NRCHA Celebration of Champions
akes World’s Greatest Horseman Championship
TCUSHING
Contributed Courtesy of NRCHA
After 10 thrilling days of non-stop reined cow horse action, the National Reined Cow Horse
Association’s
Celebration of Champions concluded on Saturday, Feb- ruary 23, from Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth, Texas. After four gru- eling phases of the DT Horses and Hashtags World’s Great- est Horseman, it was Corey Cushing riding Sonita Lena Rey (Dual Rey x Sonita Lena Chick) who emerged victo- rious in front of a sell-out, standing-room-only crowd. Cushing won a plethora of first-rate awards and a check for $40,000 thanks to Finals scores of 212 out of the herd, 217 in the reined work, 223 in the steer stopping and 225 on the cow. Cush- ing and Sonita Lena Rey, who is owned by Sheri Jamieson and was bred by Jim Holmes, achieved the highest scores of the steer stop- ping and fence work portions of the Finals. The team fought their way up from the last qualifying hole into the Finals in order to snag the win. This marks Cushing’s second World’s Greatest Horseman title.
Boyd Rice riding Royal Smart Fletch (Royal Fletch x Little Smart Ginger) took an early lead with a spectacular 222 in the cut- ting, which was held in Will Rogers Memo- rial Coliseum. Next came the reined work in the John Justin Arena where it was eventual reserve champions Rubys Radar (One Time Pepto x Ruby Bagonia) owned by C Ranches, Inc., and ridden by Zane Davis who took the round win with a 224.
World's Greatest Youth Horseman In addition to all the excitement of the
DT Horses and Hashtags World’s Greatest 8 SouthWest Horse Trader April 2019
Horseman, the Texas Lighting World’s Greatest Youth Horseman featured promis- ing young riders competing on the big stage along- side their idols. A finals for the top six youth riders was held imme- diately follow- ing the World’s Greatest Horse-
man Steer Stopping to determine the cham- pion.
Trevor Hale rode Survive These Lips
(CD Survivor x Lipschic) to a 723-point composite to earn the inaugural Texas Light- ing World’s Greatest Youth Horseman title and $2,430.
Hale had high praise for “Lippy,” a 2008 mare that has been his partner for the past four years.
“I got her through Brad Lund and Brad
and Todd Crawford have helped me a lot with her,” said Hale. “I’ve been preparing for a while; we started preparing ever since we learned we could enter it. I’ve had a lot of good help along the way. For this event, I had to just work on all the parts—the steer stop- ping, cutting, down the fence and the reined work. I just tried to get through all the events without any mistakes. We came in here in the cow work and I was a little behind and I knew I needed to come in and lay down the best run that I could, and luckily it all worked out.” w
CHAMPIONS NAMED
WORLD
in Fort Worth The NRCHA Celebration of Champions
Contributed Courtesy NRCHA, Photography by Primo
is three shows rolled into 10 days of compe- tition. Although the calendar says 2019, the World Championship portion of the Celebra- tion of Champions marks the official conclu- sion of the 2018 show season, by determining
World and National Champions in 15 different Open and Non Pro divisions. World Champion- ship qualifiers earned an invitation to compete in Fort Worth by qualifying at NRCHA-approved shows last year. The World Championship con- testants will show in a preliminary round, with the top 10 in each division advancing to the clean slate finals for a shot at the title.
Open Bridle Winning the Open Bridle title was Dera
Cat (Smooth As A Cat x Dera Dually) ridden by B.J. Avila for Rainlynn, LLC. Dera Cat and Avi- la posted a 428.5 (212.5 rein/216 cow) to earn $8,904. Avila and Dera Cat became a team three years ago and are a perfect fit.
“I bought him about three years ago through Zane Davis, Harry DeHaan owned him and was showing him at the time in the two- rein,” said Avila. “Zane trained him and Zane is the best trainer on the face of the planet in my opinion, I’d buy anything from him. I was trying to buy my boss a horse that he couldn’t replace. I went and spent three days with Zane and rode ‘Magnum’ and fell in love with him and took him home. Avila says Dera Cat’s speed, athleticism, and cow make him a winning cow horse. “His big deal is on a cow. He’s a really good fence horse, he runs hard. He’s a three- event horse. He cuts really good. He’s a very adrenaline-driven individual,” said Avila. Avila says the Open Bridle World Cham-
pionship buckle is the first he has won for Dera Cat’s owner. “It’s pretty special to win him a buckle that says world champion on it,” said Avila.
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