Second time is a charm.
Smooth As Rye and Bruce Turnbull put down their second big performance of this year’s National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Futurity, winning the Limited Non-Pro on Tuesday, Nov. 29. Less than 12 hours earlier, the duo had finished in the Reserve spot in the Intermediate Non-Pro finals.
The 22-year-old rider from Montrose, Colorado, was competing in his second NCHA Futurity — and on a horse he’d done the training on.
“This horse is incredibly intelligent on a cow. He’s very smart,” he said of the horse, who is owned by his father, Thomas Turnbull. “He knows right where he needs to be in order for the cow to make the move that he wants.”
Turnbull said he felt blessed to ride horses like Smooth As Rye, and that it was extremely gratifying to ride a horse he’d done so much work on.
“It feels incredibly rewarding,” he said.
The $4,901 first-place paycheck in the Limited Non-Pro and the $10,690 for finishing second in the Intermediate Non-Pro gave Smooth As Rye lifetime earnings of more than $15,591. Turnbull now has an EquiStat record of more than $47,521.
Bred by Eddie and Barbara Young, of San Angelo, Texas, Smooth As Rye is a son of EquiStat Elite $34 Million Sire Smooth As A Cat and is one of five money-earning performers out of his dam, Flo Dancing With Rey. Offspring out of the daughter of Dual Rey have now earned more than $145,040, according to EquiStat.
The NCHA Futurity Limited Non-Pro Reserve Championship went to Jimmy Kemp and Emma Rapp, who marked a 215. The second-place finish by Rapp and the gelding (Kid Mecom Blue x Rosie Blu x Hes A Peptospoonful) earned $4,722 for his owners, Rapp’s parents Phil and Mary Ann Rapp.
