It was full throttle in the Western Bloodstock NCHA Non-Pro Showdown in Cowtown November 30, where Kelsey Conn and Boon Tooth, second to show in the 14-rider field, set the stage with 222 points and Julie Jarma followed with a blistering 229-point ride on SS Blacks Lil Kitty.
Jarma and 9-year-old SS Blacks Lil Kitty claimed the championship and the $50,000 winner’s purse, but not without challenges. Blakley Colgrove and Vespaa, who drew twelfth to ride, scored 225.5 points for second place and $35,000, while Cody Hedlund and Meteles Cat, fifth to work, marked 224 points for third and $20,000.
“It was pretty fast,” said Jarma of her winning run. “My help tries to keep me from going too fast most of the time, so whenever I get to cut a fast cow it sure is fun.”
Jarma, 27, a business management student from Weatherford, Tex., purchased SS Blacks Lil Kitty, by Blue Bayou Boon, in May 2010, as an unshown 4-year-old.
“She’s been a late bloomer,” said Jarma, who hit her stride with SS Blacks Lil Kitty in 2012, when she won the Brazos Bash Classic Challenge and the PCCHA Non-Pro Ltd. Classic Challenge on the mare. “Lloyd Cox helps me with her and does a good job of keeping her calm and slowed down and thinking.”
In 2013, Jarma and the black mare won the Mercuria NCHA World Series American Royal Non-Pro championship and placed sixth in the NCHA Non-Pro World standings. With her 2015 Winter Showdown earnings included, SS Blacks Lil Kitty has lifetime earnings of $164,075. Jarma, whose first win in Will Rogers Coliseum was aboard Crazy Rey in the 2008 NCHA Derby Amatuer, has NCHA earnings of $433,792.
Fourteen-year-old Blakley Colgrove, Boligee, Ala., and her 6-year-old gelding Vespaa, by CD Olena, earned a total of $20,500 as finalists in the 2015 Summer Showdown Non-Pro and Unlimited Amateur Finals. Vespaa’s Winter Showdown payout boosted his lifetime earnings to $223,665 and Blakley’s total to $416,794.
Blakley will also show Vespaa as a contender in the 2015 NCHA Non-Pro World Finals with the final go-round on Saturday, December 5 in Watt Arena.
Cody Hedlund, Lipan, Tex., who won the 2015 Summer Showdown on Meteles Cat, has reaped a total of $55,000 from the two events, giving Meteles Cat has lifetime earnings of $294,911.