Catch riding for $10,000 Novice champion Sam Shepard, Brett Davis claimed the Open Eastern Nationals championship Sunday with 222 points aboard A Track Runs Thru It.
“She’s got a big heart. I just stepped on her and showed her,” said Davis of the DJ Tracker daughter, owned by Terry Pigg, Collinsville, AL.
“The second cow was not as good as we thought he (woukd be) and we had to work the whole pen to hold it. And when I cut my third cow, I had over 30 seconds left. They paid me for degree of difficulty.”
Davis has won every division of the Eastern National Finals, including the Open division on Son Of Olena in 2001.
Nine-year-old A Track Runs Thru It, by DJ Tracker and trained by Guy Woods, was an Open and $10,000 Amateur Eastern National finalist in 2008 with Shepard and Pigg.
Oh Cay Starlight, a 7-year-old son of Grays Starlight, scored 219 points as reserve champion under Eddie Braxton, riding for Susan Dunne, Clinton, NC. Braxton won the $3,000 Novice on Thursday with Mississippi Cat for Vick Etheridge.
Sam Shepard, placed third in the Open on Dees Mr Charles, who he showed earlier in the week to win the $10,000 Novice championship and the $3,000 Novice reserve title for Edley and Sue Hixson.
$2,000 Limited Rider
Scott Chartier scored 217.5 points to win the $2,000 Limited Rider championship on Wild Start. Last September marked the first time that the 22-year-old had shown since his days in the Junior Youth division.
Seven-year-old Wild Start, by Hesa Smart Start, is owned by Scott’s father, Randy Chartier, who placed eighth in yesterday’s Open finals aboard Nita Playmate.
“I showed at the Congress (in September) for the first time and I was everywhere and really rough,” said Scott. “I was a little nervous today, but I was more excited.”
Randy Chartier showed Wild Start as reserve champion of the 2008 Eastern Nationals $3,000 Novice.
Scott’s brother, R.L. Chartier, head trainer for Wrigley Ranches, won the 2008 NCHA Futurity Limited Open on Hay Maker.
Jamie Moore, 18, Saint George, SC, earned 216.5 points and the Limited reserve championship on BSR Cat, a 7-year-old son of High Brow Cat, and earner of over $75,000, trained by Matt Gaines.
“He is awesome – that is the main word,” said Moore of BSR Cat, owned by her father, George Moore, who showed the horse as a non-pro and amateur finalist in major limited age events.
Jamie showed BSR Cat for the first time at the 2009 NCHA Derby where she placed as a finalist in the Senior Youth.
“Yesterday in the Youth I had an awesome run going and I kicked up more horsepower than I could handle and my foot came out of the stirrup, so I was a little shaky going into today,” Moore admitted. “But I was very happy today because I love this horse.”