Category Five and Steve Oehlhof • photo by Stacy PigottCatagory Five, a 6-year-old cutting horse with a somewhat stormy early career, won Thursday’s Augusta Futurity Champions Challenge Open to earn $5,500 with trainer Steve Oehlhof. According to Oehlhof, the horse is still apparently gathering strength.
Pamela Deaville, of Covington, La., owns Category Five, who is by High Brow Cat and out of the Dual Pep mare Duallys Spicey. He had been “kind of hit and miss” in the past, Oehlhof said, but he’s performed more consistently since becoming a gelding late last year.
“He’s always had the talent, but it was a matter of whether he showed up (mentally) or not,” Oehlhof said. “I’ve had the horse almost two years. He hasn’t reached his full potential yet, but he’s getting there.”
This is the first limited-age title the pair has won. They earned a Classic Open reserve championship at the Tunica Futurity in Tunica, Miss., last year. “He’s very capable of winning many more,” the trainer said.
Oehlhof earned his way into the Champions Challenge, an event Open only to prior Augusta Futurity Champions or Reserve Champions, by claiming a Classic Open Championship with another horse at the 35th annual 2012 Augusta, Ga., show.
TGI Playtime and Skip Queen, of Allendale, S.C., were Champions Cup Open Reserve Champions with a 218 to earn $4,000. The 5-year-old mare (One Time Pepto x Play Miss Lena x Smart Little Lena), bred and owned by Carroll Matthews, of Turkey, N.C., and Queen led the first round of the Classic Open earlier in the week at the same show. They compete again in tonight’s Classic Open finals.
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