Gender might not be a factor with cutting horse performers, but it is with riders who qualified for the XTO Super Stakes Classic Non-Pro Finals. Eighteen of the 26 finalists are women, including the cumulative leader, with 435 points, Julie Hansma, aboard homegrown Al Poocino, by Dual Pep. Michelle Anderson, who topped the second go-round with 220.5 points for a cumulative of 433.5, also qualified Pantera Cat with 433 points, earning Anderson two slots among the top four qualifiers.
Janet Westfall, Los Olivos, CA, earned the second-highest cumulative of 434.5 points, with go-rounds scores of 216 and 218.5 on Lil Bit Reckless, by CD Royal. Julie Wrigley, who showed A Little Bossy, by CD Lights, to tie Anderson with 433 points, the fourth-highest cumulative, also qualified Pretty Katz, by Pretty Boy Cat, with 428.5 points. Wrigley was one of five riders, including Anderson, Alexa Stent, Dustin Adams, Megan Miller, and Chad Bushaw, who qualified two horses for the finals.
“A long time ago, somebody taught me that it’s just your ride that counts – you’re not competing against everybody else,” said Wrigley, a former force in the Arabian show world. “You just play your cards and think about your own ride.” Wrigley won the 2009 Breeders Invitational Non-Pro Senior division on A Little Bossy, placed fifth in the 2009 Super Stakes Non-Pro, and won the Non-Pro Senior division with Pretty Katz. Wrigley-owned Special Nu Kitty, under Wrigley Ranch resident trainer R.L. Chartier, placed second with 222 points to co-champions Third Cutting and Dont Look Twice, in last weeks’ NCHA Super Stakes Classic Open finals.
Michelle Anderson, winner of five NCHA championship titles in Fort Worth, has two top contenders for the Super Stakes in Baba Boon, by Peptoboonsmal, and Pantera Cat, by High Brow Cat.
“She’s a great mare, but we had troubles with her the last part of her 4-year-old year and didn’t get to show her much,” said Anderson of Baba Boon, a Non-Pro finalist with Anderson in the 2008 NCHA Futurity Non-Pro and Non- Pro Limited, and 10th in the Augusta Non-Pro Futurity. Anderson’s other mount, 5-year-old Pantera Cat, carried her as a finalist in last year’s Non-Pro Super Stakes and Limited Non-Pro.
Janet Westfall’s homegrown Lil Bit Reckless was one of two CD Royal offspring to place within the top 10 leaders in the Non-Pro Classic go-rounds; he other is Bonnie Martin’s Rubys Royal CD.
“The CD Royals have so much grit and stamina,” said Martin, who won the PCCHA Futurity and Derby on Rubys Royal CD, and is hoping for a record sweep with a third in the 2010 Classic of the prestigious West Coast event. Alexa Stent, whose parents Peter and Nora Stent owned the late, great Docs Stylish Oak, qualified for the Classic Non-Pro Finals aboard Stylish Little Bow, by Docs Stylish Oak.
“She’s the only Stylish Oak mare that we have,” said Stent, who also qualified Haida N Cat. “This was the first time I’ve gotten to ride her, so I was nervous. We’ve kept her an open horse with Eddie Flynn, but since she’s six and it’s her last year (in limited age events), I am showing her.”
Flynn qualified Stylish Little Bow for 15 major events, including a championship in the 2009 Bonanza, and earned $210,880.
Six-year-old Haida N Cat, also trained by Flynn, most recently carried Stent as reserve champion of the 2010 Abilene Spectacular Non-Pro.
“He’s my ‘Steady Eddie,'” said Stent of the High Brow Cat son out of Beckys Haida. “He’s always great for me.” Stent purchased Haida N Cat in the middle of his 4-year-old career. “Eddie had him for another customer and he wasn’t doing much because he was so studdy,” said Stent. “When we bought him, we gelded him immediately and he has been phenomenal from the first time I showed him.