The cutting by which all others are measured. That’s how the 2009 NCHA Open Derby will long be remembered.
Third Cutting and Boyd Rice broke the Derby record with their 228.5-point win.
But not before Dont Look Twice and Phil Rapp tied the previous record of 228, shared by Chiquita Pistol (2003) and Miss N Cash (1987).
“We were trying to win,” said Rice, who drew ninth to work in the second set. “We wanted (the cows) to move fast and it worked.
“When I turned around for my third cow, it was right there on top. My horse was about out of air, but he’ll give you everything he’s got.”
Asscher Cat and Roger Wagner set the bar with 221 points as the second entry in the first set.
Six horses later, NCHA Futurity champions Metallic Cat and Beau Galyean marked 225 points, a score that would have won the event in each of the past four years.
Then Dont Look Twice, owned by Louis and Corliss Baldwin, came loaded for cow under Phil Rapp, as the twelfth and last to work in the first set.
“It was one of the best runs I’ve had,” said Rapp, cutting’s all-time leading NCHA money earner with over $6 million. “I couldn’t ask that mare to do any better. She was fantastic.”
Between the runs of Don’t Look Twice and Third Cutting, two horses scored 220 points: Derby Semi-Finals winner Nurse Connie with Paul Hansma, and Boon Too Suen under Kobie Wood.
Desires Katrina and Darren Simpkins wrapped up the 24-horse finals with a 222.5-point performance.
Seven horses from the 24-horse field scored 220 points or above.
“There haven’t been that many big scores here in forever,” said Rice, who won the 2008 NCHA Derby on Peptos Stylish Sue and the 2009 NCHA Super Stakes on Third Cutting.
Third Cutting, a Boonlight Dancer son owned by Carl and Shawnea Smith, was bred by Polo Ranch and purchased through the Polo Ranch Dispersal sale at three. The bay stallion has earned over $290,000.
Don’t Look Twice, by High Brow Cat, is fourth generation Rapp breeding, out of Tapt Twice, daughter of Phil’s great champion Tap O Lena.
Open champion of both the Augusta Futurity and the Bonanza Derby, Don’t Look Twice has earned more than $190,000.
Billy Martin, Millsap, TX, was the clear-cut winner of the NCHA Derby Non-Pro division with 221.5 points – 4.5 points above co-reserve champions Paula Wood, Megan Miller, Kyle Manion and Dustin Adams, all tied with 217 points.
“I love that horse so much,” said Martin of his mount, Laredo Montana, which he bred by Light N Lena out of Little Memory Maker, horses that Martin also raised and showed. “He just put it all together and was everywhere he needed to be,” Martin added. “He made it easy for me.
Non-Pro division aboard Hollywood Socks.
Laredo Montana is from Light N Lena’s first crop of six foals. Martin showed the son of Grays Starlight to place fourth in the 2004 NCHA Derby Non-Pro division, and Phil Rapp showed the stallion to place fifth in the 2006 NCHA Super Stakes Classic.
“I’m going to try to show him as much as I can,” said Martin of Laredo Montana. “He’s a good ambassador for Light N Lena.”