Even though she’s won more than $2 million in cutting, Paula Wood admitted to feeling a few nerves when she walked into the herd as the fifth draw of the Bonanza Cutting 4-Year-Old Non-Pro finals.
The horse, Cool N Hot, had already won one championship at the event. Now, it was Wood’s turn, and she finally had a really good draw.
“It was kind of nerve-wracking, because you see what a good draw you’ve got,” she said, of the homebred son of Hottish. “I haven’t drawn very good on him. Normally I’m at the bottom.”
In the end, Wood made the most of the draw with a winning 221. In doing so, she matched the accomplishments of her husband, Kobie, who on Monday piloted the horse to the Bonanza Cutting 4-Year-Old Open Championship.
The win earned $13,411 for the Woods. The Reserve Championship went to Lance Cooper and Zen And Tonic (High Brow CD x Dual Citizen x Dual Pep), who marked a 216.5.
Paula said “Cool,” a son of the Woods’ prized mare, Donas Cool Cat (by High Brow Cat), is a very strong horse with a unique way about him.
“He drops that front end, but he does it different than any horse I’ve ever rode,” she said. “He sucks you down in there because he’s so strong in the way he hits that stop. It’s certainly fun, but you just feel a lot of power underneath you.”
The horse, who she rode to a fifth-place finish at last year’s National Cutting Horse Association Futurity Non-Pro, is a blend of his sire and his dam.
“Hottish was such an athlete, but, you know, we see a lot of his mama in him, too,” she said. “Because, he has such a purity and he just gives his all, which his mama did that, too.”
Donas Cool Cat has produced the winners of more than $750,000 – led by two-time American Quarter Horse Association Senior Cutting Champion Donas Suen Boon ($421,488, by Boon Too Suen). And, that successful record as a broodmare was after “Dona” won $318,908 during her own cutting career.
A full brother to Cool N Hot was born last month. The horse also has a yearling full sister, and Hottish is among the sires Donas Cool Cat will be bred to this year, Wood said.
Wood said it means a lot to win on a homebred horse like Cool. Enough to make a person want to go home and show his mother how grateful you are.
“You go home and kiss ‘Dona,’” she said, laughing.
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