Don Pooley, who won the 2002 NCHA World Championship on Quixote Mac, took an unheralded 9-year-old gelding and outperformed some of cutting’s top performers in the Open finals of the $25,000-added Mercuria NCHA World Series at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo on Superbowl Sunday.

On paper, with earnings of just over $24,000, Peppys Shorty Nino might have looked overshadowed in a field with combined earnings of more than $2 million. But Pooley posted a 222 for a 2-point win over Steve Oehlhof on Missy Rosenberg’s Justa Lil Freck. In doing so, Pooley’s career earnings passed the million-dollar mark, qualifying him for the NCHA Riders Hall of Fame.

Peppys Shorty Nino is a son of Peppys Boy 895 and Suggie Shorty owned by Larry and Alice Irvin. His biggest previous payday came when Mary Louise Irvin made the finals of the 2007 NCHA Amateur Classic Challenge with him.

“This is a real nice horse, but he hasn’t been shown a whole lot,” said Pooley. “Dennis Funderburgh trained this horse and did a super job. I wish everything in the barn came from Dennis Funderburgh. They’re super horses.

“I love the format (of the World Series). This is the best thing they’ve done for weekend cutting in a long time.”