Phil Rapp on Waco Bend Ranch’s Dont Look Twice and Constance Jaeggi on Dual R Smokin marked 229 and 228, respectively, to win the Open and Non-Pro divisions of the Mercuria NCHA World Series of Cutting tonight at AQHA’s Battle in the Saddle in Oklahoma City.
Dont Look Twice, by High Brow Cat out of Tapt Twice, set the pace in the go-round with a 224. Working fourth in the finals, she caught a zinger of a second cow that Rapp was pleased to get off of safely.
“The third cow was one we picked and boy she was pretty snuffy,” he said. “I had to hold her for 32 seconds and I’m glad I was on that mare because that cow was in her face, just nose-to-nose down there. I’m glad the music was loud because I was shushing a little bit, but that mare did everything she could do. She’s a great mare.”
Dont Look Twice had motherly duties between the go-round and finals at the Battle in the Saddle. Rapp said that after the first round, she went to Royal Vista to have a Spots Hot embryo flushed. She has also been bred to Third Cutting and Dual Rey this season.
This was Dont Look Twice’s second World Series win this year. She scored at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo with a 228. In fact, she has marked 228 three other times in the finals at the 2009 Augusta Futurity, the Mercuria NCHA World Series at the Calgary Stampede last year, and at the 2009 NCHA Derby, where she finished second to Third Cutting’s 228.5.
Her paycheck in Oklahoma City will take her earnings over $510,000, making her the second richest mare in training today, not far behind Triple Crown winner Chiquita Pistol, who is being shown in Youth and Amateur competition by Cydney Kessler.
Constance Jaeggi, who won the Super Stakes Classic Non-Pro with Dual R Smokin this spring, had the second high score in the go-round, a 224 behind Dan Hansen with a 228 on Woody Be Lucky.
Dual R Smokin, a 6-year-old stallion by Dual Rey out of Smokin Pepto, recorded a career high score of 228 in the finals.
“The horse was incredible, as usual,” said Jaeggi. “He just feels so cool to ride, I can’t describe him. It was a good, fast run, a good finals. That’s all you can ask for.
“I know with him, all I have to do is cut the cow right and he’ll do his job. He’ll get you there.”
Dual R Smokin won the Open finals of the Mercuria NCHA World Series event at El Rancho Futurity last fall, marking 227. He’s earned more than $150,000.
Jaeggi said her next stop with the stallion is the World Series event at the Calgary Stampede, followed by some $1,000-added cuttings in Colorado with hopes of moving into the Top 15 in the Non-Pro division.