“We call her Alice,” said Walt Erwin, winner on Tuesday, July 28 of the NCHA Derby John Deere Open Limited championship on Rosie Boon San.
“Alice” because Rosie Boon San, by Boon San, was bred by Alice Walton’s Rocking W Ranch, which won last week’s NCHA Open Classic Challenge with Boon San Spoon, shown by Jesse Lennox.
Rosie Boon San scored 219 points for her win, while Scott Wray and SDP Hicapoo Cat, owned by Chris Brengard, scored 218.5 points for the reserve championship. Countess Cat, shown by John Sanislow for Circle Y Ranch, was third with 216.5 points.
“Scott Wray is a good friend and we’ve been working at his place while we’re here,” said Erwin, who is based in Cleveland, Ga. and shows Rosie Boon San for Kelly Gates, of Martinez, Ga. “I love this building. I was reserve world champion showing pleasure horses here as a youth, when I was 12.”
Wray, 38, trained western pleasure and reining horses and had never seen a cutting horse competition, until 2003, when Chiquita Pistol won the NCHA Derby–and the Triple Crown.
“I thought it was amazing,” said Erwin. “That mare could run and murder the ground. Coming from a reining background, I love a horse with a good stop. But pleasure horses and reiners are not allowed to think. Cutting horses have to think.
“When I first tried (Rosie Boon San) out, I loved what I felt. She could stop and she was quick coming back out of the ground to catch that cow. If you can do that, you can cut anything.”
When Erwin purchased Rosie Boon San this past March from Ben Roberson, the Boon San daughter had no show record. Erwin rode her at a few weekend shows to “get her seasoned” and decided to enter her in the NCHA Derby. “This mare just fit me,” he said. “I loved what I felt.”
Rosie Boon San and Erwin scored 217 points and 216, respectively, in the first and second go-rounds to also qualify for this Friday’s Open Derby Semi-Finals.
Rosie San Boon is by Walton-bred Boon San and out of fourth-generation Walton-owned Stylish Rosie, reserve champion of the 2001 NCHA Derby. On September 21 and 22, Walton Rocking W Ranch will hold a total dispersal sale, conducted by Western Bloodstock Ltd., at Rocking W Ranch in Millsap, Tex., where Boon San, as well as 90 other Walton bred horses will be sold at public auction.
“Jesse (Lennox, Walton Ranch trainer) said they have a 3-year-old full sister to this mare that is open caliber,” said Erwin. “The Rocking W sale should really be something.”
Reserve champion SDP Hicapoo Cat is sired by Hydrive Cat; third-placed Countess Cat is by Im Countin Checks.