Abbie Phillips and CR Tuff Guns N Roses rocked the house this week at the Reno Snaffle Bit Futurity. The Arizona rider and gelding named “Axl” earned not one, but two championships: the Non-Pro and Intermediate Non-Pro.
Phillips, of Scottsdale, and the Center Ranch-bred Woody Be Tuff gelding won with a composite of 654 (217 herd/218 rein/219 cow).
“He felt pretty good,” said Phillips, who piloted the horse to the win on Friday (Sept. 13). “He stayed with me the whole time, and he never tried cheating me anywhere or anything like that. He was just honest.”
The Reno Snaffle Bit Futurity was the first time Phillips showed Axl. Although she was worried about the fence work going in, the horse came through in a big way to win a $12,100 paycheck.
“He’s been a little bit weird on having a cow on his right side, turning it,” said Phillips, who has now earned more than $80,000 in the show pen. “But that was actually his best turn; it was an open field right turn. So, he made me feel pretty good.”
For the win, Phillips said she had to thank her herd helpers — her husband, trainer Kelby Phillips, as well as Phillip Ralls, Brandon Buttars and Corey Cushing. She also appreciated input from Sophia Buttars, and had special thanks for her father, David Burtenshaw.
“A shoutout to my dad, because he went partners with me on this horse,” she said.
CR Tuff Guns N Roses is one of seven money-earning performers out of his dam, Gypsy Rose Rey. The 2001 daughter of Dual Rey and out of Oaks Mist (by Doc’s Oak) now has an Equi-Stat produce record of more than $76,993. All but one of her money-earning foals are full siblings to CR Tuff Guns N Roses, being by Equi-Stat Elite $4 Million Sire Woody Be Tuff.
The Reno Snaffle Bit Futurity Non-Pro Reserve Championship went to Hope Miller and Fantastic Style 001.
Miller and the stallion (Stylin Cat x Fantastic Plastic x Whittle Mike O Dual) marked a composite of 646.5 (216.5 herd/211.5 rein/218.5 cow).
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