Patrick Collins, 2011 NCHA Non-Pro Futurity reserve champion aboard Oh Cay Do Over, won the  Super Stakes Gelding championship on Thursday with 217.5 points, riding Lach Down. Danny Miller placed as reserve with 217 points on Bet He Be A Starlite.

Lach Down, by Chula Dual, is half-brother to Oh Cay Do Over, by Smooth As A Cat, and to 2011 NCHA Futurity Open champion Oh Miss Caroline, by High Brow Cat, trained and shown for Patrick and Laura Collins by Craig Thompson.

The three siblings are out of Oh Cay Shorty, a treasured member of the Collins family shown by Patrick, as well as the Collins’ four sons, including Lach, for whom Lach Down was named.

Oh Cay Shorty is also dam of Oh Cay Felix, 2006 NCHA Open Futurity champion with Thompson, and Amateur Futurity champion with Patrick Collins.

“He’s very smooth-stopping and a big sweeping mover,” said Collins of Lach Down. “The first cow wouldn’t let me off of it and I wondered if I should look for a spot and try to get off quick. But he had the cow trapped. He wasn’t going really fast, but he wasn’t going to lose it, so I decided to wait until the cow turned away.”

Collins worked 11th in the 14-horse finals (three horses were scratched), where Miller had marked 217 points as the fourth rider.

All of the Gelding finalists had worked earlier in the day in the Non-Pro Semi-Finals, which was won by Monte Strusiner with 219.5 points on Mates Hotrock Hannah.

Gelding finalists who also advanced to the Non-Pro Finals are Lana Jill Peacock on Smart Rey Badger; Kyle Manion with Chet Smooth; Austin Blake aboard Sly Lil Cat; Clay McCullar on Jet; and the three scratches – Darren Blanton and Short N Smooth; Chad Bushaw with Bet On A Cat; and Christina Galyean on SDP Twist Of Sue.

Both Collins and Miller had tough luck in the Semi-Finals and didn’t make the cut to the finals.

“I was much more relaxed this time,” said Miller, who had scored 219 points in the second go-round to tie for the win with Mary Ann Rapp on Pitch Till You Win. “And I was fortunate to have a set between my runs. Some of them didn’t; they just had to turn around and go show again.”

Miller worked in the fourth set of the five-set Semi-Finals.

Gelding finalists Bill Cowan and Sand Boon (5th), Mary Ann Rapp and Pitch Till You Win (6-7); and Toddy Pitard and Tom Catt (12th) all worked in back-to-back sets.

“He’s a lot of fun to ride,” said Miller of Bet He Be A Starlite, by Bet On Me 498, who Miller purchased last December, for $10,000 at the NCHA Futurity Sale.

“Basically my job is to stay out of his way, and that’s what I did tonight. On my last cut, a (stray) cow came back (after the cut), but my horse stayed right on the cow that he was supposed to be on and Lloyd (Cox) and Boyd (Rice) got the other cow out of the way.”

Bet He Be A Starlite and Miller won the Cattlemen’s Derby Non-Pro Gelding division and placed fifth in the Non-Pro there; they also placed 10th in the Tunica Futurity.

Miller has been a Non-Pro and/or Amateur finalist eight times in NCHA Triple Crown events, as well as a champion in the Breeders Invitational (2003 and 2005), Augusta Futurity (2001) and West Texas Futurity (2002). His son, trainer Matt Miller, shows Thundercat in today’s Open Semi-Finals.