NCHA News

The stakes were high on Tuesday at the Abilene Spectacular, where the second go-round of Open 4-year-old competition saw 28 horses with cumulative scores of 434.5 points or more advance to Wednesday’s Derby Finals, and 19 Open 5- & 6-year-olds with scores of 220.5 points or more advance to the Classic Finals.

Boondexterous under Cullen Chartier, and Jae Zee, with Tatum Rice, topped the 4-year-old field with scores of 441 points. Shorty Katz and and owner Jason Clark claimed the second-highest cumulative with 440 points. Jae Zee and Rice tied Ireydescent and Adan Banuelos with 222 points, the high score of the second go-round, while Boondexterous and Chartier had tied Babes Smart Cat and Tatum Rice with 222 points, the high score from the first go-round.

Boondexterous, sired by Once In A Blu Boon, is owned by Belle Terre Ranch, Corinth, Miss. Jae Zee, by Boon Too Suen, is owned by his breeders, Kevin and Sydney Knight, Weatherford, Tex. Ireydescent, by Dual Rey, is owned by Brumbaugh Ranches, Aledo, Tex., and Babes Smart Cat, sired by WR This Cats Smart, is owned by Cows & Horses, Etc., Dallas, Tex.

Sundance Jessie LTE $58,612, shown by John Mitchell for Slate River Ranch, Weatherford, Tex., earned the high-score, 224 points, from the Open Classic go-round. The 6-year-old Metallic Cat gelding was a top 10 finalist with Mitchell last year in both the NCHA Super Stakes Classic and the NCHA Classic Challenge, and is a half or three-quarter sibling, out of a Grays Starlight daughter, to the earners of more than $650,000.

Second and third place in the Classic go-round went to Slooow Ride LTE $139,258, with 223.5 points under Lloyd Cox, for Pat and Lisa Taylor, Pilot Point, Tex., and Rocky Mountain Blues LTE 38,450, with 223 points under Rodrigo, Taboga, for Selena Orchard Barboso, Paso Robles, Calif.

Five-year-old Slooow Ride, by Metallic Cat, won the 2019 Breeders Invitational with Cox, while Rocky Mountain Blues, sired by Smooth As A Cat and shown by Taboga, won the 2019 Southern Futurity Open Ltd, placed second in the Ike Hamilton Open Ltd, and was third in the NCHA Derby Open Ltd.

Slooow Ride is one of four Abilene Spectacular Open Classic finalists ridden by Lloyd Cox. The other three are Hott Heels LTE $169,223, sired by Hottish and owned by Julie Jarma, Whitesboro, Tex.; Ms Baby Cakes LTE $110,363, sired by Metallic Cat and owned by Barker Ranch, Madill, Okla.; and Cocktailhrcatastrphe, owned by SDM Quarter Horses, Weatherford, Tex.

Cox also qualified with three horses for the Abilene Spectacular Derby: Miss Blu Boon, sired by Once In A Blu Boon and owned by Kathleen Moore, Madill, Okla,;  Oreyginal Gangsta, sired by Dual Reys Playmate and owned by Pat and Lisa Taylor, Pilot Point, Tex.; and When Ur Hott Ur Hott, sired by Hottish and owned by Bradley Rogers, Madill, Okla. To read more from Sally Harrison visit sallyharrison.com.