His name evokes a famous Texas-born singer, songwriter and electric guitarist. And on December 12 in Will Rogers Coliseum, Fort Worth, Tex., Stevie Rey Von hit the high note with a 225-point championship win in the 2015 NCHA Open Futurity.
Shown by his owner, Ed Dufurrena, Gainesville, Tex., and sired by Metallic Cat, Stevie Rey Von earned $200,000 for the win. Bet Shes Smooth, shown by Lindy Burch for Oxbow Ranch, Weatherford, Tex., scored 222 points to claim the reserve champion’s title and $88,126.
Rockin Sallycat, owned by Rocking P Ranch, Fort Worth, Tex. and shown by Jesse Lennox, scored 217.5 points to tie for third place with This Isa Third, ridden by Kody Porterfield for Carl and Shawnea Smith, Jacksboro, Tex. Each horse received $71,280.
Stevie Rey Von, by Metallic Cat, came into the NCHA Futurity Open Semi-Finals with a low profile 431-point cumulative go-round score, where 430 points marked the cutoff. But he struck a chord with Dufurrena’s daughter Rieta, who showed him to win the NCHA Futurity Ltd. Non-Pro Finals with 220 points.
In the Open Semi-Finals, Stevie Rey Von scored 222 points to place second behind Amandas CD and Matt Miller, who ranked first with 224 points.
Stevie Rey Von is a full brother to Purple Reyn LTE $233,508, shown by Dufurrena’s son, Brandon, as 2015 NCHA World Finals champion and 2015 NCHA Non-Pro Horse of the Year. Miss Ella Rey LTE $375,842, dam of Stevie Rey Von and Purple Reyn, has carried all three of the Dufurrenas to championship wins. Most recently, during the NCHA Futurity Festival, the 10-year-old Dual Rey daughter was a contestant with Rieta in the NCHA Non-Pro World Finals.
Bet Shes Smooth, by Smooth As A Cat out of NCHA World Champion Bet Yer Blue Boons, earned 437 points, the highest cumulative score, going into the NCHA Futurity Semi-Finals, where she ranked fourth out of the field of 76 horses with a score of 219.5 points.
Burch, who won the NCHA Open Futurity in 1980, showed Bet Shes Smooth’s 7-year-old half-sister, Stylish Bet LTE $129,416, by Docs Stylish Oak, as a finalist in the 2015 NCHA Open World Finals, and placed fifth in 2015 NCHA Open World Championship standings.
Rockin Sallycat, by Rockin W, was one of 11 horses, including the stallion Boon San, purchased by Bobby Patton, Fort Worth, Tex., this past September, out of Alice Walton’s Rocking W Ranch Dispersal. Since that time, Patton, a first-time cutting horse owner, has acquired other well-bred prospects, including five yearlings at Western Bloodstock’s Select Yearling Sale.
Boon San daughter Boon San Sally LTE $209,332, also purchased by Patton through the Walton Dispersal, was a finalist in the NCHA Western Bloodstock Winter Showdown during the first week of the Futurity.
This Isa Third, bred and owned by Carl and Shawnea Smith, is by Third Cutting LTE $528,268, also owned by the Smiths and one of two Open finalists by the first-crop sire. In addition, This Isa Third and Kody Porterfield won the NCHA Futurity Open Ltd with 222 points.