Dees Mr Charles and Sam Shepard scored 221.5 points yesterday to win the $10,000 Novice Eastern National championship for Edley and Sue Hixson of Deridder, LA. Snazzy Easter Bunny, ridden for Mike and Libby Bowman by Austin Shepard, was reserve champion with 220 points.
“It’s nice to return the favor because he’s done it to me on several occasions,” said a smiling Sam Shepard about the win over his son, Austin.
Snazzy Easter Bunny had won the go-round handily with 224 points. But Sam Shepard knew that Dees Mr Charles, open gelding champion of the NCHA Super Stakes, was up to the task in the finals, if he cut the right cattle.
By the time Dees Mr Charles rode to the herd, as the 13th draw in the last set of cattle, Shepard wondered if there were any “money” cows left to cut.
“The cattle were getting really scarce at that point,” said Shepard. “Our favorite had just been cut and of the other two, my help liked one, but didn’t like the one that I liked.
“I cut the one that everybody liked first and it was a pretty good cow. Then the one that I liked was standing there chewing her cud, so I thought I’d give her a try.”
The second cow worked so well that Shepard held her until the buzzer.
“At that point, I didn’t know anything else to cut,” he said. “With 20 seconds left, Austin started yelling, ‘Stay hooked. Don’t quit.’ And it helped me make up my mind to stay with it.”
Five-year-old Dees Mr Charles, by Its Just About Me, was reserve champion of the 2009 Southern Futurity under Shepard and has earned over $70,000.
Snazzy Easter Bunny scored 220 points for reserve to push her lifetime earnings to over $140,000.
The 6-year-old daughter of Smart Sugar Badger was bred by the Bowmans, who live in Simpsonville, KY.
Libby Bowman showed her to win the 2008 Southern Futurity Amatuer division, and Austin Shepard rode her as reserve champion of the 2009 Tunica Classic and placed third with her in the 2010 Augusta Classic.
“She showed a lot of talent early on and she’s got a lot of grit to her,” said Mike Bowman, who showed the mare’s mother, Oh Cay Shez Snazzy, as fifth place finalist in the 2002 NCHA Eastern National Championships, where Zeke Entz rode her as reserve champion of the $10,000 Novice. Oh Cay Shez Snazzy earned $95,000 during her career.
“We consider ourselves pretty dang lucky for small-time breeders,” said Bowman, who noted that a recipient mare presented them with Snazzy Easter Bunny’s first foal, a High Brow CD colt, just seven days ago.
Banner year
The NCHA Eastern National Championships, presented by 6666 Ranch of Guthrie, TX, has returned to Jackson, MS, marking the largest turnout in the event’s 25-year history.
A record 1,128 contestants will compete for more that $450,000. Entries are up 24% from last year’s total of 909.