Trea Rice and Lance Cooper were on point Thursday with 226 and 225-point wins, respectively, in the Senior and Junior Youth Scholarship Finals.
Lane Wood with 221.5 points and Sheridan Clark with 220Â points claimed the Senior and Junior Youth reserve titles.
“She’s just awesome,” said Rice, 15, of her mount, CR Sun Reys, owned by Center Ranch. “That’s the highest score that I’ve ever marked.”
Boyd Rice, Trea’s father, has shown 5-year-old CR Sun Reys to earn over $140,000 for Center Ranch in open competition, most recently as champion of the Bonanza Classic. Trea was also a finalist as a Junior Youth in 2011 aboard Dual It My Way.
Lance Cooper, 12, steadied his nerves by remembering to stay focused, and was buoyed by the memory of his 223-point ride on A Little Bossy in the 2012 Junior Youth go-round.
“I knew I could get second or third, if I didn’t lose a cow,” said Lance, son of trainer Michael Cooper.
Lance was riding A Little Bossy, owned by Gary and Karen Fields, for the second consecutive year. The eight-year-old gelded son of CD Lights has a sterling reputation in Fort Worth. Last year, he won the NCHA Open World Finals under R.L Chartier with 231 points and the $10,000 Novice World Finals with 227 points.
Senior Youth reserve champion Lane Wood, 17, and her family-owned mount Pepto Boom, by Peptoboonsmal, are no strangers to Fort Worth, either. In 2012, they won the NCHA World Finals $35,000 Non-Pro division aand placed fifth in the World Finals Senior Youth division.
This year, Lane and Pepto Boon took reserve in the NCHA World Series Non-Pro at San Antonio and placed fifth in the series at Houston.
“He does whatever I want,” said Lane. “I can ask him for his heart and he’ll give it to me. He’s taken me to the winner’s circle many times. He’s mine and he takes care of me.”
Lane and her father, world champion rider Kobie Wood, are currently ranked in the top five open and non-pro standings for 2013. Her mother, Paula, was 2012 NCHA Futurity Non-Pro champion on Donas Suen Boon.
Although Sheridan Clark, 13, is a three-times Junior Youth finalist, this year stands alone for her.
“I was so excited to be able to ride her, ” said Sheridan of her mount Special Nu Kitty, owned by Wrigley Ranches.
“She stops so hard for a little horse and does so many cool things. She crawls around and has her head on the ground the whole time.”
Nine-year-old Special Nu Kitty, by High Brow Cat, created a sensation in the 2007 NCHA Futurity, when she scored 227 points in the first go-round under Clint Allen. She went on to claim offical NCHA earnings of $298,770 under Allen, owner Julie Wrigley, and trainer R.L. Chartier.
Special Nu Kitty’s first money earner is 4-year-old One Time Kitty, with $32,422.