Regan Plendl of Kingsley, Iowa and Mike Townsend of Edmond, Oklahoma, both marked 217 to share the championship in the Rios of Mercedes Amateur finals at the Lucas Oil NCHA Super Stakes on April 5. Both of them rode Smooth As A Cat 4-year-olds.

Plendl rode MK Kenli, a Smooth As A Cat mare bred by the Gene McKown Living Trust out of MK Little Miss Trona, an NCHA Derby Open finalist out of $500,000 producer Jessies Starlight Ms.

Prior to the Super Stakes, Plendl and MK Kenli teamed up for sixth place in the NCHA Amateur Futurity, and then made the Arbuckle Mountain finals in both the Unlimited Amateur (third) and Amateur (eighth) divisions.

Townsend rode Faith In My Kat, a homebred son of Smooth As A Cat out of Faith In Your Mate. Faith In Your Mate also produced Faith In My Cat, an NCHA Hall of Fame Horse with earnings $524,000.

Townsend and Faith In My Kat also took the reserve championship in the Unlimited Amateur division. They were also reserve champion in the Unlimited Amateur at Arbuckle Mountain.