Reserve champion Cool Cat Dual Rey, with 219 points under under Kobie Wood, earned $3,894; while third-placed Playful Highbrow CD, ridden by Walt Erwin, claimed $3,149 with 215 points.
Little Rey Whirlacat, by Little Dulces Rey, is owned by Lonnie and Barbara Allsup’s El Cid Land & Cattle Company, Clovis, N.M., and was bred by the Allsups, who also own Little Dulces Rey. Little Rey Whirlacat is the first NCHA money earner out of the High Brow Cat daughter Whirlacat, who was a 2005 NCHA Futurity Open finalist (10th) under Branch, a Hall of Fame Rider and earner of $3.5 million.
Branch was also a The Non-Pro 4-Year-Old Open finalist aboard MS Curious Kitty, owned by El Cid Land & Cattle.
Cool Cat Dual Rey, sired by Dual Rey and owned by Cotton and Davis Quarter Horses, was bred by Kobie Wood’s wife, Paula, out of Donas Cool Cat LTE $315,104. Paula placed third in The Non-Pro 5/6-Year-Old Non-Pro finals last week on Boon Too Suen-sired Donas Suen Boon, 2012 NCHA Non-Pro Futurity champion with Paula and half-sister to Cool Cat Dual Rey.
Kobie also placed third with 5-year-old Donas Suen Boon in The Non-Pro 5/6-Year-Old Open and showed Ted and Dee Berry’s stallion Sues Cat Jack, by Cats Quixote Jack, to place eighth in the 4-Year-Old finals.
Nadine Payne, Overbrook, Okla., won the 4-Year-Old Non-Pro finals with 219 points on Dizzy Lizzy Girl, by Lizzys Gotta Player. Megan Miller took reserve with 218 points aboard Booreylicious, by Halreycious, and Luis De Armas was third with 216 points on Sensacious, also by Halreycious.
Payne and Dizzy Lizzy Girl also won the 4-Year-Old Non-Pro Limited. The two wins this week mark the third championship for the pair, who also won the Abilene Spectacular Non-Pro Limited. James Payne, Nadine’s husband, has also been successful with the bay mare, beginning in 2013 with a reserve title in the West Texas Open Futurity; fifth-place in the PCCHA Open Futurity; and third in the Cotton Stakes.
Five-year-old Smooth Strategy, sired by Smooth As A Cat and ridden for Ken Sitton by Steve Oehlhof, was reserve champion of the 5/6-Year-Old Open with 220 points.
Megan Miller and homegrown Booreylicious came to The Non-Pro off of a third-place finish worth $19,486 in the Breeders Invitational, as well as the reserve title in the Non-Pro Novice of the same event.
Booreylicious, trained by Megan’s husband, Matt, is out of Travs Scooter LTE $221,566, 2006 NCHA Futurity Non-Pro champion with Matt, and 2009 NCHA Super Stakes 5/6-Year-Old Non-Pro champion with Megan. Travs Scooter’s first foal, 5-year-old Bada Boo, by One Time Pepto, also owned and shown by the Millers, is the earner of $34,507.
In the 5/6-Year-Old Non-Pro finals, Kelle Earnheart and her 5-year-old Purdy Boy Flash daughter Flash About took the champion’s title with 223 points. Chad Bushaw and 6-year-old Bet On A Cat, by High Brow Cat, claimed reserve with 221 points, and Paula Wood on Donas Suen Boon, and Lauren Chartier on Spoonful Of Tears, tied for third with 219.5 points.
This was the sixth championship win for Earnheart and Flash About. The dynamic duo came to Oklahoma City with three 2014 non-pro titles: the Tunica Futurity, Arbuckle Mountain, and Breeders Invitational.