Julie Beasley has competed at the Augusta Futurity for years. She’d had some good runs and made various finals, the Alabama cutter had never landed a championship at the event in Augusta, Georgia. That changed this year.
On Thursday (Jan. 17), the recently retired attorney from Montgomery piloted her mare, CR Dualin Out Tuff, to the 4-Year-Old Unlimited Amateur Championship. They marked a winning 219, prevailing over Reserve Champions Mark Senn and Bet Hesa Smart Mate.
“First of all, all glory to God,” said Beasley, who retired in January from Beasley Allen Law Firm. “I praise God for allowing me the opportunity to own such a really superb athlete and to have the success.”
Beasley and CR Dualin Out Tuff (Woody Be Tuff x Arc Catty Dual x Dual Pep) entered the 2019 Augusta Futurity off a successful run in last year’s National Cutting Horse Association Futurity. They made the finals of the Non-Pro and Limited Non-Pro at the show that concluded in December, 2018, in Fort Worth, Texas.
“She’s so athletic, [a] super athlete,” she said of the mare nicknamed ‘Jenna’. “Very quick. Very smart. Loves her job. She’s special.”
Coming off such a successful run at the NCHA Futurity, Beasley admitted to having some nerves in the opening go-round of the Unlimited Amateur in Augusta. However, she knew she didn’t have to worry about the mare — who she described as “solid as a rock” — and instead focused on putting the horse in the right position and cueing her correctly.
“I was a little bit nervous even though she did great,” Beasley said of the initial go-round. “She had a 213, which was really good, but today [during the finals] I was just trying to breathe, first of all, be a little smoother and not rush things.”
The win in Augusta was especially meaningful for Beasley, who attended the show about 20 years ago before she’d even ridden a cutting horse. She’d heard about the sport and, after a friend told her about the show, decided to go check it out. Since then, she’s gone on to win more than $267,000 in the sport.
She thanked the Augusta Futurity show staff as well as Show Chairman William S. “Billy” Morris, III, for hosting the event, which celebrated its fortieth anniversary in 2019. It’s special a large limited-age event on the East Coast, she said.
“It’s a huge, wonderful tradition and [I’m] so thankful to be able to come support their show,” Beasley said. “It’s a lot of fun. The local folks come out and support everybody and cheer everybody on, and it’s a great place to show.”
She also thanked her trainer, Austin Shepard, and helpers in the pen — Brett Davis, Sam Shepard and Bill Pierce. And, she voiced her appreciation for her biggest fans, parents Jere and Sara Beasley.
Until her retirement, Beasley worked at the personal-injury firm that her father started as a sole practitioner in 1979. Like the Augusta Futurity, the firm — which Beasley says has grown to 90 attorneys and roughly 250 staff — celebrated its fortieth anniversary this year.
The $1,424 first-place check in Augusta pushed CR Dualin Out Tuff’s lifetime earnings to $24,571. The mare is one of 14 money-earners for her dam, who has produced the winners of $485,634. Her leading earners are One Catty Cupid ($192,756, by One Time Pepto), CR Dualin Tuff ($61,189, by Woody Be Tuff) and CR One Time Catty ($44,518, by One Time Pepto).
Reserve Champions Senn, of Augusta, and Bet Hesa Smart Mate (Bet Hesa Cat x Playmatezalady x Smart Mate) earned $1,200 for the runner-up finish. Senn now has an Equi-Stat record of more than $158,385.
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