On Saturday, November 28, at Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum in Fort Worth, Elizabeth Quirk, Denham Springs, La., the 2020 NCHA Non-Pro World Championship leader, tied with 228 points on Reystylin Smooth in the World Finals go-round, and 225 points on Day 2 of the NCHA Futurity Non-Pro go-round aboard Cinca Cat. The Futurity go-round score was the highest following two days of first go-round competition, with two days remaining before the second go-round begins on Tuesday, December 1.
Chad Bushaw, Weatherford, Tex., scored 224 points, the second-highest score from two days of competition, on My Wayward Son, while Brandon Westfall, Granbury, Tex., claimed Saturday’s third-highest score, 222 points, riding Fiddle And Steel.
Elizabeth Quirk, the NCHA Non-Pro Hall of Fame earner of $1,157,950, is the current leader in contention for the title of 2020 NCHA Non-Pro World Champion. She was also an NCHA Futurity Non-Pro Semi-Finalist in 2019 riding Ireydescent LTE $101,644, who she showed as Non-Pro reserve champion of the 2020 Brazos Bash, as well as Candi Cat LTE $124,351, her winning mount for the 5/6 Brazos Bash Non-Pro championship.
Bred by Rocking P Ranch, Fort Worth, Tex., and purchased by Quirk for $100,000 at the 2019 NCHA Futurity Sale, Cinca Cat, by High Brow Cat, is out of the Spots Hot daughter Cinca Im Hot LTE $259,169, a 2016 NCHA Futurity Open finalist, as well as the 2017 Breeders Invitational Open champion, under Jesse Lennox.
Cinca Im Hot is out of Cinca De Maya LTE $106,341, the dam of six NCHA earners of $535,180, including Metallic Curveball LTE $190,704, by Metallic Cat. Cinca De Maya, in turn, is out of High Brow Cat daughter Highbrow Supercat LTE $364,690, dam of Super Fein, shown by Kylie Knight to top Non-Pro go-round competition with 222 points on Friday, November 27.
Chad Bushaw, Weatherford, Tex., the NCHA Non-Pro Hall of Fame earner of $3,643,540, has been an NCHA Futurity Non-Pro Finalist 14 times, as well as an Amateur finalist one time. He won the Non-Pro championship twice – in 2001, on Jerryoes LTE $252,780, and in 2017, with Bittersweet LTE $195,757 – and rode two finalists in each of three years, 2007, 2008, and 2012. He has also been a Semi-Finalist 33 times, including three times as an Open rider, and has bred many of his own Finalists and Semi-Finalists, including My Wayward Son, under the name of Crown Ranch.
Sired by Kit Kat Sugar, My Wayward Son is out of the Peptotime daughter Peptotoodie LTE $169,823, who carried Chad and Amie Bushaw’s son, Charles Russell, to the Junior Youth championship of the 2017 NCHA Eastern Nationals, the reserve championship of the 2018 NCHA Eastern Nationals, as well as a finalist in the 2019 Summer Scholarship NYCHA Junior Cutting, and the 2020 NCHA Senior Youth Cutting. If My Wayward Son qualifies for the Futurity Semi-Finals, he will become the first money earner from Peptotoodie’s four oldest foals, all 2017 models, from four different sires.
Brandon Westfall, the NCHA earner of $618,068, won the 2019 NCHA Futurity Non-Pro championship showing I Reckon So LTE $78,580, by Kit Kat Sugar, and placed third on Desires One And Only LTE $52,576, by One Time Pepto. In 2017, he was NCHA Futurity Non-Pro reserve champion riding Smooth Lil Cowtown LTE $127,352, by Smooth As A Cat, and in 2018, he placed in the Open Finals and the Open Limited Finals riding Ringo LTE $57,886, by Kit Kat Sugar, and was a Non-Pro finalist aboard The Bluez Feather, by The Bluez Man.
Fiddle And Steel, by Metallic Cat, bred by Brandon’s parents, Russ and Janet Westfall, is a half-brother to Ringo, Brandon’s 2018 NCHA Futurity finalist out of Lil Bit Reckless LTE $231,124, by CD Royal, and third generation Westfall breeding, tracing back to Trouble Lynn 495, the dam of 10 NCHA earners of $751,200.