Dont Look Twice and Phil Rapp topped the first day of Classic Challenge Open competition with 222 points, five days after the High Brow Cat daughter scored 229 points to win the Mercuria NCHA World Series of Cutting in Oklahoma City.

“We had a good draw and good cows,” said Rapp, who was fourth to show in the last set of the day. “This mare has been on a roll of late.”

Dont Look Twice,  champion of the 2010 NCHA Classic Challenge, was bred by Phil and Mary Ann Rapp and is owned by Louis and Corliss Baldwin’s Waco Bend Ranch. The six-year-old mare has been on a roll since her championship win of the 2009 Augusta Futurity, winning 14 major events and amassing over $513,000 in official NCHA earnings, making her the the richest mare in today’s limited age event competition.

In 2011, alone, Dont Look Twice has claimed four major events with winning scores of 229, 228.5 and 228 points, all the while attending to breeding duties. Between the first round and last of the Battle in the Saddle in Oklahoma City, she produced an embryo flush by Spots Hot. Earlier flushes came from Third Cutting and Dual Rey, and she also has two Dual Rey foals on the ground.

Phil and Mary Ann Rapp are the sport’s leading owners with earners of more than $7 million. Tapeppyoka Peppy, the third dam of Dont Look Twice, was one of Rapp’s first mounts, and he earned $450,639 on unforgettable Tap O Lena, the second dam of Dont Look Twice, as well as $279,457 on her dam, Tapt Twice.

Three’s company

Spookys Smarty Rey, Whiskeynadirtyglass and Intention Del Rey each earned  220 points – yesterday’s second-highest mark.

Gary Gonsalves showed Spookys Smarty Rey, by Dual Rey, for Tom Bailey’s Iron Rose Ranch.

“He’s a good little horse,” said Gonsalves of the 6-year-old gelding. “But he’s been kind of a bad luck horse. It’s been one thing after another with him, but he seems pretty healthy now.

“I give Chelsea Wilson a lot of the credit. She ices him every time we work him and uses (a special therapy) on him every day. She has him feeling as good as he’s ever felt.”

Spookys Smarty Rey, bred by Iron Rose Ranch, is out of Spookys Smarty Pants, reserve champion of the 2002 NCHA Futurity and earner of $230,280 under Gary Gonsalves.

“He has a lot of movement and is real cowy and is going to try,” said Gonsalves of the winner of the 2010 Bonanza Cutting. “He’s always been a fun horse to ride.”

Whiskeynadirtyglass got a jump on his career under Tim Smith, who placed eighth with him, as a catch rider for Phil Rapp.

Then Brett McGlothlin took the reins for owner Vincenzo Vario in 2011 and qualified for the Abilene Spectacular finals and won the Open Limited divison of the NCHA Super Stakes Classic.

“He lets me ride him to go and stop that cow, wherever,” said McGlothlin of the 5-year-old stallion. “The harder you ride him, the tighter he gets on a cow. And he’s so smart and has so much eye appeal.”

Vario, an amateur rider, enlisted McGlothlin at this time last year to mange his ranch in Weatherford, Texas and to train his horses, as well as those of outside clients.

Intention Del Rey made his 220-point mark under 2010 NCHA Futurity winner Lloyd Cox, as the first horse in the sixth set.

The TR Dual Rey son is owned by Bambi Gress, who has shown him as a non-pro and amateur finalist in the Northwest. Cox, however, took him to a new level, when he showed him to third place and a payout of $15,000 in the 2011 Arbuckle Mountain Classic.

Cox also scored 217 points, yesterday, aboard Cat On A Mission, for John McClaren.

Herding Cats and Smooth Going Cat were also in the top ranks with 219.5 points each. Five-year-old Herding Cats, owned by Eddie Young and ridden by Sean Flynn, was a 2011 NCHA Super Stakes Classic under Flynn.

Smooth Going Cat, by Smooth As A Cat, was shown by Matt Miller for Kyle Manion; Miller also scored 217 points on the Smooth As A Cat daughter Holly Is Smooth, owned by Tommy Manion.

“I’ve trained her since she was three and she’s been a good horse,” said Miller, who showed Smooth Going Cat  to place third in the 2009 NCHA Futurity. “She is so smart, she never gets in the wrong spot. And she is always right in the middle of that cow.”

Miller rode 5-year-old Holly Is Smooth as champion of the 2011 Abilene Spectacular.

“Holly has a lot of reach and gets across a cow and traps one,” he said. “Both of those mares have always been there for me no matter what kind of cows that I cut.”

Tyler Merrill, who works for Miller, scored 218 points aboard Stylish Scotti for Cowan Select Horses.

See today’s complete issue of the Daily Chatter here.