RM Lightning Merada, ridden by Paula Platt marked 218.5 to take the final championship of the NCHA Western Nationals Saturday, in the $25,000 Novice Non-Pro division. Coooter Brown, ridden by Denise Cox, was reserve champion with a 217.5, while Disco Barbie, ridden by Mandy Kirchner, placed third with a 217.

Platt won last year’s Idaho Classic Amateur Gelding title with RM Lightning Merada, and she was an Amateur finalist with him at this year’s NCHA Super Stakes Classic.

The 6-year-old gelding was bred by Reed McClymont by Cats Merada out of Choice Jewels, bu SR Instant Choice. Choice Jewels has produced earners of more than a quarter-million dollars, led by Fancy Hughes, a Thomas E Hughes mare which Kenny Platt rode to win the Brazos Bash and Idaho Futurity in 2014.

Kenny Platt showed RM Lightning Merada to a string of Open limited age event finals, including the Pacific Coast Derby and Idaho Derby as well as Open and Novice finals at past NCHA Western Nationals. McKenzie McBride won the $2,000 Limited Rider champion with the gelding at last year’s NCHA Denver Nationals.

Paula Platt, of Fort Lupton, Colorado, has earned more than $55,000 in her 20 years as an NCHA member.  Her biggest previous win was in the 2008 Rocky Mountain Classic, where she was Non-Pro champion on Freckles Dual Rey.

Reserve champion Coooter Brown is a 6-year-old gelding bred by Gordon Sevig by Dualin Puddy Tap out of GS Kittys Littlelena, a half-sister to $211,000 earner GS Counting On Kitty.

Coooter Brown’s third dam, Cats Full Measure, won the 1999 NCHA Non-Pro Futurity with Phil Rapp, and Rapp bought Coooter Brown for $4,000 at the 2013 Western Bloodstock NCHA Futurity Sales. Phil and Mary Ann Rapp won some 4-year-old money with the horse.

Lawson Hadlock has shown Coooter Brown for Denise Cox, including a reserve championship at the Utah Derby.

In all, Coooter Brown has won over $75,000 with his latest paycheck.

Cox, of Ogden, Utah, has career earnings of more than $91,000. She won the $35,000 Non-Pro at the NCHA Western Nationals with Hillbilly Handfishin, another former Rapp horse.

In third, Mandy Kirchner of Clarinda, Iowa, marked 217 on Disco Barbie. The 6-year-old mare by Little Disco Tucker, was bred by Phil Langstraat out of Stylin Barbie,  a mare that won the 2002 All American Quarter Horse Congress Classic. Disco Barbie was an NCHA Classic Challenge Limited Non-Pro finalist with Kirchner last year.

Kirchner, who won the $2,000 Limited Rider championship at the 2005 NCHA Western Nationals, has also won multiple Non-Pro championships at the Iowa Futurity and the CHA of Nebraska Futurity.