NCHA Hall of Fame trainer Tom Long and Sophia Smart marked 222 to win the Open finals Tuesday at the 6666 Ranch NCHA Western National Championships in Reno, Nevada. With prior earnings of less than $5,000, Sophia Smart was overshadowed by a field that brought average earnings of more than $90,000 to the finals.

Bred by E.A. Schutts and owned by Scott Tate of Fallon, Nevada, Sophia Smart is a 10-year-old mare by Smart Little Lena out of Little Angel Pep. Little Angel Pep was an NCHA Futurity semi-finalist that also produced $100,000 earner Little Shorty Pep.

Sophia Smart’s biggest previous performance came as a finalist at the Mercuria NCHA World Series event at El Rancho Futurity last fall.

The reserve championship went to Josh Sleeman who marked 220.5 on Jim and Luana Wriglesworth’s Patty La Cat, a High Brow Cat mare that is a half-sister to Non-Pro World Champion Tara Gaines’ horse, Patrick La Dual.