Pretty Boy Rachet, ridden by Michael Cooper (shown with sons Lane and Lance), nailed the championship of the 4-year-old Open in The Non Pro Cutting by one-half point over Better Sue, by Bet On Me 498, under Lindy Burch.
Owned by Larry and Liz Stacy, Ardmore, OK, the gelded son of Pretty Boy Cat scored 217 points for the win and $5,476.
“I had a good draw and my cattle were on top and cut good,” said Cooper, who also tied for sixth place on Chars Skyrunner, owned by James and Gail Hooper, Decatur, AL, and marked 214.5 on Herb Merada in the 5/6-year-old Open to share a four-way tie for second place. Dualsnap, by Dual Rey, ridden by Mark Michaels for John McClaren, won the 5/6-year-old Open championship with 217 points.
Cooper purchased Pretty Boy Rachet for the Stacys last summer through Tim Barry, Byron, IL.
“He was behind, but I saw some things that I really liked,” said Cooper, 30, who maintains a training operation on his 500-acre farm in south central Missouri. “He was a little weak when we first started him, but he’s gotten a lot stronger since then, and he’s got a lot of intensity and style on a cow. ”
Pretty Boy Rachet made his debut at the NCHA Futurity last December, where his third cow in the second go-round ran behind the judges’ stands. Cooper was disappointed, but finally got his chance to show the gelding this past February at the Memphis Futurity, where he won the first go-round with 220 points and qualified for the finals.
Herb Merada, by Meradas Money Talks, is owned by Joe Wes Davis Jr., New Franklin, MO, and tied Sky Canyon under Steve Colclasure; Cow Cattin with Kobie Wood; and Outlaw Cat AKA Jack ridden by Todd Gann, for second through fifth-place. He also carried Davis as a finalist (13th) in the non-pro finals.
“We struggled a little on the first cow, but finished real strong,” noted Cooper. “I had 20 seconds left when I cut my second cow and I knew I had to make up some ground.
“He’s such a nice horse,” he added. “He tries hard for you. If you ask for one hundred and ten percent, he’ll give you one hundred and twenty.”
Cooper acquired the gelding as a late 3-year-old, after Dirk Blakesly had started and trained him He qualified for the finals of several open futurities, and Davis rode the horse as reserve non-pro champion in the Kansas Futurity. Herb Merada was an open finalist in the 2007 Cotton Classic, as well.
It was Cooper’s grandfather, Emmett Bradford, who taught him how to break horses, but trainer Donnie O’Brien, Pineville, MO, has been his greatest mentor. “He taught me horsemanship and things about a horse that I would never have recognized, if it hadn’t been for him,” said Cooper. “I tried to work with him a lot and watch everything that he did.”
“I really love this horse deal,” he added. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s a great way of life.”
Cooper and his wife, Jennifer, who also run a cow-calf operation, have two sons, Lane, 8, and Lance, 6.