Lauren Middleton, Cullen Chartier and Cees Little Poo.
Lauren Middleton, Flora, MS, scored 221.5 points on Cees Little Poo to win the Eastern National Non-Pro – her second championship title this week and her second time to win the Non-Pro championship.
On Wednesday, Middleton and Cees Little Poo won the $15,000 Novice/Non-Pro championship with 219 points. The three co-reserve champions in the $15,000 Novice/Non-Pro included Kelle Chartier, who placed third in the Non-Pro finals.
Missy Rosenberg was reserve champion of the Non-Pro division with 220 points, aboard Justa Lil Freck.
“It was pretty scary, especially the last cow,” said Middleton, who was the ninth rider to work in the last set of the finals.
“I put my hand down with about 15 seconds left and it was the longest 15 seconds that I’ve ever experienced. (The cow) really tried to run me over. My fiance really earned his keep.”
Middleton’s fiance is Cullen Chartier, whose mother, Kelle, placed third on Miss Rey Hickory. Cullen’s brother Scott Chartier, was champion of the $2,000 Limited Rider division on March 14.
Cees Little Poo, an 8-year-old gelding by SR Instant Choice, who Middleton has owned since he was five, is out of a half-sister to former NCHA Horse of the Year Hicapoo.
“He’s just a really good horse and smart about a cow,” said Middleton, 23, who graduated with a degree in animal science from Mississippi State University last May.
Although, she considered both of her finals runs on Cees Little Poo “tough,” Middleton found the Non-Pro finals run a greater challenge.
“I had a lot of working time and the cows were a lot more waspy,” she said. “It just shows me more and more what a great horse he is.”
Middleton won the biggest single paycheck of her career on Cees Little Poo at the 2008 NCHA Classic Challenge, as reserve champion of the Non-Pro Limited division.
In 2002, when she was just 15, Middleton won the Eastern National Non-Pro championship on the stallion Widows Freckles. In 2004, she was Senior Youth reserve champion riding Colonel Lil Pepper.
Missy Rosenberg, Bush, LA, cut her third cow with over 30 seconds left on the time clock and never looked back.
“We never missed her,” she said of the third cow. “My mare was great.”
Rosenberg has owned 7-year-old Justa Lil Freck, by Bobs Freckle, since last April. In the less than a year, according to Rosenberg, Justa Lil Freck, doubled her career earnings to more than $85,000.
In 2009, Rosenberg and the mare placed as reserve champions of the Breeders Invitational Amateur Classic, and Steve Oehlhof rode her as reserve champion of the Southern Futurity Open Classic.
This year, Oehlhof showed Justa Lil Freck as reserve open champion of the NCHA World Series in San Antonio, where Rosenberg placed seventh with her in the non-pro division.
Rosenberg also was a finalist in the Eastern National $15,000 Novice/Non-Pro division riding Fancy Sugar Badger, the mare she showed as amateur champion of the 2009 NCHA Super Stakes.
Katherine Goodfried.
Goodfried is $50,000 Amateur champ
Katherine Goodfried, Flint, TX, claimed the Eastern National Amateur championship with 216.5 points aboard Foxy Santana, by Short Of Santana.
Laura Landers, Weatherford, TX, the first rider in the 27-horse finals, placed as reserve on War Dually, by Dual Rey.
“The first two that I cut were cows that I wanted, but I cut for shape on my third because I was going for it,” said Goodfried, who qualified for the Finals on the bubble with 213 points.
The last time that Goodfried, a December 2009 Texas A&M graduate, competed at the Eastern Nationals was in 2000, as a Junior Youth. In 2005, she won the amateur division of the Bonanza on Foxy Santana.
“He’s the best horse that we own,” said Goodfried of Foxy Santana, who was a non-pro limited age event finalist with Mickey Goodfried, Katherine’s mother.
Foxy Santana was also an Open finalist last week under Casey Crouch.
Laura Landers won the 2010 amateur divisions of both the Abilene Spectacular and the Bonanza riding Purely Rey and Smooth An Boon, respectively.
