Trained and shown by Shannon Hall for Billy Emerson, the Peptoboonsmal daughter earned 219.5 points, the second highest score from the first go-round, which concluded yesterday.
Altogether, 255 horses advancing to the second go-round on scores of 212 or above, and fittingly named Wipe Your Brow was the last horse on the alphabetical list of 28 horses that scored 212 points.
Nothing To Lose and Rios Jewel, both trained, owned and shown by Tate Bennett, topped the list with 221 points.
Shannon Hall was a bit apprehensive coming into the Futurity with Creedence Clearwater. The Peptoboonsmal daughter had recently returned to training following a six-week layoff necessitated by an injury. Because she had been started on cattle later than most of the other nominated horses, a layoff so close to the Futurity was cause for concern.
“J.D. Garrett rode her as a two-year-old and did a phenomenal job,” said Hall. “He’s one of the best horse breakers in the business. He had gotten her late and she wanted to be pretty broncy, so she hadn’t worked a cow much when I got her.
“I wasn’t sure about her at first because she felt green, but she just became a great horse. Then she got a bone bruise and we had to lay her off. But she is one hundred percent sound now and she feels good.”
Creedence Clearwater is out of Duals Play Kit, LTE $235,489, who was trained by Hall for then amateur rider Clay McCullar, and was shown by both Hall and McCullar. McCullar is being inducted into the Non-Pro Hall of Fame.
When Billy Emerson purchased her, the Duals Play Kit daughter was registered as Peptos Play Kit and Emerson asked McCullar whether he minded if he changed her name.
“Because a mare like this doesn’t come along very often, I wanted to change her name to be more in line with where the money came from to buy her,” said Emerson, the music distributor who represented Creedence Clearwater Revival during the years that it was the number one rock and roll band in the country.
One Gone Cat and his trainer Rowdy Larson, who shows the gelded son of WR This Cats Smart for Lana Peacock, Wichita Falls, Tex., claimed yesterday’s second-highest score of 219 points.
“He loves what he’s doing and just tries to please every time,” said Larson, who started One Gone Cat at two for his breeder, Kathleen Moore.
“He hates to be wrong. If he does something wrong and I have to correct him, he’ll try twice as hard next time not to make a mistake. I love that about him.”