When the chips were down, 2008 MillionHeir Classic 4-year-old open winner Redneck Yachtclub and reserve champion MH Split The Aces cashed in again at the South Point Cutting Futurity & MillionHeir Classic events, which concluded on October 19 in Las Vegas.
Ridden by 2008 NCHA Open Futurity reserve champion Lee Francois (photo), MH Split The Aces scored 222 points to win the MillionHeir Classic by nine points over second-placed Odeeodle Oak, under Russ Miller. Sired by San Tule Freckles, MH Split The Aces earned $68,000 for owner Wendell Reeder, who made $20,000 riding the mare as a non-pro finalist in last year’s event, where Francois collected $60,000 in the open. MH Split The Aces has career earnings of more than $191,000 with his MillionHeir win.
Redneck Yachtclub, who earned $300,000 for last year’s win under owner Phil Rapp, and $50,000 as reserve champion with Mary Ann Rapp (photo), claimed the 2009 Non-Pro title and another $50,000 with 224 points under Mary Ann; Stacy Shepard placed as reserve with 218 aboard Bonafide Bodee. Redneck Yachtclub also made $9,000 as a 2009 open finalist with Phil Rapp; the San Tule Freckles-sired gelding now has earnings of more than $480,000.
The Rapps earned a big share – $172,351 – of MillionHeir and South Point prize money. In addition to the MillionHeir Classic Non-Pro, Mary Ann also won the MillionHeir Non-Pro Challenge (worth $68,000) on Bodee Got Smart, as well as the South Point Futurity Non-Pro championship on Gracefully Done, and placed third in the South Point Non-Pro Classic/Challenge aboard Tootsie Rey.
Phil Rapp won the South Point Futurity on Iced Out, owned by Waco Bend Ranch of Fort Worth, TX, and finished 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 8th in the 10-horse South Point Classic/Challenge Finals won by Austin Shepard on MH San Tules Dually. Rapp also won the Open Gelding division on CD Boonsmal, whose owner, Ray Baldwin, of Waco Bend Ranch, showed the gelding as reserve champion of the Non-Pro Gelding division. Baldwin also won the South Point Derby Ltd on Zacks Fifth Ave.
Non-pro riders Theresa Gillock, Megan Miller and Kaitlyn Larsen all hit doubles at the Las Vegas event. Gillock, who is from Las Vegas, earned $50,000 as champion of the MillionHeir Amateur Challenge aboard MH My Kinda CD, and another $22,000 on the gelding as reserve champion of the MillionHeir Non-Pro Challenge.
Larsen and Keechi Pep aced the Classic/Challenge Non-Pro and the Classic/Challenge Ltd divisions with matching 221-point scores,while Merrill won the South Point Derby Non-Pro Gelding and was reserve in the Derby Finals on Itawtathenapuddycat.
Click here for detailed results and pedigrees for the South Point Futurity and the MillionHeir.