Alexa Stent and Little Bow Peepto took command yesterday in the Classic Challenge Non-Pro first go-round with a 220-point performance. Competition continues today with the last two sets of the go-round.
“I was deep in my set (third from last in the second set), but we lucked out and found three cows that were tough enough to showcase her,” said Stent, who also scored 214 points on Purely Badger in the fourth set.
“My mare was ready to play the game and on the money. She’s incredible; she gives you a lot of confidence.”
Six-year-old Little Bow Peepto, by Peptoboonsmal, was trained by Eddie Flynn, who has shown her as a finalist in nine major events. Stent stepped aboard for the first time in the 2011 Super Stakes Classic Non-Pro, where she placed eleventh.
“She gets real low and is so smooth, she’s just a blast to ride,” said Stent, who lives in The Woodlands, TX.
Little Bow Peepto, out of the Smart Little Lena daughter Bowmans Little Jewel, was bred and raised by Stent, whose parents, Peter and Nora Stent, Woodside, CA, owned the famous stallion Docs Stylish Oak, during the last years of his life.
“We didn’t get Bowmans Little Jewel until she was eight,” said Stent. “By then, she’d had a long career, but I actually got to ride her. We bred her to everything and all of her babies are different. But I would say this one is the most like her mother, for sure.”
Bowmans Little Jewel won four West Coast limited age events and $77,000, and has produced seven NCHA money earners with a total of $610,181, including Stylish Little Bow ($231,164) by Docs Stylish Oak; Bowmans Cat ($149,750) by High Brow Cat; and Zacks Little Bowman ($119,749) by Zack T Wood.
Two times 219
Mary Ann Rapp and Brandon Dufurrena each marked 219 points, the second-highest score of the day, on Toy Engine and Miss Ella Rey, respectively.
Phil and Mary Ann Rapp, Weatherford, TX, raised 5-year-old Toy Engine, by Playgun, out of the unshown Smart Little Lena daughter Cool The Engines.
“Toy Engine is out of a Cats Full Measure daughter that got kicked in the stifle when she was three and we were never able to show her,” said Rapp.
Cats Full Measure, by High Brow Cat, was shown by Phil Rapp as champion of the 1999 NCHA Futurity Non-Pro and to sixth-place in the NCHA Open Futurity. Rapp and the mare also won the non-pro division of the 2000 Augusta Futurity and claimed reserve of the 2001 Augusta Open Futurity.
Toy Engine and Mary Ann Rapp, third-placed in the 2009 NCHA Non-Pro Futurity, were most recently finalists (16th) in the 2011 NCHA Super Stakes Classic.
Brandon Dufurrena, Gainesville, TX, and his 6-year-old Dual Rey daughter, Miss Ella Rey, claimed the championship of the 2011 NCHA Super Stakes Classic Non-Pro Limited.
Trained and also shown by Ed Dufurrena, Brandon’s father, Miss Ella Rey has earned nearly $150,000.
“She’s everything that you want in a horse as far as the big stop and her brightness and intensity on a cow,” said Dufurrena. “She does it all. We could say we trained that, but a lot of that is just her, the way she is.”
Brandon also topped the go-round of the NCHA Derby Non-Pro Limited with 219 points aboard Nievas, by Cats Merada.
Alvin Fults hits daily double
Alvin Fults, Amarillo, TX, made the most of his double draw in the last half of the fourth set, where he scored 215.5 points on High Dollar Cat, and 217 points aboard Bentley Boon.
As the eighth horse (High Dollar Cat), we had plenty of cows to chose from,” said Fults. “But we were really scratching the bottom of the barrel next-to-last on Bentley Boon, trying to find something that would work.
“Luckily, Bentley does better on a faster cow, so the draw kind of fit me just right. If I had ridden him first, it might have been a little tougher.
“They’re both completely different to ride, so I had to concentrate on that before I Showed. On Dollar, I keep my legs in him and really work him. On Bentley, if I keep my feet on him, he just won’t work.”
Bentley Boon, by Peptoboonsmal, and High Dollar Cat, by High Brow Cat, are both 5-year-olds trained for Fults by Beau Galyean, who won the 2005 NCHA Futurity on NCHA Horse of the Year Metallic Cat, also owned by Fults and his wife, Becky.
“One day I’m on this one’s bandwagon and the next day on the other’s. I love them both,” said Fults, who won this year’s Arbuckle Mountain Non-Pro Limited and was reserve champion of the same non-pro division aboard High Dollar Cat.
Becky Fults is entered to ride both horses in the Amateur division, as well.
Codie Green Shimmerz
Codie Green, Weatherford, TX, has been on a roll this year with Shimmerz. The 5-year-old Smart Lil Richochet son, reserve champion with Codie in the Abilene Spectacular Non Pro, and reserve champion of The Non-Pro Open with Codie’s husband, Casey, marked 217 points yesterday for Codie in the fourth set.
“He’s real swoopy with his head and like nothing I’ve ever felt before,” said Codie, who purchased the colt at four from his breeders, Skip and Elizabeth Queen.
Shimmerz is a half-brother to Smooth Asa Zee, by Smooth As A Cat and earner of $224,634. Both are out of Zee Dualy, earner of over $200,000.
See today’s Daily Chatter here.