“He’s just like the Little Engine That Could,” said Tate Bennett of Rios Jewel last week, when the scrappy gelding scored 221 points to tie Bennett’s other mount, Nothing To Lose, with the high score from the first go-round of the NCHA Futurity.

On Monday, Rios Jewel won the John Deere Open Division with 224 points, as the first horse to work in the 20-horse finals. Bennett also scored 217.5 points on Nothing To Lose for seventh place, to garner a total of $35,274.

High Brow Jackson and Monty Buntin claimed reserve with 222.5 points, and Boon San Spoon and Jesse Lennox took third with 222 points.

“My other horse has probably gotten a lot more attention, the way he’s bred (by High Brow Cat), but I’ve always believed in this horse,” said Bennett of Bobs Hickory Rio-sired Rios Jewel.

“He’s a little horse with a big heart. He tries hard and likes to go fast, and so do I. Tonight, I was just trying to do all I could to let my horse show good and let it build.

“Everybody has made fun of him because of the way he’s made with his short ears and short neck. But he’s really dynamic and when he lays down on a cow, it takes care of itself.”

Rios Jewel is a half-brother to Jewel Bars Cat, reserve champion of the 2011 NCHA Futurity with Ronnie Rice.

Both Rios Jewel and Nothing To Lose qualified for the Open Semi-Finals.

High Brow Jackson

“I’d been thinking about Tate all day,” said Monty Buntin, who cruised through the go-rounds with scores of 216 and 217 aboard High Brow Jackson. “I knew I had to be as aggressive as possible to try to beat him; that was my game plan. And after that first cow, I knew we had a shot to be near the top.”

The Futurity was a first for Buntin, 21, as well as for High Brow Jackson’s owner Scott Gaddy, Clements, Calif. Gaddy paid $40,000 for the High Brow Cat colt at the 2010 NCHA Futurity Sales, then entered him in the 2011 Futurity Sale under trainer Hayden Upton and turned down a live bid of $315,000.

“The bidding fell just short of the reserve, so we ended up keeping him,” said Gaddy, a former reined cowhorse competitor. “I am thrilled that we did.”

Buntin, who apprenticed with Tim Smith and now trains out of Gaddy’s facility, took up High Brow Jackson’s reins two months ago.

“I was excited to get to ride him,” said Buntin. “Tim (Smith) said it’s like taking ‘Elvis to the building.’

“That horse is so smart about a cow, and he can go a lot faster than I thought he could.

“I made the Semi-Finals, so I sort of used this as a test. I had never asked him before and I wanted to see what happened if I did. I didn’t know he could stop that hard, until that run.”