Langston Pattillo was a bit worried after quitting his second cow in the 5/6-Year-Old Amateur finals at the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Metallic Cat Summer Spectacular.
Why? He still had just over a minute left on the clock.
“The first cut chipped off the top. It just volunteered, the cows were not going to allow being forced,” he said of the finals Sunday, Aug. 8 in Fort Worth, Texas. “The second cow was a baldy that volunteered by running to the top. I had to just sit there and take my time, otherwise we would have too much time on the third cow.”
When he pointed Metallic Jake toward the final cow, a brindle, his trainer Cullen Chartier coached him to sit and wait. It turned out to be a winning strategy and the best cow of the entire show.
“If I could have had three cows like that I would have been so happy,” he said.
Patience paid off with a 225, the winning score by four points, and a paycheck for $8,063 that pushed “Jake” – a son of Metallic Cat and out of Smartys Gonna Pass (by Sweet Lil Pepto) – to more than $41,000 lifetime earnings, according to EquiStat.
“It was the best ride we’ve had together, I’m still trying to get with him,” he said. “He’s a big horse. He has a huge, cool turnaround. It is very swoopy and he can control the situation because he is so big that he can get from one spot to another without trying.”
Pattillo also qualified Jake for the 5/6 Non-Pro finals, a class he won last year aboard Miss Lacey, but the pair cut a bad last cow and got smoked at the end, he said.
Pattillo’s father, Blake, bought Jake not long before last year’s NCHA Futurity. The plan is for Langston to continue showing the horse through the rest of this year and next.
“I have to thank all of my help, my family and friends for helping me get to this point,” he said.
Michelle Reichert was the 5/6-Year-Old Amateur Reserve Champion aboard another Metallic Cat offspring, Paradox Metallica, with a 221. She earned $7,394.
