Earlier in the week, Chris Bates marked 219 points, the go-round’s second-highest score, aboard Grit And Grace, Smooth Peanutbutter,’s half-sister (by One Time Pepto), also trained by Gonsalves and bred and owned by Iron Rose Ranch.
“Gary was vacillating whether he was going to ride her or the two studs that he (eventually) showed,” said Smith. “I’m very fortunate that he called me.
“She’s a wonderful little mare. She just has a presence about her and I think she can go a long way.
“We had a little bobble — I maybe got out of time with her for just a second — but she swallowed it up and got right back in there. I was very proud of her.”
Gonsalves scored 216.5 points on DMAC Big Casino for David and Stacie McDavid of Fort Worth, and 214 points aboard Cashflow for Iron Rose Ranch. He shows both horses again on Sunday, in the second go-round.
Smooth Peanutbutter and Grit And Grace, are out of Justa Smart Peanut, the 2000 NCHA Futurity Open reserve champion, shown by Faron Hightower for Dean Sanders, and lifetime NCHA earner of $353,414.
Sly Playgirl, ridden by Jaime Snider for Robert Borick, was the high-scoring horse from the first-go-round, where 249 entries with scores of 211 points and above advanced to this weekend’s second go-round. Sly Playgirl, by That Sly Cat, works in today’s fifth set.
Dam right
Justa Smart Peanut wasn’t the only great mare to be represented by two first-round leading contenders on Friday.
Cat Man Blue, with 217 points under Sean Flynn, and Blue One Time, with 216.5 under Clint Allen, are out of Quintan Blue, the NCHA lifetime earner of $594,637. Both sold in 2009 at the Rock Creek Dispersal Sale: Blue One Time, by One Time Pepto for $245,000, and Cat Man Blue, by High Brow Cat, for $210,000.
“He had such a good foundation that I could just go on with him,” said Allen of Blue One Time, started by Roger Wagner and now owned by Dave and Georgia Husby.
“He’s a complete package,” said Flynn of Cat Man Blue, who he shows for Lazy M Cattle LLC.
Quintan Blue’s first money earner is 4-year-old Dualin Blue, the earner of $35,758.