Doreen Dalbey was at the 2016 National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) Snaffle Bit Futurity in Reno, Nevada, when somebody gave her exciting news. The brother to her cow horse, Mr Spook Nic, was listed the show’s horse sale.
“Somebody said, ‘Do you know Spook’s little brother is here?’ And, that’s all it took,” Dalbey said of the 2015 red roan consignee later appropriately named One Time Reno. “So, we bid on him and got him, and he’s supposed to be what I’m watching when I’m sitting in the stands drinking margaritas and not showing. And, so far, it’s worked.”
That colt (One Time Pepto x Miss Nica Dual x Mister Dual Pep) rewarded Dalbey for her faith and lived up to his name when he won the Reno Snaffle Bit Futurity Limited Open with trainer Chris Krieg on Sunday, Sept. 16, at the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center in Reno, Nevada. He and Krieg took the $10,000 first-place prize with a composite of 640 (216 herd/208.5 rein/215.5 cow).
Krieg, who works at Ward Ranch in Tulare, California, said he believed the colt would do well. It was the roan’s first show.
“I just try not to mess up,” said Krieg, who now has an Equi-Stat record of $46,561. “He’s just a good horse and it seems like when you have a good one, they pretty much take care of you.”
Dalbey, of Kingsburg, California, posted her first earnings in Equi-Stat in reining in 1993. She competed for a few years, and then took a 10-year break before returning to the show pen as a cutter in 2004.
In 2015, she entered the reined cow horse world with One Time Reno’s older half-brother, Mr Spook Nic (by Smart Spook). She’d bought the horse when she was 70 years old.
“We’ve done very well and had a great time with it,” Dalbey said, walking across the arena to get her picture after One Time Reno’s win. “I showed up at the Ward Ranch not knowing if they would take me and it just was magical. Everything’s been magical since.”
Miss Nica Dual is the dam of four other earners who compiled $102,840 in winnings: Red Hot Jade ($60,858, by Smart Little Pepinic), Smart Dual Nic ($19,053, by Smart Little Pepinic), Mr Spook Nic ($15,799, by Smart Spook) and Miss Little Ruby ($7,029, by Smart Little Pepinic).
Reserve Champions Rocking Star Lights and Daniel Rice marked a composite of 635 (211.5/209 rein/214.5 cow). They earned $6,000 for Rice, who also owns the gelding by That CD Rocks out of Uno Smart Starlight (by Smart Little Pepinic).
Click here for full results from the Reno Snaffle Bit Futurity Open.
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