Judy Rogers of Rockdale, Texas, who set the top score in the go-round, came back to win the finals with a 223 in the Limited Non-Pro division of the Classic Challenge at the NCHA Summer Spectacular, presented by Great American Insurance.
She rode Dualin Cat Lena, a 5-year-old gelding bred by Jim Bilbrey by Dualin Boon out of Little Cat Lena, a mare that goes back to Sheila Welch’s 1983 NCHA Super Stakes Non-Pro champion Dolly Olena.
Dualin Cat Lena was an NCHA Futurity Open finalist with Judy’s husband, Jonathan, who had earned more than $50,000 on the gelding prior to the Summer Spectacular.
“I’ve only had him a couple of weeks,” Judy Rogers said. “I showed him at a weekend cutting and did not get along very well at all. Jonathan bought a slot for me here just for the Limited because he didn’t know what was going to happen, nor did I.
“But it worked, with his hard work. I just cut my cows. He and the horse did the rest.”
Jaylee Hall and High Brow CD Deuce marked 221 as the first contestant in the finals. But Rogers wasn’t thinking about that as she rode to the herd in the middle of the set.
“I just try to show my horse and do the best that I can do,” she said. “It was a lot of fun.”
Dualin Cat Lena can be a handful, but Jonathan had him dialed in for the finals.
“We’ve formed a bond, and it’s just worked,” she said. “He’s just smart and sticky and very athletic.”
Rogers has been successful with her 8-year-old Hes A Peptospoonful gelding Spoonfulla Cat, a Mercuria World Series finalist at Houston this year. And that may have helped her turn around with Dualin Cat Lena between her frustrating weekend show and the Will Rogers Coliseum win.
“Maybe I was just thinking about my older horse and how I show him, and I just tried to make it the same here,” she said. “Just mind over matter.”
This is Rogers’ second Limited Non-Pro win in the Classic Challenge. She was co-champion with Cade Hansma in 2014, riding CD Pretty Lady.
Jaylee Hall, 18, of Weatherford, Texas, held on for the reserve championship on High Brow CD Deuce. The 6-year-old gelding is by High Brow CD out of WJ Pretty In Pink. Hall has won Amateur championships at the Brazos Bash and Abilene Spectacular on the gelding, and was reserve champion at the Western Bloodstock NCHA Winter Showdown in Cowtown.
In Thursday’s Non-Pro competition, Lindy Ashlock and first-round leader Little Miss One Time stayed in front after the second round with a cumulative 438.5.
Twenty-three riders marked 433.5 or better to advance to Sunday’s Non-Pro Classic Challenge finals.