NCHA News

Copperish, shown by Lloyd Cox for Jimmie Miller Smith, Geary, Okla., scored 221.5 points on Saturday to win the NCHA Derby Open Semi-Finals. Desires Time, owned by H.B. Bartlett, Pike Road, Ala., and shown by Lee Francois, scored 221 points for second; Sir Long Legs, under Austin Shepard for Lew Hall, Lakeland, Fla., and Cinca Im Hot with Jesse Lennox for Rocking P Ranch, Fort Worth, Tex., tied for third with 220 points.

Twenty-one horses with scores of 217 points or higher from the 50-horse Semi-Finals qualified for Sunday’s NCHA Derby Open Finals.

Copperish LTE $67,534 has won or placed in five major 2017 events under Lloyd Cox, including championship wins in the Bonanza Cutting and the Cattlemen’s Derby. In addition, the sorrel mare earned money as a semi-finalist in the NCHA Futurity and the NCHA Super Stakes.

Sired by Metallic Cat, Copperish is a three-quarter sister to Smooth Talkin Style LTE $293,232, the 2015 NCHA Open Horse of the Year. Their dam, Stylish Play Lena LTE $264,474, has produced 18 NCHA money earners of $1,602,114. Cooperish’s owner, Jimmie Miller Smith, has had a long and “colorful” career as a horse owner and breeder. In 1983, Smith’s flashy Appaloosa stallion, sired by Doc O’Lena and trained by Bill Freeman, who at the time also had the now legendary Smart Little Lena in his barn, won the 1983 PCCHA Derby. Another Smith-bred Appaloosa, Ima A Little Lena, from Smart Little Lena’s first crop of foals, was a 1988 Augusta Futurity finalist under Freeman, as well.

Miller purchased Copperish as a yearling from her breeder and consignor, Double Dove Ranch, for $210,000, at Western Bloodstock’s 2014 NCHA Futurity Sales.

Lloyd Cox, who also showed Copperish’s dam, Stylish Play Lena, as well as Smooth Talkin Style, is an NCHA Hall of Fame Rider and is ranked third among all-time leading cutting horse trainers with earnings of $7,869,581.

Desires Time $33,817, by One Time Pepto, was bred by H.B. “Woody” Bartlett, out of Reys Desire, by Dual Rey. Reys Desire LTE $393,766 won the 2010 NCHA Super Stakes Open and the 2011 Super Stakes Classic under Lee Francois, who showed her as a finalist in 24 major events.

Sir Long Legs LTE $214,682, by High Brow Cat and out of Lil Lena Long Legs LTE $189,672, by Smart Little Lena, was the 2016 NCHA Futurity Open reserve champion under Austin Shepard. The sorrel stallion’s owner, Lew Hall, purchased him as a yearling from his breeder, Cannon Quarter Horses, for $90,000 at Western Bloodstock’s 2014 NCHA Futurity Sales.

Austin Shepard, who also qualified for the NCHA Derby Open Finals with 217.5 points on Tap This for Joel and Jayne Colgrove, is an NCHA Hall of Fame Rider and NCHA earner of $6,895,065.

Cinca Im Hot LTE $102,540, by Spots Hot and out of Cinca De Maya LTE $106,341, by Dual Rey, was an NCHA Futurity Open finalist and won the 2017 Breeders Invitational under Jesse Lennox for Rocking P Ranch, who owns Cinca Im Hot’s sire.  Second dam Highbrow Supercat LTE $364,690, won the 2005 NCHA Futurity Open championship and is a leading dam of earners of $1,170,000.