Working last in the first set of cattle in the NCHA Super Stakes Classic Rios of Mercedes Amateur finals Wednesday night took the pressure off Kelsey Weeks of Cotulla, Texas.
“I wasn’t actually that nervous because I was last and I didn’t have much hope,” said Weeks, 22. “I knew there were about three cows in there that were fresh and were going to be okay, so I just wanted to cut those three and try to be correct. That was my whole goal.”
Mission accomplished. Weeks and her 5-year-old WR This Cats Smart mare Holidayware marked 223, which wound up as a 6.5-point winning margin. Larami Stewart of Munday, Texas, was second on Haidas Screamin Cat, by High Brow Cat.
Bred by Ware Farms, Holidayware is out of the Peptoboonsmal mare Readytoware, a granddaughter of $450,000-producer Sugs Gay Lady.
Trey Hunt started Holidayware, and made the finals of the Waco Texas Futurity as a 3-year-old. Weeks bought the mare a year ago and was an NCHA Derby Limited Non-Pro finalist on her way to winning the Amateur at the Cotton Stakes.
Weeks, who won the 2011 NCHA Amateur Futurity with One Sweet Sis, a finalist in Thursday’s Amateur Super Stakes, gives the nod to Holidayware as her favorite.
“This one is probably my favorite because she’s so quick and she’s got such a hard stop,” said the Tarleton State ag-economics major. “She likes to go fast, and I like to go fast. She’s been so much fun. I haven’t shown her very much, but I’ve gotten a check on her almost every time.”
Reserve champion Larami Stewart, 20, had been a finalist on Haidas Screamin Cat this year at the Abilene Spectacular, Arbuckle Mountain and Cattlemen’s Derby on her way to Fort Worth.
“I was lucky to get him,” she said. “He’s honest and I can always depend on him.”
Bred by Justin Shaun Lockwood, Haidas Screamin Cat is by High Brow Cat out of Heavenly Haida, by Haidas Little Pep.
Norda Berger of Simonton, Texas and Lyle Winter of Muscatine, Iowa both marked 215 to to be co-champions of the Senior division.
Berger rode High Classed Hottie, a homebred 5-year-old by Spots Hot. Winter rode Ruby Rey, a 6-year-old Dual Rey mare bred by Gray Quarter Horses.