2000 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Champions Smokums Prize & Ted Robinson • Photo by UNI Photography Ted Robinson gave Smokums Prize a hug after completing their cow work performance that clinched their NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Championship.

In the Past: Catching the Glory

Seven-time National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) Snaffle Bit Futurity Champion Ted Robinson catch-rode Smokums Prize (Smokum Oak x Tommie Tivio Tucker x Doc Tom Tucker), a stallion bred by Walter and Sharon Wright, of San Juan Bautista, California, to victory in the 2000 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open finals.

Robinson won his first NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open title 30 years ago in 1987 riding Nu Cash, who in turn sired three Snaffle Bit Futurity Open champions – The Nu Colonel in 1995, Shesa Lota Cash in 1996 and Smart Little Cash in 1997. Before the 2000 premier event, Robinson received a call for help from one of his non-pro riders and friends, Shawn Renshaw.

Smokums Prize’s owner, Shawn Renshaw, happily held up his horse’s Open Championship check for $100,000.

Renshaw, a farrier by trade at the time, qualified his home-trained stallion Smokums Prize for the Futurity Open finals and the Non-Pro finals before injuring his back resetting a shoe on a fellow competitor’s horse. Renshaw showed in the Non-Pro finals and they managed to finish as the Non-Pro Reserve Champions with a 645 composite score; however, with the amount of pain he was in, Renshaw realized getting the horse shown in the Open finals would be next to impossible.

Renshaw turned to Robinson, his longtime mentor, to take over the reins for the Open finals. And take over he did! Renshaw had trained the horse himself, but he had hauled the horse to Robinson’s a few times to work him, so Robinson was familiar with the stallion and felt quite comfortable showing him.

Robinson and Smokums Prize got off to a great start in the finals, tying for third place in the herd work with a 218. Next up, the pair tied to win the rein work with a 220, keeping them in the running and ranking them third going into the cow work. The pair’s 219 cow work gave them a 658 composite that was good enough to seal the deal! Robinson rode away with his sixth Open Championship, while Renshaw was thrilled to own his first NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Champion and claim the $100,000 winner’s check!

Smokums Prize, now owned by Prize Ventures, of Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, has sired 82 money-earners who $676,541 for average earnings of $8,251. In recent years, the 1997 stallion has only been bred to a few mares owned by partners in Prize Ventures. He no longer stands to the public.