Sugrspiznevrthingniz and Matt Gaines scored 226 points to claim the 2020 PCCHA Holy Cow Performance Horses Open Classic/Challenge championship. Held on Sunday, October 4, at the South Point Arena in Las Vegas, the win was worth $15,000.

Blackish and Lloyd Cox scored 223 points to earn $12,000 and  the reserve championship, while third-placed Hot Melody and Russ Elrod earned $10,000 with 220.5 points.

Sugrspiznevrthingniz LTE $206,750, owned by Jim Vangilder, Weatherford, Tex., and shown exclusively by Matt Gaines, was Open reserve champion under Gaines of last year’s NCHA Super Stakes, Arbuckle Mountain 4-Year-Old Derby, and Bonanza 4-Year-Old Cutting. She also won the 2020 Cascades Classic this August, and placed in the 2020  Idaho Classic

Sired by Kit Kat Sugar, 5-year-old Sugrspiznevrthingniz was bred by Robert Rust, Gordon, Tex., and is the first money earner out of the Lizzys Gotta Player daughter Jewels Gotta Lizzy LTE $10,776, a half-sister to Cats Royal Jewel LTE $275,348.

Matt Gaines, the NCHA Riders Hall of Fame earner of $8,751,710, won the Pacific Coast Futurity in 2012 on Loony Cat LTE $97,298, a full sister to Little Pepto Cat LTE $645,514, who was also shown in limited age events by Gaines.

Six-year-old Blackish LTE $204,051, sired by Hottish and owned and bred by Julie Jarma, Whitesboro, Tex., is out of SS Blacks Lil Kitty LTE $187,137, who is also the dam of JJ Jazzarey LTE $52,296, ninth-place finalist in the 2019 NCHA Open Futurity.

Blackish won Open championships under Cox in the 2018 Ike Hamilton Derby and Cattlemen’s Derby, and carried Julie Jarma as Non-Pro champion of the 2019 Brazos Bash Classic.

Lloyd Cox, the NCHA Riders Hall of Fame earner of $9,560,398, is cutting’s all-time leading money earner.

Six-year-old Hot Melody LTE $102,904, by Spots Hot, is owned by Russ & Julie Elrod, Terrebonne, Ore., and was bred by Jerry Nye out of the WR This Cats Smart daughter Cats Melody, also the dam of 3-year-old Red Right Hand LTE $15,626, Open reserve champion of the 2020 Cascades Futurity with Russ Elrod.

Hot Melody won the 2018 Open and Non-Pro divisions of the Utah Derby under Russ and Julie Elrod, and has been both an Open and Non-Pro finalist at the Pacific Coast Futurity. Russ Elrod is the NCHA earner of $913,400.

The Pacific Coast Futurity continues through Oct. 10.