Stacie McDavid of Fort Worth, Tex., claimed her second Amateur championship at the Kit Kat Sugar NCHA Super Stakes in Fort Worth on Thursday, April 15. Riding DMAC Sweet N Sour, she scored 221 to beat John Kratzer of Weatherford, Tex., with a 220 on Babes Smart Cat. Bobby Ray Hawkins of Seguin, Tex., placed third with a 219.5 on Im A Platinum Kitty.
McDavid, the NCHA Non-Pro Hall of Fame earner of $1,123,098, won her first Amateur Super Stakes title in 1997, riding Smart Little Tex LTE $56,881. In between those wins, she’s been a Non-Pro or Amateur finalist 15 times in the Super Stakes or Super Stakes Classic. She has won many Non-Pro or Amateur championships including the Breeders Invitational, Abilene and the Bonanza.
DMAC Sweet N Sour LTE $86,589 is a home-bred son of Hottish out of Cherry Chex Dually LTE $230,488, by Hes A Peptospoonful, winner of Open championships at Abilene and the Brazos Bash with Eddie Flynn, and of the Amateur NCHA Classic Challenge with Jon Winkelried. Cherry Chex Dually has produced earners of $402,429, including Dmac Piccolo Pete LTE $193,330.
DMAC Sweet N Sour was an Open finalist at the NCHA Futurity, Brazos Bash and Idaho Futurity with Clint Allen.
John Kratzer, the NCHA earner of $334,138, was a Limited Non-Pro finalist at the 2016 Super Stakes on Secrets Blue Angel LTE $25,141. He has won championships at Pacific Coast Futurity and Derby, South Point, and the Northwest Ranch Festival.
Babes Smart Cat LTE $49,373 was bred by Wagonhound Land & Livestock by WR This Cats Smart out of Just U Babe, by Lizzys Gotta Player. Just U Babe was not a money earner, but her siblings. out of Moms Stylish Babe, have taken home $1.3 million, including Moms Stylish Player LTE $411,889, Cat Mom Do LTE $199,423, Card Trick LTE $191,555 and My Lizzy Babe LTE $163,653.
Kratzer and Babes Smart Cat placed in the Cattlemen’s Classic this spring. Tatum Rice showed the mare to the Open reserve championship at that show, and rode her in six major event finals last year.
In third place, Bobby Ray Hawkins, the NCHA earner of $457,973, won back-to-back Unlimited Amateur championships at the Super Stakes in 2014/2015 on Lil Ruby Rey LTE $61,234 and Reybellion LTE $123,421. He won his first title in Will Rogers Coliseum in the Non-Pro NCHA Challenge in 1989 on Athena Peppy LTE $73,055.
His 2021 mount, Im A Platinum Kitty LTE $76,988 made her debut with a fourth-place finish in the Non-Pro NCHA Futurity in 2019. She followed that by making the finals at the Bonanza, Cattlemen’s Derby, West Texas, and the Pacific Coast Futurity 4-year-old last year.
