Clay Johnson took Pete Branch’s advice to heart, when the veteran champ told him not to worry about his draw.

“Pete told me this has been won from every position, so to go down there and just throw down and let it come,” said Johnson, 33, who had drawn dead last on KR Isadora Dual, by Smooth As A Cat, in the finals of the XTO Energy NCHA Super Stakes Saturday night in Fort Worth.

It was Johnson’s first time to qualify for a major open finals and he won it with a 226-point performance that brought down the house.

Branch claimed the reserve championship with 224.5 points on Kit Kat Sugar, a granddaughter of NCHA’s first Horse of the Year Little Badger Dulce, who Branch rode to win the 1993 Super Stakes.

To top off the day, Johnson had earlier been a corner helper for Dustin Adams, when Adams won the Super Stakes Non-Pro championship with 227 points on Hottish, by Spots Hot.

“We had five cows left and we cut our top three,” said Johnson. “I told myself, if I marked 216, I would be stoked because it’s the first time I ever made the finals,” said Johnson, who had been 2009 NCHA Derby Open Limited champion on Sigourney Rey.

Johnson, trained KR Isadora for James and Gay Karhan, Blanco, Tex., who bred KR Isadora Dual, out of Araceli Dual, by Dual Pep. Last year, the Karhan’s purchased a cutting facility near Mineral Wells, Tex., which Johnson operates with the help of his wife, Bobbie.

“This filly was always real wild at home, but I always loved her,” said Johnson. “She kicks the trailer and is terrible to be around, but you put your hand down and she will do whatever she needs to do.

“I nearly saved her for the small futurities, but she wasn’t ready then.” KR Isadora Dual placed seventh in the NCHA Futurity Open Ltd.

Johnson, who grew up on ranches in West Texas, where his father, Michael, works with cattle and horses for a living, and credits trainer Craig Thompson for giving him his start, is also grateful for Bubba Matlock, whom he “worked for for a long time,” before moving out on hi own to the Karhans ranch last spring.

Previously, Johnson’s biggest title win was as champion of the 2009 NCHA Derby Ltd. with Sigourney Rey.

In addition to his 1993 Super Stakes win aboard Little Badger Dulce, Pete Branch also claimed the Super Stakes win aboard Chick Tari in 1982.

“Clay is a good friend of mine,” said Branch. “Any time you get beat, you hope it’s by somebody that’s a good friend and deserves it; and Clay does. He’s worked hard and needed that boost over the hump. I couldn’t be any prouder for him.”

Prior to the Super Stakes, Kit Kat Sugar, bred and owned by Lonnie and Barbara, had already won the Bonanza Cutting and the Cattlemen’s Derby, and earned $80,689.

“He’s very cow smart and fun to ride,” said Branch, who has trained and shown world champions and limited age event champions for the Allsups for over 25 years. “He’s smart like Dulce was, but probably more of an athlete than she was.”

Adams Non-Pro champion
Dustin Adams and Hottish came out of the gate and lapped the field with a 227-point NCHA Super Stakes Non-Pro record win, as second to work in the Finals.

“I was just trying to focus on doing my job,” said Adams. “He is so strong physically that he’s hard to ride. It was a matter of me trying to sit in the middle of him because his legs were going everywhere.

“I think he’s the best horse I’ve ever had. We just love him and always have, and I think Lloyd loves him.”

Hottish, sired by Spots Hot and bred by Gail Holmes, was trained for Adams and his wife, Deena, by Lloyd Cox, who showed the colt’s mother, Stylish Play Lena, to win over $265,000. Cox has placed with the colt at the NCHA Futurity, as well as at the Augusta Futurity and the Arbuckle Mountain Derby. The Super Stakes was Adams’ first show aboard the horse.

“I wasn’t originally going to show him, but Lloyd had some tough luck on him in the (Open) second go-round and we decided at the last minute that I would show him,“ explained Adams, an all-time leading non-pro competitor with over $3.3 million in earnings.

“This is my second non-pro title here and they’re awfully hard to get, so it’s very special.” Adams won the 2006 NCHA Non-Pro Derby on SDP Hicapoos CD.

Kyle Manion claimed the Non-Pro reserve champion’s title with a 219-point performance on Chet Smooth, including 25 solid seconds of work on his last cow. He also won the Novice Non-Pro division.

Christina Cox, wife of Lloyd Cox, was third with 218 points on SDP Twist Of Sue and also tied for seventh on Boozin Susan.

Chet Smooth is sired by Smooth As A Cat, and out of a full sister to the dam of Open reserve champion Kit Kat Smooth, ridden by Pete Branch.

Smooth As A Cat, High Brow Cat’s leading son, is owned by Kyle Manion, and was bred by Kyle’s father, Tommy Manion.

Read more in the Daily Chatter, presented by the David McDavid Family.