Ollies Spooky Cat and Dont Look Twice claimed the first day of Super Stakes Classic competition with dual scores of 220 points.

Ridden by 2008 NCHA Super Stakes champion Austin Shepard, Ollies Spooky Cat made his mark as the first to work in the fourth set. At the time, Docs Alota Pepto was the go-round leader at 219 points, with 2008 NCHA Super Stakes Open Limited champion Jaime Snider, the first to work in the third set of cattle.

Shepard had also scored 216 riding Snazzy Easter Bunny as the first rider in the second set.

“I can’t say enough about how well this horse was trained,” said Shepard of Ollies Spooky Cat, who he purchased last fall through Tommy Marvin. Marvin had shown the High Brow Cat son as a finalist in the 2008 NCHA Futurity and the 2009 Tunica Futurity, where he had caught Shepard’s eye.

When non-pro client Khader Daoud asked Shepard to find a horse that both of them could show, Ollies Spooky Cat was the one that came to Shepard’s mind.

“It was kind of nerve-wracking because the deal was over the phone and Khader had never seen the horse,” said Shepard. “You don’t want to buy a horse for someone that they’re not going to like.”

But Shepard had a good feel for what Daoud would like. It was Shepard who acquired Daoud’s first limited age event mount, Peponita Times Two, the horse that would carry Daoud and his wife, Dora, to win six major non-pro and amateur championships.

Shepard gelded Ollies Spooky Cat several months ago and since then, the 5-year-old has placed as reserve champion of the South Point Winter Derby with Shepard and as an NCHA Eastern National Non-Pro finalist with Khader, who will also show him in the Super Stakes Non-Pro Classic.

Dont Look Twice earned $70,119 as the fourth-placed finalist at last year’s NCHA Super Stakes. It was one of the few times that the 5-year-old mare, owned by Louis and Corliss Baldwin, Fort Worth, TX, has been “off the boards.”

“She’s just one of those special horses that don’t come along very often,” said Rapp, who should know. He has shown the High Brow Cat daughter to win seven major championships, three reserve championships, and over $320,000.

“She’s so smart,” Rapp said. “And she has so much reach. She’s just got so much of her grandmother in her.”

Dont Look Twice’s grandam, Tap O Lena, won 16 majors with Rapp, including the 1994 NCHA Open Super Stakes, as well as both the 1996 Open and Non- Pro Super Stakes Classics. The 20-yearold mare, who has a 2010 Dual Rey filly that Phil looks forward to showing, has career earnings of $502,000.

Rapp and his wife, Mary Ann, cutting’s all-time leading open and non-pro money earners, also showed Tapt Twice, dam of Dont Look Twice, to earn nearly $300,000.

219 times three

Docs Alota Pepto, Miss Stylish Pepto, and Auspicious Cat all marked 219 points, Monday’s second-highest score. Docs Alota Pepto, ridden by Jaime Snider for Thad and Kristen York, Saratoga, WY, earned his biggest paycheck as the sixth-placed finalist with Snider at last year’s NCHA Classic Challenge.

The 6-year-old son of Sweet Lil Pepto will be ridden in the Super Stakes Amateur Classic by Kristen York, who showed him for the first time as a finalist in the Arbuckle Mountain Amateur division.

Miss Stylish Pepto and Bill Riddle worked next-to-last in the same set as Docs Alota Pepto.

“We were fortunate and got the cattle that we wanted,” said Riddle, an all-time leading money earner, who won the 1988 Super Stakes on Aglows First Rio. “The cow that we cut first, I would have cut her if I had been first (in the herd),” Riddle added. “But there were a couple of scratches in the set that may have helped us a little bit.”

Miss Stylish Pepto, was bred and is owned by Glenn and Debbie Drake, Napa, CA. The 6-year-old Petoboonsmal daughter, third-placed in the 2008 NCHA Super Stakes, has earned nearly $200,000 under Riddle, who also showed her dam, Stylish And Foxie, to win over $300,000.

Auspicious Cat and rider Ed Duferrena worked third to Ollies Spooky Cat and Austin Shepard, in the fourth set of the day.

“It’s always a little unsettling when someone like Austin goes in front of you and lays down a big run,” said Duferrena. “But this horse has been a pretty consistent finalist and he gets better every day.”

Owned by Dos Cats Partners, Gainesville, TX, 5-year-old Auspicious Cat, by High Brow Cat, has been a finalist in six major events.

“He’s a pretty mover, very low profile and very cowy,” said Duferrena. “(Dos Cats Partners) will breed at least 20 mares to him this year because we think he should have a chance to see if he can produce.”