Ali Good and Cat Atat Cat won another big title with the Non-Pro Championship at the NCHA Western National Championship. • Photo by Ted Petit.

Ali Good & Cat Atat Cat On Fire At NCHA Western Nationals

Ali Good and Cat Atat Cat continued their winning streak at the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Western Nationals.

In March, she and the gelding (High Brow Cat x Miss Stylish Pepto x Peptoboonsmal) won the Senior Youth and $25,000 Non-Pro titles at NCHA’s Eastern Nationals on their first trip to the show. This month, they won the Non-Pro Championship at the Western Nationals after marking a big 223. They won $5,068, which pushed the gelding’s lifetime earnings to more than $90,000.

In the finals go, Good stuck with the game plan she’s been using all year—cutting on shape when the cattle are tough. She described the first two cuts as average, but the final cut allowed her to work a full 30 to 40 seconds and that’s what she believes cinched the win.

“That’s what made me the win,” she said. That cow stayed right in the middle of the pen.”

Good described the gelding as a once-in-a-lifetime horse. She’s watched him work since he was a 2-year-old in training with her grandfather, Bill Riddle, who trained him for breeders Glenn and Debbie Drake. Her mother, Kelly Riddle, got him ready to show and he caught Ali’s eye early on. When he was up for sale as a 7-year-old, her father, Jim, bought him.

“He’s just a really nice horse that is consistent,” Ali said. “I know I can go in and compete and do well on him. It’s nice having a horse like that.”

Ali, who graduated last spring, is currently second in the NCHA Senior Youth World Standings and has dedicated the last year to hauling for the NCHA Youth World Finals. In 2017, she tied for the NCHA Futurity Limited Non-Pro title aboard Sneakish (Hottish x Smooth Sneakin x Smooth As A Cat).

Gary Barker, of Madill, Oklahoma, rode Flash About (Purdy Boy Flash x Play Miss x Playgun) to a score of 219. The duo received the Reserve Championship and a check for $4,087, which boosted the horse’s lifetime earnings to more than $239,000.

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