Traci Shehady and Jaycee Lowery tied with 216 points, the high Unlimited Amateur score on Saturday, the third day of NCHA Futurity Unlimited Amateur/Amateur go-round competition. And three riders tied with 214.5 points, the day’s Amateur high mark.
It has been a busy week for Traci Shehady, Poolville, Tex., and was a gratifying day on Saturday, when she showed homebred You Cant Buy Love, by Cats Gotta Diamond, in the NCHA Futurity Unlimited Amateur, and won the NCHA $25,000 Novice Non-Pro World Finals on Biscuit Love, the sorrel mare’s dam. Shehady won the 2013 NCHA World Finals $5,000 Non-Pro Novice championship on Biscuit Love. You Cant Buy Love, by Cats Gotta Diamond, is the Smart Aristocrat daughter’s first performer.
Shehady, the NCHA earner of $139,648, was a 2016 NCHA Futurity Unlimited Amateur finalist riding Wild And Playful, by Wilds My Thing. She also placed third on Biscuit Love in the 2013 NCHA Super Stakes Classic Unlimited Amateur Finals.
Jaycee Lowery, Gardendale, Ala., and Rey Banz Cat, her mount on Saturday, also share a family history. Rey Banz Cat, by Dual Rey, is out of Catarose LTE $98,860, by High Brow Cat, who carried Lowery to claim the reserve championship in the 2016 NYCHA Junior Scholarship Cutting. Catarose and Lowery also earned the 2012 Non-Pro Cutting Amateur reserve championship and placed in the finals of the 2012 NCHA Classic Challenge Amateur and the 2012 Cotton Stakes Amateur.
Saturday’s high-scoring Amateurs were :
- 214.5 Nicole Pietrafeso of Elbert, Co. on Sugar Rap (Rap Cat x Okies Sweet Pea)
- 214.5 Viki Williamson of Argyle, Tex., on Metallic Princess (Metallic Cat Rey x Ms Dualin Colonel)
- 214.5 Jerry Gregory of Fruita, Co., on Sally Love It (Third Cutting x Oduals Wee Lass)
The Unlimited Amateur/Amateur go-round continues through Sunday, December 2.