The 2011 XTO Energy NCHA Super Stakes begins a 20-day run on Monday, March 28, at Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth, with the first go-round of Super Stakes Classic open competition, for 5 & 6-year-olds sired by subscribed stallions. The total purse for all divisions is $2.7 million.
Monday’s first set of cattle will be put to the test by several top competitors, including 2010 NCHA Horse of the Year LHR Smooth Jamie May. South Lazy H Ranch’s 5-year-old Smooth As A Cat daughter, trained and ridden by Phil Hanson, has won four major championships and earned more than $250,000.
Also up in the first set is Desires Katrina with Matt Miller. Carol and Don Dewrell’s 6-year-old High Brow Cat daughter placed third this year in both the Tunica Futurity Classic and the Abilene Spectacular with Miller, who also rode her as champion of the 2010 Music City Futurity.
Dees Mr Charles, winner of the 2011 Augusta Classic under Sam Shepard, and most recently reserve open champion of the NCHA Eastern National Championships, shows with Shepard in the second set. The 6-year-old gelded son of Its Just About Me is owned by Edley and Sue Hixson.
Dont Look Twice, shown by her breeder Phil Rapp for Waco Bend Ranch, in the fourth set, ranks as the #2 leading NCHA money earner among foals of 2005 with $492,497 (Metallic Cat is #1 with $574,494). An additional $7,504 will push the High Brow Cat daughter’s earnings past the $500,000 mark.
Matt Miller is back again in the third set riding Tommy Manion’s 5-year-old Holly Is Smooth. The Smooth As A Cat daughter and Miller won this year’s Abilene Spectacular Classic championship.
Phil Hanson is also back in the fourth set, this time aboard Pounce, owned by Julie Clark. Pounce, a 5-year-old daughter of High Brow Cat, was reserve open champion of three major events in 2010, including the NCHA Derby, which was won by Hanson and LHR Smooth Jamie May.
Hangem Cat stands out in the fifth set with nearly $200,000 in NCHA lifetime earnings. The 6-year-old gelded son of High Brow Cat, ridden for Penny Carpenter by Jeremy Barwick, was reserve champion of the 2011 Bonanza Classic with Barwick; he also won the 2009 Tunica Futurity and claimed reserve in the 2009 Breeders Invitational with Wesley Galyean.
Reigning Super Stakes and Super Stakes Classic open champion Third Cutting has drawn the first slot in the fourth set on Tuesday, March 29, the second and last day of first-round Classic open competition. Trained and shown by Boyd Rice for Carl and Shawnea Smith, 6-year-old Third Cutting has earned over $490,000. Most recently, he won the 2011 Bonanza Classic, was reserve champion of the Arbuckle Mountain Classic, and has been fulfilling a full breeding schedule at ESMS on the Brazos.
XTO Energy NCHA Super Stakes competition concludes on Saturday, April 16 with the 4-year-old non-pro and open finals, beginning at 3:00 p.m., preceded at 9:00 a.m. by the NCHA Super Stakes Sale.