With only one more horse to go, Republicat and Nick Dowers dug deep to win the Benny Guitron Memorial Open Hackamore class at the Reno Snaffle Bit Futurity. This is the second time Dowers has won the Hackamore class on his Reno Snaffle Bit Champion horse.
For a little background, in 2019 Dowers won the Snaffle Bit Futurity on Smart Shiney Playboy (WR This Cats Smart x Sinful Playgirl x Freckles Playboy), then in 2020, he and Smart Shiney Playboy took home the Benny Guitron Memorial Hackamore Championship.
“There’s just a bunch of local support, and I feel like it’s home court advantage,” Dowers said about coming to Reno.
In 2021, Dowers won the Reno Snaffle Bit Futurity on Republicat (Metallic Cat x Play Corn x Playgun). Now, back in Reno for the Open Hackamore, Republicat pulled off the same feat that Dowers and Smart Shiney Playboy did. The feat could be possible again, Dowers won the Open Snaffle Bit in 2022 on A Reyl Rebel (Metallic Rebel x Never Reyliquish x Dual Rey).
Although Dowers knew the hackamore win was possible this year, the big grey stallion had him a little worried during the rein work.
“He’s such a freight train and he’s so powerful like he can use himself and run out of air a little bit sometimes,” Dowers said. “I knew if I was going to win, I was going to need a plus one circle. So I ran him really hard, and on my second slow set of circles, I could hear him huffing and I was like ‘Oh, wow, I hope we don’t run out of gas.'”
The big grey stallion was still breathing hard when the show was over and his trophy picture was being taken. Being out of breath didn’t keep him from stopping his cow or circling at top speed.
“That’s the best I think he’s shown maybe ever. He was just spot on. I can’t even think of anything that I would have changed,” Dowers said.
The duo marked a composite of 451.5 for $6,100 and weren’t the only riders that put the crowd on the edge of their seats.
Earlier in the class, Tina Robinson guided Ragtimes CD Rey (Dual Smart Rey x Ragtime CD Cat x High Brow Cat) to a composite of 448.5 for owner Olivia Bethe. The pair captured the Reserve Championship and a $4880 check.
CR Be Lethally Tuff (Woody Be Tuff x CR High Brow Letha x High Brow Cat) and Lilla Bell snagged the Limited Open Hackamore Championship with a 6.5 point lead for $1,500.
