Ms Baby Cakes tallied her second consecutive 4-year-old championship of the year with a 226-point score under Lloyd Cox in the 2019 Cotton Stakes on Tuesday, in West Monroe, La. Royal Red Brow with Boyd Rice scored 224.5 points for reserve, while Bama Jelly and Austin Shepard placed third with 223.5 points.
Bred and owned by Barker Ranch Cutting Horses LLC, Madill, Okla., Metallic Cat daughter Ms Baby Cakes was an NCHA Futurity finalist under Cox and including the $7,500 Cotton Stakes winner’s purse, has earned $81,596 so far in 2019. Out of 2015 NCHA Open World Champion Special Nu Baby LTE $481,197, Ms Baby Cakes is a three-quarter sister to Smooth Nu Cat LTE $193,816.
Barker Ranch and Lloyd Cox also teamed with 6-year-old Second Spot, by Spots Hot, to win the Cotton Stakes Classic with 224.5 points. Second Spot, the 2016 NCHA Futurity Open champion under Matt Gaines, is the lifetime earner of $421,569. Her 2019 record with Cox includes the Ike Hamilton Classic championship and the reserve championship of the NCHA Super Stakes Classic.
Royal Red Brow, owned by Center Ranch, Centerville, Tex., was an NCHA Futurity Open semi-finalist with Kenny Platt and placed in the finals of three 2019 limited age events before the Cotton Stakes. The High Brow Cat daughter, bred by Michelle Cannon and a three-quarter sister to Catillac Reys LTE $177,182 and Chrome Catillac LTE $100,193, has NCHA lifetime earnings of $36,693.
Bama Jelly, sired by Bamacat and owned and bred by Madalyn Cogrove, Boligee, Ala., was an NCHA Futurity finalist with Shepard, and went on to earn substantial payouts with a fourth-place finish worth $45,032 in the NCHA Super Stakes and with the Arbuckle Mountain Derby win, worth $30,000. In addition, Bama Jelly and Shepard won the Augusta Futurity, placed fourth in the Breeders Invitational, and earned money in two additional finals.
Bama Jelly is currently ranked fifth among 2019 NCHA leading 4-year-old money earners. Sueper Trouper, owned and shown by Non-Pro competitor Constance Jaeggi, as well as by Grant Setnicka in Open, tops the 4-year-old list with $193,409.
Metallic Drifter, reserve in the Cotton Stakes Classic Open with 220.5 points, is shown by Matt Gaines for Jim Vangilder, Weatherford, Tex. The 5-year-old Metallic Cat daughter, lifetime earner of $113,486, also won the 2019 Arbuckle Mountain Classic.
Hott Heels, third-placed in the Cotton Stakes Classic Open, ranks third, with $104,036, among 5/6-year-old money earners in 2019. Shown by Lloyd Cox for Julie Jarma, Whitesboro, Tex., the Hottish-sired gelding won the 2019 West Texas Futurity Classic Non-Pro with Jarma and placed reserve in the Open. He was also Open reserve champion of the Breeders Invitational Classic, and placed third in both the NCHA Classic Challenge Open and Non-Pro Finals.
The Cotton Stakes continues through Sunday, September 8.