If he’d had his “druthers,” Chad Bushaw would have preferred a smooth, 216-point, three-cow run in the Super Stakes Non-Pro Semi-Finals.
Instead, Bushaw wound up in a hoof and nail duel that saw his mare, Twisting Playdough, defend the herd for a full 50 seconds against his second cow.
“I had plenty enough done and needed a spot to quit and safety up a little bit,” said Bushaw. “For about the last 25 seconds of the run, I was looking for a place to quit that (second) cow, but I couldn’t ever get her to turn away — even for half a second.
“It was just one of those runs where it gets forced on you.”
Twisting Playdough, by Freckles Fancy Twist, has already earned Bushaw non-pro championships this year at the Augusta Futurity and the Bonanza Cutting, and a reserve championship in the Arbuckle Mountain Derby.
“She’s been a dream mare all year,” said Bushaw, who raised Twisting Playdough out of Badgers Playdough, by Playdox, the horse he rode to place second in the 2005 NCHA Super Stakes Classic Non-Pro.
“She’s very gritty and very smart, with lots of heart and integrity,” said Bushaw, who was co-champion of the 2008 Super Stakes Non-Pro on Cats Ruby. “And she’s easy to work. We keep her legged up and fit, and work her a few days and go show.”
Bushaw was also a finalist in the Non-Pro Gelding Stakes riding Will You Play, by Playdox. He also shows Snow Rey and Reylena Moon in today’s Super Stakes Classic Non-Pro finals.
Steve Anderson, with daughter, Bella.
Non-Pro Gelding Stakes champion
Steve Anderson, Victoria, TX, rode Scootin Dualquita last night to win the Super Stakes Non-Pro Gelding Stakes with 218.5 points and beat a field that included his wife, Michelle, on WSR The Supernatural.
Mary Ann Rapp scored 218 points as reserve champion on ARC Catmando, by High Brow Cat, who she shows in tonight’s Non-Pro Finals.
“He had it going on this evening,” said Anderson of his homebred gelded son of Smart Lil Scoot.
“The cows were stingy and kind of got him going, and he wanted to save me. That’s the best run that I’ve ever had on him.”
Scootin Dualquita, half-brother to major money earners Chula Dual and Blue Duck Okie, also carried Anderson as a Non-Pro finalist in the Bonanza Cutting.
Michelle Anderson, winner of the 2007 Super Stakes Ltd and Super Stakes Classic Ltd with Cats Quixote Jack and Fat Cat Named Jack, is showing two horses in tonight’s Super Stakes Classic Non-Pro Finals — Pantera Cat and Baba Boon.
Mary Ann Rapp, cutting’s all-time leading non-pro money earner and winner of the 2003 Super Stakes Classic Non-Pro on Amanda Stargun, rides that mare’s daughter, Amanda Starlena, in tonight’s Super Stakes Classic.
