The 2006 NCHA Futurity opens its 21-day run on Sunday, November 26 at Will Rogers Equestrian Center in Fort Worth, Texas. The $4 million purse is an all-time record for an arena horse sport. The winner of the open division alone will receive $250,000.
The inaugural NCHA Futurity, with 36 entries and a purse of $18,375, was held on November 23 and 24, 1962, in Sweetwater, Texas, home of the world’s largest rattlesnake roundup. It was cutting’s first official limited age event, a concept, along with advanced nominations, borrowed from horse racing. Racehorse futurities are for 2-year-olds, but NCHA Futurity organizers settled on the latter part of the 3-year-old year for their futurity and further restricted entries to horses that had never before been shown.
It proved to be a smart move for the organization and for stallion owners with cutting horse bloodlines. The show drew attention to offspring of top contenders and the door was opened for more limited age events. In 1970, the NCHA Derby for 4-year-olds was initiated, followed by the Super Stakes in 1981; 5 and 6-year-old classes are now part of the Derby and the Super Stakes, as well.
The NCHA Futurity moved to Fort Worth in 1967, with 210 entries and $85,571. It was the introduction of the non-professional class in 1969, however, that spurred the event to even greater heights. The first year saw just 36 non-pros compete for $3,802, but six years later, entries had tripled. Then in 1986, NCHA established an amateur class.
“My idea was that amateurs were actually the foundation of the association,” the late, longstanding NCHA president Marion Flynt (pictured) explained to me in 1987. “But they weren’t able to take part in it because the professionals – I call them tush hogs – were getting it all. Nobody could beat them.
“Finally (NCHA) had a big meeting in Houston,” Flynt continued. “All the tush hogs were there and they just raised Old Billy. But we went ahead (and included non-pros) and here they came. People that couldn’t ride a horse just dove right in.
“Now people come to Fort Worth and have a big time. They get to show in a big arena and be like the tush hogs.”
This year, nearly half of the record 1,725 NCHA Futurity entries will ride in the non-pro and amateur divisions