SecondSpot MGaines 121016

Second Spot Carries Gaines to First Futurity Title

SecondSpot MGaines 121016NCHA Futurity Open Champions Second Spot & Matt Gaines • Photo by Kelsey PecsekThe National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Futurity, held Nov. 17-Dec. 10 in Fort Worth, Texas, was the debut for hundreds of cutting’s best up-and-comers. For Matt Gaines and Second Spot, it was an event that will not soon be forgotten.

Gaines, who is the sport’s leading open rider, boasts a record of more than $8 million, with $7.7 million of that total won in the Open. But with all that success, an NCHA Futurity Open Championship eluded him until Dec. 10, when Second Spot (by Spots Hot) helped the trainer seal the deal with a final-round 229.

Second Spot, owned and bred by Gary and Shannon Barker, of Madill, Oklahoma, is out of Reycy Moon (Cats Moonshine x Twice As Reycy x Dual Rey). The 2007 mare was also shown by Gaines, of Weatherford, Texas, and won $209,043 in her career.

This win comes on the heels of Spots Hot’s sale at the Western Bloodstock Preferred Breeders Sale Session III, where the Equi-Stat Elite $3 Million Sire sold for $550,000 to Rocking P Ranch. With Second Spot’s $225,395 winner’s check and the money his other Open finalist, Cinca Im Hot, earned, the stallion surpassed the $3.6 million mark.

The Futurity Open Reserve title was awarded to Sir Long Legs (High Brow Cat x Lil Lena Long Legs x Smart Little Lena), bred by Michelle Cannon, of Waxahachie, Texas, and Equi-Stat Elite $6 Million Rider Austin Shepard, of Summerdale, Alabama. The duo marked a 222 from draw No. 1 and garnered $195,407 for owner Lew Hall, of Highland City, Florida.

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