Lance Cooper and Ali Good staked their claims to the 2017 NCHA Futurity Limited Non-Pro co-championship in the first set of the 29-rider finals with matching scores of 222 points, riding Zen And Tonic and Sneakish, respectively. McCall Hansma took third place with 218.5 points on Tommy Shelby, and David Anderson, riding KR Isadora Royal, was fourth with 217.5.
Cooper and Good each earned $10,539, which included a $2,000 bonus from Great American Insurance Group and Jerry’s Chevrolet.
Lance Cooper and Zen And Tonic, by High Brow CD, also qualified for the Non-Pro Semi-Finals on Thursday, December 7. Cooper, who lives in Weatherford, Tex., first emerged as a championship contender in 2014, when he was reserve champion of the Non-Pro Limited and placed twelfth in the Non-Pro Finals riding Post Card From Paris. Cooper, the NCHA earner of $92,416, also won the 2017 NCHA Senior Youth World Finals.
Ali Good, Ringling, Okla., the NCHA earner of $22,331, also qualified for the Non-Pro Semi-Finals riding Augie Boon, who traces back on his dam’s side to Clarks Little Fanny, a foundation mare for his breeder, the Riddle Family Trust.
Good also won the $35,000 Non-Pro all age event in the 2017 Non-Pro Cutting and placed third in the 2017 NCHA Mercuria Congress World Series Non-Pro riding Cat Atat Cat LTE $82,090. Sneakish, Good’s Limited Non-Pro champ, is by Hottish and out of Smooth Sneakin LTE $73,716, by Smooth As A Cat.
McCall Hansma, Fort Worth, Tex., won the 2015 NCHA Classic Challenge Limited Non-Pro and the 2015 Brazos Bash Limited Non-Pro championship on Chex My Cat LTE $68,310. She was also a finalist in the 2016 Non-Pro Cutting Classic on CDS Pepto Gal LTE $32,319, a three-quarter sister to Little Pepto Zack, the dam of the Hottish son Tommy Shelby, Hansma’s Limited Non-Pro champion.
David Anderson, Calgary, Alberta, also qualified for the Futurity Non-Pro Semi-Finals on his Limited Non-Pro mount KR Isadora Royal, by CD Royal, and out of KR Isadora Dual LTE $146,164, the 2012 NCHA Super Stakes Open champion, by Smooth As A Cat.
John Baldwin, Hempstead, Tex., won the Limited Non-Pro Semi-Finals with 220 points on Quickie Rey, by Dual Rey, and earned $5,041 plus Senior Champion money in the Limited Non-Pro Finals. Prior to the 2017 Futurity, Baldwin had NCHA earnings of $20,379.