Lights out. Curtain up. That was the scenario when action resumed at the NCHA Derby, after a scramble to restore power in Will Rogers Coliseum and a two hour hiatus.
Cutting resumed with the second set of the Non-Pro Derby, where Kristen Galyean and Carl Smith claimed champion and reserve titles.
Pounce and Phil Hanson set the Open pace with 223 points, as the third pair to work in the first group of cattle. Hanson came back in the second set with a 227-point power surge on LHR Smooth Jamie May.
“I would have never dreamed it,” said Hanson, who won the championship and tied Rascal Cats and Wesley Galyean for reserve with his 223-point performance on Pounce.
“She’s tight and smart on a cow and does everything that she needs to do,” said Hanson of LHR Smooth Jamie May, owned by Sherry Chamberlin’s South Lazy H Ranch. “She can look pretty on a soft cow and look pretty running and stopping and we had a little of both in that run.”
Hanson and the Smooth As A Cat daughter came into the Derby off of championship wins at the Breeders Invitational and the Bonanza Cutting.
Pounce, owned by Julie Clark, is sired by High Brow Cat and was trained through the NCHA Futurity by Zane Davis. She had earned $16,000 coming into the NCHA Derby.
“I’ve had some tough luck with Pounce, but it all came together here,” said Hanson. “She has a deep stop and a real curl to her neck. She doesn’t get as low as Jamie does, but she kind of bends in half to get back through there and has a lot of eye appeal.”
LHR Smooth Jamie May was started by Scott Johnston, who sold her to South Lazy H Ranch last June.
Rascal Cats and Wesley Galyean won the second go-round with a do-or-die 223-point performance following a 208-point first round wild cow fiasco.
“I always felt he could mark those (scores),” said Galyean of the High Brow Cat son, who he showed to place third at the Augusta Futurity and the Breeders Invitational.
“He’s always had that kind of talent, but it’s tough to get those runs.”
Rascal Cats, by High Brow Cat, was trained by Galyean for his breeder, Billy Martin, and is owned by Stephen Feiner.