{"id":14293,"date":"2017-12-01T15:27:47","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T20:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/?p=14293"},"modified":"2017-12-02T19:33:09","modified_gmt":"2017-12-03T00:33:09","slug":"check-counter-clinches-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/?p=14293","title":{"rendered":"Check Counter clinches championship"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Check Counter, ridden by Steve Schlesinger. Hart Photography.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Check Counter, ridden by Steve Schlesinger for Mark Nelson of Wilton, California, marked 224 Friday morning to win the first round of the $5,000 Novice division of the Mercuria NCHA World Finals in Fort Worth. Wild Kate, ridden by Monty Buntin for Sherry Stryker, placed second with a 219.<\/p>\n

The $5,000 Novice was one of four World Finals classes held on Friday, with the last round of those, plus the Open and Non-Pro divisions, scheduled for Saturday.<\/p>\n

Check Counter’s go-round paycheck of $1,531 gave him an unbeatable lead in the race for the World Championship.<\/p>\n

Bred by Five Star Land & Livestock, Check Counter is a seven-year-old son of Im Countin Checks out of Haidas Youngster, a Haidas Little Pep mare that the late Greg Welch showed in both the NCHA Super Stakes and NCHA Derby.<\/p>\n

Schlesinger took Check Counter to the finals of the NCHA Futurity and Super Stakes, as well as the Idaho Classic. The horse brought career earnings of more than $126,000 to the World Finals.<\/p>\n

With NCHA earnings of $766,000, Schlesinger has won championships at the Pacific Coast Stakes, Pacific Coast Derby, El Rancho Futurity, the NCHA Western Nationals, and other major events.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Rebecca Drake on One Red Mist.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rebecca Drake of Brenham, Texas, marked 222 on One Red Mist to win the first round of the $50,000 Amateur. Jason Reed, who has a lock on the World Championship, placed second with a 218 on Chitas Cats Merada.<\/p>\n

One Red Mist was bred by Arcese Quarter Horses by One Time Pepto out of Pacific Coast Derby reserve champion Cat Mist, a producer of earners of more than $590,000. One Red Mist accounts for more than $149,000 of that total. The 8-year-old mare had placed third in the Non-Pro NCHA Classic Challenge with Barney Mac Smith, and fourth in the Breeders Invitational Non-Pro with Mary Ann Rapp.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Drake, an earner of $104,000, has qualified for the World Finals in the $25,000 Novice Non-Pro and $35,000 Non-Pro in prior years. She will finish 2017 as Reserve World Champion in the $50,000 Amateur.<\/p>\n

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Louis The Cat, ridden by Tyler Delange.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tyler Delange of Fort Gratiot, Michigan, teamed up with Louis The Cat to win the first round of the $25,000 Novice Non-Pro with a 227. Im Checkin Out, ridden by Colleen Johnson, was second with a 218.<\/p>\n

Louis The Cat, who was bred by John Harrah and is trained by Casey Crouch, will be crowned World Champion in both the $25,000 Novice and the $25,000 Novice Non-Pro divisions Saturday.<\/p>\n

Louis The Cat has earned more than $170,000 in his career, and more than $100,000 of that came from his Novice campaigns this year.<\/p>\n

The 8-year-old is by High Brow Cat out of $1.4 million producer Louella Again.<\/p>\n

Tyler Delange, an NCHA earner of $57,000, won the $35,000 Novice championship with Louis The Cat at the NCHA Eastern Nationals this spring.<\/p>\n

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Jessica Floyd and Israel Valles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two riders, Jessica Floyd of Booker, Texas, and Israel Valles of Mesilla Park, New Mexico, marked 218 to share the lead in the $15,000 Amateur.<\/p>\n

Valles, who has an unbeatable lead for the World Championship, showed Smokem Jo Lena, a 9-year-old gelding bred by Pete and Sally Lowry by Joes Midnight Son out of Peppys Smokem, by Peppy San Badger. Smokem Jo Lenas has career earnings of more than $59,000.<\/p>\n

Valles won the $35,000 Non-Pro and was a $15,000 Amateur finalist with Smokem Jo Lena at the NCHA Scottsdale Nationals earlier this year. He was a $2,000 Limited Rider contestant in the Mercuria NCHA World Finals in 2015.<\/p>\n

Jessica Floyd rode Foxie Hughes, a 6-year-old mare bred by Reed McClymont by Thomas E Hughes out of RM Foxie Lena Bar, by Playboy Lena Bar. Foxie Hughes as an Amateur Super Stakes finalist in 2015 and has earned over $15,000.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Check Counter, ridden by Steve Schlesinger for Mark Nelson of Wilton, California, marked 224 Friday…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cutting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14293"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14315,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14293\/revisions\/14315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}