{"id":17541,"date":"2020-03-24T00:11:30","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T05:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/?p=17541"},"modified":"2020-03-24T00:17:06","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T05:17:06","slug":"ncha-super-stakes-40-years-and-counting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/?p=17541","title":{"rendered":"NCHA Super Stakes: 40 years and counting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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$5 million sire SR Instant Choice is a son of inaugural NCHA Super Stakes champion Stylish Lynx. Don Shugart photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COVID-19 has\ncaused postponements and cancellations of sports venues worldwide, including\nthe 2020 NCHA Kit Kat Sugar Super Stakes, which was set to begin a 25-day run on\nMarch 24. While cutters await word on the status of this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Super Stakes, it\nseems a good time to revisit the history of this important link in NCHA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s famous\nTriple Crown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the NCHA Super Stakes, which was created to enhance the breeding industry and offer cutting horse owners a unique opportunity to promote their stallions, as well as to increase the market value of their progeny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The early\n1980s ushered in a boom time for the US economy, including the cutting horse industry.\nNCHA memberships, show entries, and purses had increased dramatically in the\nprevious decade and, in 1980, NCHA leaders created a unique incentive for the\noffspring of subscribed stallions. In 1981, seventeen stallions subscribed to\nthe first NCHA Super Stakes, including Doc\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Lynx, whose daughter, Stylish\nLynx, won the inaugural event\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Open championship. Five years later, in 1986, five\ntimes as many stallions were enrolled, and by 2015, the total had reached 248.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stylish Lynx,\nshown by Don Parker, came into the 1981 Super Stakes following a\nthirteenth-place finish, in the 1980 NCHA Futurity. Her competition in the 15-horse\nSuper Stakes Finals included the Futurity champion, Mis Royal Mahogany, and\nthird-place Futurity finisher Freckles Hustler, a full brother to Freckles\nPlayboy. But Stylish Lynx won the day, and $79,525, with a score of 219 points.\nMiss Peppy Also, by Mr San Peppy, claimed the reserve championship and $52,154,\nwith 218 points under Buster Welch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As if to\nprove the power of Super Stakes sires, Doc\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Lynx, her sire, was the only notable\nhorse in the pedigree of champion Stylish Lynx, whose dam, Stylish Squaw, was by\nSilver King Jr. out of Balmy Squaw. But Stylish Lynx has left her mark on\nfuture generations of cutting horses through her Doc\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Hickory son, SR Instant\nChoice, sire of the earners of $5.9 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following\nthe 1981 Super Stakes, eight horsemen, including Shorty Freeman, who had\nsuccessfully syndicated Doc O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Lena in 1978, created the Super Syndicate Ltd., in\n1982, an ambitious marketing plan that initially consisted of eight stallions,\nincluding Doc\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Lynx and Smokin Jose, owned by Texas businessman Bud Sweazea\nand trainer Don Parker. Doc Athena, by Doc O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Lena; Smokin Jose, by Jose Uno; and\nLeonard Milligan, by Okie Leo, were the only stallions of the original Super\nSyndicate eight that were not sired by Doc Bar. The five Doc Bar sons were Doc Quixote,\nDoc Tari, Doc\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Hickory, Nu Bar, and Doc\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Lynx, all also subscribed to the NCHA\nSuper Stakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Super\nSyndicate did not survive the stock market crash of 1987, and Doc Athena, Doc\nTari, Especial, and Smokin Jose were consigned to the Central Texas Summer Sale,\nheld at Ables Equestrian Center, in Benbrook, Tex., on July 28, 1989. The NCHA Super\nStakes, however, did survive and thrive into the 21st<\/sup> century and\nbeyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the first in a series of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Looking Back\u00e2\u20ac\u009d posts highlighting the NCHA Super Stakes.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more about the history of the NCHA Triple Crown, read Cutting Horse Gold: 50 Years of the NCHA Futurity<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COVID-19 has caused postponements and cancellations of sports venues worldwide, including the 2020 NCHA Kit…<\/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-17541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cutting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17541","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=17541"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17546,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17541\/revisions\/17546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sallyharrison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}