Loony Cat became a top-ranked cat among 3-year-old cutting horses this week with a 220-point win in the Brazos Bash Futurity. It was the second consecutive win in two shows for the gelding, who claimed the Cotton Stakes Futurity with 220 points on September 14 and has cumulative earnings of $30,000.
Bred and owned by legendary country music radio host Bob Kingsley, Weatherford, Tex., and trained and shown by Matt Gaines, High Brow Cat-sired Loony Cat also won the first go-round of the Brazos Bash with 219 points and earned the high cumulative go-round score of 435.5.
“Loony was a great cutting horse and now it looks like she’s a great producer,” said Kingsley of Loony Cat’s dam, Little Pepto Gal, who earned the barn name of Loony because of her antics. Also trained and shown by Gaines, Little Pepto Gal was named 2002 NCHA Horse of the Year and retired with $490,951 in official NCHA earnings. Her nine performers have combined earnings of $491,156.
Loony Cat’s full siblings, 4-year-old Cats Little Pepto and 6-year-old Little Pepto Cat, were fifth-and-sixth-place finalists, respectively, under Gaines in the Brazos Bash Derby and the Classic.
“It took Little Pepto Cat through his 4-year-old year to really get it together, but this horse has come on a lot faster,” said Kingsley. “I think it has a great deal to do with the fact that we (gelded) him when he was two as opposed to at three.”
Little Pepto Cat, lifetime earner of nearly $260,000, has been an open and/or non-pro finalist in 13 major events and claimed four championship wins in 2012, alone. Cats Little Pepto is the earner of $67,969 from six major finals in 2011 and 2012.
What made Kingsley decide to show Loony Cat in the fall futurities and forfeit a shot for up to $200,000 in the NCHA Futurity?
“I leave that to the trainer,” he said. “Matt obviously feels like he’s got two better three-year-olds. For me, I would rather my horses go to the small futurities with the trainer who has had them since they were two, as opposed to going to the big Futurity with a catch rider. I know it works for some people, but it has never worked for me.”
Smooth As I Can, shown by Matt Miller for Janice Easton, was reserve champion of the Brazos Bash Futurity with 217 points. The Smooth As A Cat daughter, who won the West Texas Futurity and placed third in the Cotton Stakes, has cumulative earnings of $38,000.
Gaines also placed eighth in the Brazos Bash Futurity riding Prada Catwalk for Kyle and Charlene Aymond, and 13th in the Classic aboard Pepto Blues for Thad Herron.
Click here for full results from the Brazos Bash.