Austria Arnold, Terrell, Tex., on Cat About Houston, and Jessica Feiner, Aspen, Colo., aboard Metallic Mania, tied with 221.5 points as co-champions of the 2021 McAlister Assets 6/7 Amateur NCHA Super Stakes, while Michelle Reichart, Frankton, Ind., placed third with 221 points riding Sweet Lil Prime Time. Arnold and Feiner each received $8,351 for the win and Reichart earned $6,811.
Austria Arnold and 7-year-old Cat About Houston were winners of the 2020 NCHA Amateur Horse of the Year award. The Metallic Cat gelding carried Arnold to win the 2020 NCHA Classic Challenge Amateur championship, as well as two other major event titles and three reserves that same year.
Arnold, the NCHA earner of $163,965, also placed ninth in the 2018 Super Stakes 4-Year-Old Amateur on Bet Sheza Kat LTE $12,877, by Bet Hesa Cat.
Bred by Rose Valley Ranch, and shown by Nate Lansford as reserve champion of the 2017 NCHA Futurity Limited Open, Cat About Houston is out of Bet On Houston LTE $42,089, dam of the earners of $974,853, including Bet On A Cat LTE $416,390, and is herself out of Bet Yer Blue Boons LTE $332,960, dam of the earner of over $1.2 million.
Jessica Feiner, the NCHA earner of $226,746, won the 2017 NCHA Super Stakes Limited Non-Pro Classic and placed in the Non-Pro Classic Finals on B Nimble LTE $150,445, by Dual Smart Rey.
Bred by Tejas Trading Co., Metallic Mania, a 7-year-old gelding by Metallic Cat, Metallic Mania was shown by Jessica’s brother, Adan Banuelos, as 2019 PCCHA Futurity Open Classic champion, and by Jessica’s husband, Steven Feiner, as 2019 PCCHA Futurity Classic Non-Pro reserve champion.
Metallic Mania is out of the Smart Aristocrat daughter Purdy Aristocrat LTE $100,403, dam of the earners of $766,202.
In addition to her third-place showing with Sweet Lil Prime Time, Michelle Reichart, the NCHA earner of $230,900, also showed Paradox Metallica LTE $33,009, by Metallic Cat, to tie for seventeeth place in the 6/7 Amateur Super Stakes Finals. Altogether, Reichart has shown as a Super Stakes finalist seven times. Six-year-old Sweet Lil Prime Time LTE $119,417, a Sweet Lil Pepto-sired gelding, won the 2018 PCCHA Open Futurity and Waco Texas Futurity under Phil Hanson, and also earned money as a limited event finalist with Paul Hansma. Bred by Jerry Durant, Sweet Lil Prime Time is out of the High Brow Cat daughter Prime Time Kat LTE $127,428, dam also of Dual Prime Time LTE $165,441, by Dual Rey.