Lance Cooper on Babygoterboonjeanson. Hart Photography.
Saturday, November 24, Fort Worth, Tex.
2018 North Texas Chevy Dealers NCHA Futurity, presented by Great American Insurance
Riding Babygoterboonjeanson, who he showed on Friday to claim the lead in the Non-Pro Limited field with 217 points, Lance Cooper scored 218 points to top Saturday’s Non-Pro entrants on the second day of first go-round competition. Dustin Adams, who scored 219 points aboard Hot Sriracha on Friday, maintained his lead in the Non-Pro division.
Babygoterboonjeanson is a full sister, by Boon Too Suen, to Suen You Will See ($163,778), a 2014 NCHA Futurity Open finalist under Lance’s father, Michael Cooper.
Lance Cooper was co-champion of last year’s NCHA Futurity Non-Pro Limited championship with Zen And Tonic ($130,455), a High Brow CD daughter who has carried him to win 11 limited age event championships.
Meanwhile, Jim Vangilder, Weatherford, Tex., aboard his Kit Kat Sugar daughter, Justa Lil Brownsugar, marked 217, the top score among Saturday’s Non-Pro Limited riders. In topping Saturday’s field with 217 points, Vangilder also tied Lance Cooper for the lead in Limited Non-Pro competition.
Vangilder, an NCHA Non-Pro Hall of Fame earner of $1,233,622, was Non-Pro reserve champion of the 2005 NCHA Futurity on Mr Tele San. Between 2002, when he won the 2002 NCHA Amateur Derby, and 2009, when he held a dispersal sale, Vangilder’s Rock Creek Ranch ranked as the #4 all-time leading owner of cutting horses, and Vangilder ranked as the #14 all-time leading non-pro rider. Some of his most memorable mounts, which were also shown by leading trainers Matt Gaines and Roger Wagner, included Quintain Blue ($594,637), Merada Clone ($421,952), Pet Squirrel ($389,160), and Playin At The Mall ($292,399).
Back in the saddle this year, after a 10-year hiatus, Vangilder won the NCHA Derby Limited Non-Pro on Take It Eazee and the NCHA Super Stakes Classic Amateur with Smooth Sailing Cat, both sired by Smooth As A Cat. Justa Lil Brownsugar, sired by Kit Kat Sugar, is out of Travs Scooter, the 2006 NCHA Futurity Non-Pro champion under Matt Miller. Vangilder also owns Sugrspiznevrthingniz, who qualified for the NCHA Futurity Open Semi-Finals on December 8.
Competition in the first go-round of the Non-Pro/Non-Pro Limited continues through Monday, November 26.