Nelson Knight and Platinum Boon scored 220 points on Thursday for the NCHA Super Stakes Non-Pro Gelding championship. It was the first win in Will Rogers Coliseum for Knight, 31, who lives and works in Richmond, Va. and limits his showing to the three major NCHA events in Fort Worth.

Dean Holden scored 218 points on Playin With A Spoon for  the reserve championship; Dianna Helm placed third with 217 points aboard Cat In The Night.

“I cut three good cows and was able to show what I think he does best — stop and read a cow through the turn,” said Knight. “I wasn’t afraid to cut a quicker cow because if I could keep spreading him across the cow, it would accentuate his stops.”

Knight’s father, Glade, owns Slate River Ranch, Weatherford, Tex., home of Platinum Boon’s sire, Mr Boonsmal To You, as well as Play Miss, dam of Play Brow Cat, a horse that Nelson also qualified for the Non-Pro Gelding Finals, but scratched to conserve for Friday’s Non-Pro Semi-Finals.

Glade Knight was a Non-Pro Gelding finalist (202 points) on Playbrow, out of Play Miss, and qualified on Autumn Boonsmal, who Darren Simpkins will show in the Open Semi-Finals.

It was Simpkins who trained Platinum Boon and showed him to place sixth, on Wednesday, in the Open Gelding Finals.

Nelson Knight qualified for the NCHA Futurity Non-Pro Semi-Finals in his only other event aboard Platinum Boon, a half-brother to Cat N A Hat, 2008 Breeders Invitational Non-Pro reserve champion and earner of $115,000.

Also on Wednesday, Winston Hansma won the Super Stakes Open Gelding championship for Slate River Ranch on Playin Fancy Lights, by CD Lights.

Dean Holden, real estate owner from Marietta, Okla., claimed the lead with 218 points yesterday, as the first rider in the second set of the finals, where Knight had drawn fifth.

“I got the cattle that I wanted,” said Holden. “And I was able to step up and put down a pretty good run.

“This horse is really strong and can handle this ground good, and he’s got a big swoop. He probably makes it look a little easier than it is because he’s big and strong like that.”

Holden purchased Playin With A Spoon, by Hes A Peptospoonful, at auction as an early 3-year-old, on the recommendation of Jason Clark, who had started the horse at McDavid Ranch.

“They really put a good foundation on him,” said Holden, who placed sixth with Playin With A Spoon in the NCHA Non-Pro Futurity and fifth in the Abilene Spectacular Non-Pro.

Smooth Mitch, with John Mitchell, and Playin Fancy Lights, ridden by Winston Hansma, marked back-to-back scores of 218 points to prevail as co-champions of Tuesday’s Open Gelding Finals.

“We took a risk on a little bit quicker cow tonight and it paid off,” said Mitchell, who trained Smooth Mitch for Tom and JoAnn Tudor, Granbury, Tex.

This was the first limited age event for the gelding since the NCHA Futurity, where he scored 217.5 points in the first go-round.

Smooth Mitch is out of a full sister to the Dual Pep daughter Doc Alley, started by Mitchell in 2000, as a 2-year-old for Slate River Ranch, and finished and shown by Paul Hansma as an NCHA Futurity and Super Stakes finalist, for then owner Mary Bradford.

In 2008, the Tudors asked Mitchell to recommend a breeding cross for newly acquired Wahine Dually. He suggested Smooth As A Cat, on the strength of his confidence in a gelding named Smooth Asa Zee, who he was training for Slate River Ranch owner Glade Knight.

Smooth Asa Zee would go on to earn over $375,000 under both Mitchell and Knight. Coincidentally, Knight is also the owner of Playin Fancy Lights.

Smooth Mitch’s full sister, Maliblu, owned by Tatum and Kylie Rice, placed eighth last weekend in the John Deere Ltd Open finals with Josh Drake.

Slate River Ranch also owns Open Gelding finalist Autumn Boonsmal, shown by the ranch’s resident trainer, Darren Simpkins.

Playin Fancy Lights represents special ties for both Glade Knight and Winston Hansma.

The gelding’s sire, CD Lights, was bred and is owned by Winston Hansma and Danny Motes, and was shown by Hansma as 2006 NCHA World Champion Stallion.

Hansma trained and showed CD Lights’ sire, CD Olena, as champion of the 1994 NCHA Futurity and the 1995 NCHA Derby, and to place fifth in the 1995 Super Stakes. He also trained and showed CD Lights’ dam, Delight Of My Life, as champion of the 1997 NCHA Derby and to third-place in the 1997 Super Stakes.

Playin Fancy Lights is out of Playin N Fancy Peppy, trained by John Mitchell and shown by Mitchell and Knight to earn nearly $200,000.

Playin Fancy Lights is also a half-sister to Playin N Fancy Smart, earner of over $340,000, shown by Knight and Kory Pounds.

“Glade knew that Danny and I had a vested interest in (Playin Fancy Lights)and I appreciate his confidence in sending him to me,” said Hansma.

“He has always been a good horse. “I’ve never had one that needed fewer cows to get trained.

“Glade and I had been doubling up on him, but he decided it was best for me to show him here and let the horse get his confidence up. I’ve been pleased with him the whole show.”

High Brow Jackson and Monty Buntin locked down the John Deere Limited Open division of the Super Stakes on Saturday, with a 222-point win. Wicked Wanda Rey and Nate Lansford were reserve with 219 points.

It was just Buntin’s second time to show in Fort Worth. Last December, the 21-year-old rider, who shows for Scott Gaddy, Clements, Calif., claimed the NCHA Futurity Limited reserve title with High Brow Jackson, and placed fifth in the Open finals.

“Gavin Jordan gave me a pep talk before we went down there last night, said Buntin. “He told me that you don’t get very many opportunities in this building for a shot at winning, and this was my shot.

“So that was my philosophy and we went for it as much as we could with the cows that we cut.

“I was sticking him out there where he doesn’t even really want to go, but he makes the job easy because he has an eerie intelligence about cattle and he just doesn’t make mistakes.”

Gaddy purchased High Brow Jackson, by High Brow Cat, for  $40,000 as yearling; put him  in training with Hayden Upton; then consigned the colt to the NCHA Futurity 2-Year-old Sale, where the bidding went to $315,000, just short of Gaddy’s reserve.

“It was a hard decision,” said Gaddy, referring to his decision to stick with his reserve. “But he was a really good prospect, so we ended up keeping him and I’m thrilled that we did.”

“People tell me he’s once-in-a-lifetime horse,” said Buntin, who got his start at age 13, working for Salvador Cabral. “I hope they’re wrong, but he is sure is special.

“He understands everything and never gets confused. You can’t train that intelligence into a horse, but Hayden Upton taught him how to learn, and his success is a tribute to the foundation that Hayden gave him.”

High Brow Jackson and Buntin also qualified, with a cumulative score of 431 points, for the Open Semi-Finals on Friday, April 19. Their next stop is the Breeders Invitational, beginning May 11 in Tulsa, Okla.

Wicked Wanda Rey, owned by Gary Rosenbach’s Rose Valley Ranch, Weatherford, Tex., made her debut as a semi-finalist in the NCHA Futurity under Michael Cooper. But it was Cooper’s assistant, Nate Lansford, showing the Dual Rey daughter for the first time, who claimed the Super Stakes Limited reserve title.

“I couldn’t have asked her to do anything more,” said Lansford, who placed fourth in last year’s event, on Nu Pepto Wood.

“She’s cow smart and a big stopper and she tries to be there for you every time. She let me ride her tonight and did everything that I asked her. She held three bad cows and was spot on everywhere.”

Last weekend, Rosenbach won the Amateur Super Stakes on Scooters Daisy Mae and was reserve champion of the Amateur Classic on Tapt Out.

Kaitlyn Larsen and Light N Lily nosed out Ashley Snider and Sly Chance at the wire Tuesday night, in the Super Stakes Classic Non-Pro, presented by XTO Energy in Fort Worth.

Snider, ninth to show in the 20-horse finals, held the lead with 221.5 points, before Larsen claimed the title with 222 points, in the last hole.

“I was so happy to have that draw, because I was last both times when I was reserve here before,” said Larsen, reserve champion of the 2011 NCHA Super Stakes Non-Pro Classic and NCHA Non-Pro Classic Challenge on Laredo Montana, like Light N Lily, a homebred by family-owned stallion Light N Lena.

“The first two cows were in her face the whole time,” Larsen added. “We cut the third cow clean, but it definitely was not a good cow.”

It was the third major 2013 limited age event win for Larsen and 6-year-old Light N Lily, champions of the Abilene Spectacular Non-Pro Classic and the Cattlemens Non-Pro Classic, and reserve champions of the Bonanza Non-Pro Classic.

“I am excited because this (win) should put us in the lead for (Non-Pro) Horse of the Year, if we weren’t already there.”

Light N Lily has NCHA career earnings of over $136,000.

Larsen, 2012 NCHA Reserve Non-Pro World Champion, attributes her competitive edge this year to her experience “hauling” for the World Championship.

“No matter what the circumstances or the bad cows, we just had to go show,” she said. “It made all the difference in the world.”

Ashley Snider and Sly Chance, by That Sly Cat, also claimed two major 2013 championship wins before this week’s competition — the Bonanza Non-Pro Classic and the Arbuckle Mountain Non-Pro Classic.

“He comes through for me every time,” said Snider. “I put him in a bad spot on that third cow and he shouldn’t have been able to hold it, but he did.”

Snider takes precautions with the 6-year-old gelding, survivor of two colic surgeries that put him out of competition for his entire 5-year-old season.

“Horse trainers are funny because they love their horses, but it’s like tough love,” explained Snider, whose husband, Jaime, trained Sly Chance and showed him at four. “After the second colic surgery, on the morning that he was supposed to show him in the Brazos Bash, Jaime said to me, ‘If he lives, I’m not ever going to ride him again.’

“He just can’t handle the stress of two riders. We’ve had lots of people try to buy him, but we’re so worried that if we sold him, somebody wouldn’t take care of him right and we would never forgive ourselves.”

Sly Chance requires a hayless diet and special attention for cramps that plague him in stressful situations.

“I have to work him super slow,” said Ashley. “I spent two hours this morning sitting on him in the arena and trying to get him to relax.”

Jaime Snider showed Sly Playgirl, also sired by That Sly Cat, for reserve in the Super Stakes Classic Open last weekend.

Monday was payday, all day, for amateurs, who took home a total of $250,000 in prize money from four Rios of Mercedes divisions of the NCHA Super Stakes and Super Stakes Classic, presented by XTO Energy in Fort Worth, Texas.

Gary Rosenbach topped the Super Stakes Amateur with 220 points, from draw no. 27 in the 29-horse finals.

“My first cow was just awesome and my horse held her right in the middle of the pen,” said Rosenbach, who showed Scooters Daisy Dukes, his NCHA Futurity Amateur Finals mount.

“My second cow was good, but when I went back for our third cow, it felt kind of numb, as I was driving through the herd, and  ended up cutting my first cow again and finished up strong.”

Rosenbach also claimed co-reserve in the Super Stakes Amateur Classic with 214 points aboard 6-year-old gelding Tapt Out, half-brother, by Smart Little Lena, to all-time leading mare Dont Look Twice.

Scooters Daisy Dukes, a daughter of Dual Smart Rey, is slated for the court of Rosenbach’s stallion Boon Too Suen, sire of 2012 NCHA Futurity Non-Pro champion and Open finalist Donas Suen Boon.

Rosenbach, a retired East Coast hedge fund manager and finalist in all four Amateur divisions on Monday, lives in Vail, Colo. and owns a ranch in Weatherford, Tex., managed by trainer Michael Cooper.

Robert Tieperman, Jewett, Tex., scored 218 points on Sugar Fatz, as Super Stakes Amateur reserve champion, and also marked 214 points for reserve in the Amateur Unlimited, on the gelded son of Smart Sugar Badger. These are the second and third amateur reserve titles this year for Tieperman and Sugar Fatz, who placed second in the Tunica Futurity, and also took sixth in the amateur unlimited division.

Denise Seiz and Cat Black I secured the Super Stakes Amateur Classic championship with 215 points, while Phil Wilson and Rip Rap Cat shared reserve with Gary Rosenbach.

“I just really started showing her last fall,” said Seiz, a retired CPA from Cedartown, Ga. “I ride with Grant Setnicka and he does a fantastic job.”

Seiz also went reserve with the Smooth As A Cat daughter in the Tunica Futurity Amateur Classic, where Setnicka took reserve in the Novice Classic.

Jaylee Hall scored 219.5 points on Mae C Grey to win the Unlimited Amateur, while Jacob Taurel was reserve with 218.5 on Smartys Hot Date.

Hall previously placed seventh on Mae C Grey, by Dulces Smart Lena, in the Bonanza Amateur division.

Bill Helm dominated the Amateur Unlimited with a 217-point win plus the Senior title on Boons Playin who he also rode to win the Arbuckle Mountain Amateur championship, while his wife, Dianna, claimed reserve in the Arbuckle Non-Pro division, and won the Non-Pro Novice division of the same event.

Taylor Carbo, 20, claimed his second limited age event championship win in Fort Worth, Saturday night, in the Super Stakes Classic Non-Pro Limited, presented by XTO Energy in Fort Worth.

The 2010 NCHA Senior Youth  World Champion scored 222.5 points in the second set of the 20-horse finals to top Donna Flanigan’s 222-point score from the the first set.

“He’s been feeling really good for me all week,” said Carbo of Moms Stilish Cat, who he also showed to earn a berth in the Super Stakes Classic Non-Pro Finals with the second-highest cumulative score (435 points), including a 220-point win in the second go-round.

“He stops hard and is real sneaky and fancy on a cow. I can’t really complain about him too much.”

Six-year-old Moms Stilish Cat, by High Brow Cat, was reserve champion of the 2011 NCHA Super Stakes under his trainer, Clint Allen, for breeder/owner, Jerry Durant, Weatherford, Tex. Carbo purchased the stallion on the advice of his mentor and trainer, Jeremy Barwick, just prior to the 2012 NCHA Derby.

Two weeks after his purchase, Carbo  won the NCHA Classic Challenge Amateur championship aboard Moms Stilish Cat.

In 2013 alone, Moms Stilish Cat took reserve championships at the Abilene Spectacular under Barwick in the Open, and with Carbo in the Non-Pro Limited; and won the Bonanza Amateur championship and was reserve in the Amateur Unlimited.

Carbo grew up in Plaquemine, La., where his grandfather, Curtis Carbo, turned him on to cutting horses.

Classic Non-Pro Limited reserve champion Donna Flanigan, Livermore, Calif., relished every minute of the wait, after she posted 222 points, early in the finals, aboard homegrown This Kats Kool.

“It’s part of the sport and what makes it so inspiring and encouraging,” said Flanigan, showing in Fort Worth for the first time.

“My mare was incredible and this (Will Rogers Coliseum) dirt is amazing. The run was fast and it seemed like I was on the edge all the time. I did things today that I would never have done before on a horse. It was really a fun run.”

Flanigan, who also celebrated her birthday on April 6, grew up with cattle and horses, and became hooked on cutting in the early 1980′s, when her father, Don Flanigan, contracted to supply cattle to the PCCHA Futurity and enlisted Donna’s help, after his cattle feeder came down with the flu.

Raised and trained by Flanigan, This Kats Kool, by WR This Cats Smart, was reserve champion of the 2010 PCCHA Open Futurity under Tom Long, and has earned over $120,000 in open and non-pro limited age event competition.

“I almost looked up at the clock right there at the end just hoping we were running out of time. She’d been so good all the way through, I just needed that buzzer to go off,” said Roger Wagner, after his eleventh-hour winning run on Stylish Martini in the Super Stakes Classic Friday night in Fort Worth, Texas.

Sly Playgirl and Jaime Snider  set the bar with 225 points midway through the first set, but Stylish Martini and Wagner trumped their mark with 225.5 points, showing next-to-last in the 25-horse field .

“You don’t feel like you can lose a cow on her when she’s like that,” said Wagner, who has earned over $315,000 aboard the 6-year-old Docs Stylish Oak daughter, bred by Marvine Ranch and owned by Dottie St. Clair Hill.

“I’ve always loved that mare,” said Hill, who maintains a stellar band of broodmares near Glen Rose, Tex. and purchased Stylish Martini for $700,000, a record for a performance horse, at the Marvine Ranch Reduction Sale on October 20, 2012.

Stylish Martini made her debut with a fourth-place finish under Wagner in the 2010 NCHA Futurity. Her previous richest win came in the 2011 NCHA Derby.

“In the Derby I cut a really fast cow at the end and we had a little booble, but tonight that mare was dead on the whole way through,” noted Wagner.

“She’s so fast, when you trap a cow, it doesn’t seem to matter how much you ride her through a turn. She’ll listen, but by the time those cows are turned around, she’s already on that side waiting for them.”

Stylish Martini, out of Miss Martini Play, is half-sister to Copaspepto, 2007 NCHA Horse of the Year and winner of 2007 Super Stakes under Tag Rice.

The Super Stakes Classic was the 2013 season debut for 6-year-old Sly Playgirl. The That Sly Cat daughter, bred by Glade Knight and owned by Luis Dearmas, has earned nearly $300,000 under Snider and Dearmas.

“It was a long wait,” said Snider, referring to his early, potential winning score. “There were a lot of good horses after us. We did what we could and it happened that Roger had a better run.

“She’s been good since I won the first go-round of the (NCHA) Futurity until now. I marked a 224 on her here at the Super Stakes, when she was four, and a 224 on her when she won the Breeders Invitational, but this (225 points) is her highest score.”

Sly Playgirl came into this week’s event from a seven-month layoff. “She got hurt a little bit last fall and it’s nice to have her back,” said Snider.  “Luis said that he would just have me ride her coming back and get her ready for both of us to ride in the BI and the Derby.”