Bet On Merada and T.J. Good won the Breeders Invitational 5 & 6-Year-Old Open Cutting with 224.5 points on Thursday in Tulsa. The victory, a first in limited age event competition for Bet On Merada, was worth $24,228.

Rey Down Sally, winner of the 2008 and 2009 editions, was runner-up with 222.5 points, under Gary Gonsalves for Iron Rose Ranch. The Dual Rey daughter’s $18,511 paycheck pushed her NCHA career earnings past $347,000.

Five-year-old Bet On Merada, sired by Bet On Me 498 and owned by Jackson Land & Cattle, made her show debut last year with Good in the Breeders Invitational 4-Year-Old Open.

“I cut a bad cow and got run over,” said Good of Bet On Meradas’ first Breeders Invitational. “She was hurt as a 2-year-old, so I didn’t show her at any futurities.”

Good rode Bet On Merada as a finalist in the 2010 NCHA Super Stakes Classic Limited, which he won on NQH Tom Cat, also owned by Jackson Land & Cattle. NQH Tom Cat, an NCHA Futurity Open Limited finalist, was the first cutting horse that Good, 29, a former reined cowhorse conditioner, had ever shown.

“He’s been good to me,” said Good of NQH Tom Cat. “He’s let me mess up plenty and kept me going. He’s taught me a lot and we’ve both learned together.”

This is Good’s second major Open championship victory. He won the 2010 Cattlemens Derby aboard Trick Pepto, as well as four 2010 open limited champion’s titles, including, in addition to the NCHA Super Stakes Open Limited, the Cattlemens Derby Open Limited on Trick Pepto; the Abilene Spectacular Open Limited on Trick Pepto; and the Arbuckle Mountain Classic Open Limited on NQH Tom Cat.