For the second year in a row, Blakley Colgrove and Cat Man Blue were both in Fort Worth during the month of December. Last year, he became her horse. This year, they won a championship.
Last year, Colgrove’s grandfather bought Cat Man Blue at the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Futurity Sales. Blakley and the stallion hit the non-pro shows this year, qualified for the 7 Ranch NCHA World Finals and, on Saturday (Dec. 7), brought home a trophy for winning the Non-Pro World Finals Show Championship.
They won the most money in the Non-Pro during the show, banking $23,536.50 during the event that concluded Saturday at Will Rogers Memorial Center. In addition, they finished second in the year-end World Championship standings, which counts earnings accumulated during the entire year.
“He has THE biggest heart of any horse I’ve ever owned,” said Colgrove, of Boligee, Alabama. “Every time he goes in the show pen, he gives it his all. And, he’s just been a really, really special horse to me.”
Although the 12-year-old sorrel stallion by High Brow Cat and out of the famed millionaire producer Quinton Blue (by Mecom Blue) already had a few foal crops on the ground — he currently has 8 earners of $117,193 — when Joel Colgrove bought him for $42,000 at Western Bloodstock’s The Evening Session, Blakley said the goal all along was for her to ride him in non-pro weekend classes.
“We bought him to go show for the Non-Pro this year and I just wanted to go show him and just try to make the top 15,” she said. “Not try to win it, just try to have consistent runs all through the year and he’s been, he’s been very, very consistent all through the year.”
That consistency was evident at this year’s World Finals. Cat Man Blue marked go-round scores of 222, 222, 223 and 224 for the top composite in the class, 891. Blakley, who has an Equi-Stat record of more than $771,000, thanked everyone who helped her throughout the year.
“He’s so much fun. He is such an easy horse to go down there and show,” she said. “He’s just so just has the biggest heart every time he goes down there, wants to give you his all.”
Cat Man Blue, who won the 2012 NCHA Super Stakes Classic Open with Sean Flynn, has earnings exceeding $250,000. He was bred by Rock Creek Cutting Horses, of Weatherford, Texas.
Non-Pro World Champion
The runaway World Champion in the Non-Pro was Ali Good. She and Cat Atat Cat compiled a massive $80,629 before the World Finals began – more than double that earned by Colgrove and Cat Man Blue, who were second in the division.
Although Colgrove’s impressive run in the World Finals closed the gap, Good won the second and fourth go-rounds with a 227 and 228 and finished with a $37,521.69 advantage.
The 2010 gelding by High Brow Cat and out of Miss Stylish Pepto (by Peptoboonsmal) was bred by Glenn and Debbie Drake, of Napa, California. He has total lifetime earnings of more than $203,000.
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