Dualins First Choice, ridden by Paul Hansma for Skip and Elizabeth Queen, Lipan, TX, scored 219 points to claim the 3-Year-Old Brazos Bash Open Futurity on September 27. The win was worth $20,000 for the SR Instant Choice daughter, who Elizabeth will ride in the first go-round of Non-Pro competition on Friday.
“You can’t force a win, but you can be prepared,” said Hansma. “That’s what we did. I watched the cows and had a good draw, and the mare was ready. I had a little bit of a rough cut on the second cow, but she handled it well.”
Dos Obodee, ridden by Lloyd Cox for William Alguire, Anna, TX, finished second with 218 points. The Bodee Boonsmal son had won the first go-round with 219 points. Dualins First Choice scored 216 points and 214.5, respectively, in the go-rounds.
Dualins First Choice, out of a daughter of Dualin Jewels, was bred by GCH Land & Cattle Company, who also bred and own Dualin Jewels, reserve champion of the 1997 NCHA Open Futurity. But Rickie Cox, who works for GCH Land & Cattle and who bred NCHA Open Derby champion and Super Stakes reserve champion Rockin By Choice (also ridden for the Queens by Hansma) had a hand in the alchemy that resulted in Dualins First Choice and her destiny.
“Rockin Playgirl (dam of Rockin By Choice) was a big, lanky mare and I wanted to shorten the babies and maybe make them a little shorter and quicker,” noted Cox, who owns the dam of Rockin By Choice. “And I chose SR Instant Choice because I thought he would do that. I used to watch him when he cut and I loved the way he worked – all bright and quick and low.”
Dualin One, the dam of Dualins First Choice, cracked her shoulder as a baby, so Cox made the decision to breed her as a 2-year-old and sent her to SR Instant Choice. Cox’s son Kyle started the filly and sold her to his client Linda Guyton, Whitt, TX. Then in February of this year, Rickie spent a few days with Kyle at his training facility in DeKalb, TX and had a chance to ride Dualins First Choice. When Skip Queen, who had purchased Rockin By Choice from Cox at two, at the NCHA Futurity Sales, called her later that week and asked if she knew about any good 3-year-old prospects, Cox told him about Dualins First Choice.
“I liked the way she felt,” said Hansma, who rode Dualins First Choice for the Queens prior to their purchase. “She felt talented – she could stop and watch a cow.”
It’s been a good show so far for Hansma, who at mid-year was the leading 2006 money earner. He also tied for reserve in the Brazos Classic riding Patrick LaDual, by Dual Pep, for Dub and Christy Leeth, Cleburne, TX.
“Anytime I can tie with Boon San Kitty, I’ll take it,” said Hansma, referring to the 222.5-point tie with Walton Ranch’s celebrated mare, ridden by Eddie Flynn. “That horse is really nice when you get a cow trapped in the middle of the pen. I picked some cattle that really worked for him. But I couldn’t have marked that, if I’d had the cattle that Boon San Kitty cut, because he’s just not that kind of athlete.”
Hansma also split ninth and tenth with 217.5 points on Glows, owned by the Queens, and eleventh with 217 on Bowmans Cat Man, owned by Matthews Cutting Horses, Warsaw, NC.
Former NCHA Open Futurity reserve champion Quintan Blue, ridden by Roger Wagner for Marvine Ranch, Meeker, CO, won the Classic with 226 points.