A third of the way through the second set of the Amateur Derby finals, it looked like Kathleen Moore might wind up Co-Champion, thanks to the 215 leading score she shared with Bernie Kirkland. But then Moore, of Madill, Oklahoma, literally outdid herself, marking 217.5 on Sarenadual for an outright win at the NCHA Summer Spectacular presented by Great American Insurance in Fort Worth. Moore’s 215 on Heres Lookin At You held up for the Co-Reserve honors.

“I can’t believe it,” said Moore, who is graduating out of the Amateur division this year. “I’ve just got two real good horses and real good help. To go out of the Amateur with a win like this, I’m pretty happy!”

Sarenadual is a Dual Pep mare bred by Glade Knight of Slate River Ranch and trained by James Payne. Moore and Sarenadual made the Amateur finals at the NCHA Futurity and the Super Stakes, and Moore won the Arbuckle Mountain Futurity on her other horse, Heres Lookin At You, by Peptoboonsmal (trained by Lloyd Cox).

“Sarenadual is just a cool mare. She wants to help you so much,” Moore said. “She has a big stop and she’s real easy to get along with.”

Moore, who had little background with horses, got started in cutting about seven years ago, hauling with her nephew, Ty Moore, and the Rogers family of Madill.

“It took me a long time to learn how to do it all, because I learned how to ride at such a late age,” she said. “Those kids could go out there and make it look so simple, and I’d just struggle all the time. They made me determined to do good.”