Check Counter, ridden by Steve Schlesinger for Mark Nelson of Wilton, California, marked 224 Friday morning to win the first round of the $5,000 Novice division of the Mercuria NCHA World Finals in Fort Worth. Wild Kate, ridden by Monty Buntin for Sherry Stryker, placed second with a 219.
The $5,000 Novice was one of four World Finals classes held on Friday, with the last round of those, plus the Open and Non-Pro divisions, scheduled for Saturday.
Check Counter’s go-round paycheck of $1,531 gave him an unbeatable lead in the race for the World Championship.
Bred by Five Star Land & Livestock, Check Counter is a seven-year-old son of Im Countin Checks out of Haidas Youngster, a Haidas Little Pep mare that the late Greg Welch showed in both the NCHA Super Stakes and NCHA Derby.
Schlesinger took Check Counter to the finals of the NCHA Futurity and Super Stakes, as well as the Idaho Classic. The horse brought career earnings of more than $126,000 to the World Finals.
With NCHA earnings of $766,000, Schlesinger has won championships at the Pacific Coast Stakes, Pacific Coast Derby, El Rancho Futurity, the NCHA Western Nationals, and other major events.
Rebecca Drake of Brenham, Texas, marked 222 on One Red Mist to win the first round of the $50,000 Amateur. Jason Reed, who has a lock on the World Championship, placed second with a 218 on Chitas Cats Merada.
One Red Mist was bred by Arcese Quarter Horses by One Time Pepto out of Pacific Coast Derby reserve champion Cat Mist, a producer of earners of more than $590,000. One Red Mist accounts for more than $149,000 of that total. The 8-year-old mare had placed third in the Non-Pro NCHA Classic Challenge with Barney Mac Smith, and fourth in the Breeders Invitational Non-Pro with Mary Ann Rapp.
Rebecca Drake, an earner of $104,000, has qualified for the World Finals in the $25,000 Novice Non-Pro and $35,000 Non-Pro in prior years. She will finish 2017 as Reserve World Champion in the $50,000 Amateur.
Tyler Delange of Fort Gratiot, Michigan, teamed up with Louis The Cat to win the first round of the $25,000 Novice Non-Pro with a 227. Im Checkin Out, ridden by Colleen Johnson, was second with a 218.
Louis The Cat, who was bred by John Harrah and is trained by Casey Crouch, will be crowned World Champion in both the $25,000 Novice and the $25,000 Novice Non-Pro divisions Saturday.
Louis The Cat has earned more than $170,000 in his career, and more than $100,000 of that came from his Novice campaigns this year.
The 8-year-old is by High Brow Cat out of $1.4 million producer Louella Again.
Tyler Delange, an NCHA earner of $57,000, won the $35,000 Novice championship with Louis The Cat at the NCHA Eastern Nationals this spring.
Two riders, Jessica Floyd of Booker, Texas, and Israel Valles of Mesilla Park, New Mexico, marked 218 to share the lead in the $15,000 Amateur.
Valles, who has an unbeatable lead for the World Championship, showed Smokem Jo Lena, a 9-year-old gelding bred by Pete and Sally Lowry by Joes Midnight Son out of Peppys Smokem, by Peppy San Badger. Smokem Jo Lenas has career earnings of more than $59,000.
Valles won the $35,000 Non-Pro and was a $15,000 Amateur finalist with Smokem Jo Lena at the NCHA Scottsdale Nationals earlier this year. He was a $2,000 Limited Rider contestant in the Mercuria NCHA World Finals in 2015.
Jessica Floyd rode Foxie Hughes, a 6-year-old mare bred by Reed McClymont by Thomas E Hughes out of RM Foxie Lena Bar, by Playboy Lena Bar. Foxie Hughes as an Amateur Super Stakes finalist in 2015 and has earned over $15,000.