PCCHA) Futurity in Paso Robles, Calif.

Queen and Lil Sting Rey, a 6-year-old gelding, won the Classic Non-Pro finals after finishing as Reserve Champions at the Cotton Stakes. Skip Queen, Elizabeth’s husband and Lil Sting Rey’s trainer, guided the horse to a No. 12 finish in the Brazos Bash Classic Open.

Lil Sting Rey and the Queens, who live in Allendale, S.C., earned a combined $39,739 at the Cotton Stakes and at the Brazos Bash. The horse, a career-earner of $146,251, will compete at his last limited-age event later this month during the Southern Futurity in Jackson, Miss.

Another red-hot duo, 3-year-old mare Dara TR Cocoas Preview and Lindsey Wheatley, won the Brazos Bash Futurity Non-Pro and the Limited Non-Pro with a two-go 439. The horse earned $8,176 at the Brazos.

Dara TR Cocoas Preview and Spud Sheehan, a Texas-based trainer from Australia, won the Brazos Bash Futurity Open earlier at the show to earn $21,000. The Australian-bred mare is a daughter of TR Dual Rey out of Daras Cocoas Preview, by Oaks Cocoa Jay.

Wheatley and her self-trained mare made the Cotton Stakes Open and Non-Pro finals and won the Limited Open. They also won the Non-Pro and made the Open finals at June’s Australian Futurity. Their 2013 American tour will conclude at the PCCHA Futurity.

The 14th annual Brazos Bash drew a record 1,069 entries and paid out $993,197, topping the show’s prior best payout by more than $130,000.