Jacob Pinheiro, Hick Oleana Top South Point Non-Pro Futurity as Las Vegas Event Ends
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- Created on Monday, 27 August 2012
- Written by Mark Thompson
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Other cutting duos hitting big final-day jackpots in Las Vegas included Derby Non-Pro Champions Dustin Adams, Dublin, Texas with his 2008 mare Smooth Sneakin, Derby Amateur Champion Kevin Coombe, Redmond, Ore. with his 2008 mare Atta Kitty, and Classic Amateur Champion Michelle LeMaster, Las Vegas who secured a hometown victory riding her 2006 gelding Dynamite High Brow.
Competing at their first cutting, Pinheiro and Hick Oleana (Hick Chicaroo x Miss Ann Oleana x Miss N Cash) marked a solid 218-217-435 composite to win the main event, the Gelding division and the $250,000 Limited Rider division and $1,800. They are trying to follow great success the young rider has achieved aboard the horse’s gelding half-brother, Ann Olenas Cat (WR This Cats Smart x Miss Ann Oleana x Miss N Cash).
Until Monday, Pinheiro had earned nearly all his approximately $80,000 in career cutting earnings with the 5-year-old half brother nicknamed “Blackie” he started riding in summer and fall of 2010. Pinheiro and Ann Olenas Cat also competed during the 2012 South Point Futurity, but went out in their first go of the Classic Non-Pro event.
“He [younger brother Hick Oleana] just been a strong, mature colt,” Pinheiro said of the second horse to carry him to a limited-age victory. Pinheiro earned his first limited-age win with Ann Olenas Cat during last September’s Derby Non-Pro finals at the El Rancho Futurity in Rancho Murrieta, Calif. He plans to compete with both horses at September's El Rancho event in a couple of weeks.
“He [Hick Oleana] is a little more consistent than the black horse was [as a 3-year-old],” Pinherio said. “He’s been a lot of run, and very easy to show.”
Pinheiro took over training of Hick Oleana during his 3-year-old season, with occasional help and guidance from his boss, Morgan Cromer. His friend Luke Neubert, Paso Robles, Calif., also started the horse well as a 2-year-old.
Pinheiro has worked with Cromer about five years. He recently took on a second job as sales representative for the horse nutritional supplement Core Balance. He had earned nearly all his $75,000 in prior career cutting earnings aboard Hick Oleana’s half-brother, Ann Olena’s Cat, a 2007 gelding also given to him by Steck three years ago. The Latigo Canyon Ranch owner, who bred both horses, apparently liked what Pinheiro did with “Blackie.”
While he’d like to eventually use some of the money he’s earned as a cutter so far to take college classes, Pinheiro said that might wait a while. He’s busy, and doing quite well, with the two limited-age cutting horses he owns.
Futurity Non-Pro Reserve Champion Tom Mertle, 54, Windsor, Calif., and 2009 mare Daintys Kual Kitty (Dual Smart Rey x Kats Dainty Gal x High Brow Cat) posted a 215-217-432 effort to earn $4,699.
Melissa Dassel Weis, Ojai, Calif., who will celebrate her second wedding anniversary with cutting trainer Scott Weis in December, finished third in the Futurity Non-Pro and second in the Gelding division with a 210-220-430 aboard Hallowed Be to earn $4,564.
The second-go 220 posted by Weis and Hallowed Be (Halyrecious x Peek A Boon x Smart Little Lena) was the top score posted by any duo during either round. Her horse is part of Halyrecious’ first foal crop, and the rider asked the sire’s rider, Lloyd Cox, if he had advice regarding the young horse.
“He told me the horse was going to get better and better. He was right,” Weis said.
Dustin Adams and his wife Deena, the owners of South Point Derby Open Champion and NCHA Horse of the Year leader Hottish, did not fare well in Non-Pro until the last day.
That changed Monday as Dustin Adams and Smooth Sneakin (Smooth As A Cat x Tangnilla x Tangys Class Peppy) dominated the Derby Non-Pro finals with a 221 to earn $6,500 and the mare’s first limited-age title.
“I’d made the [December’s NCHA] Futurity finals, and several others, and I’d won some go-rounds with her, but I’d never gotten her shown in the finals. I finally did,” said Adams, 33, cutting’s third all-time leading Non-Pro with more than $3.4 million earned.
“She’s been a good mare all along,” Adams said of his homebred winner. “We raised her and I rode her mom. It’s always fun to do well with one you like.”
Derby Non-Pro Reserve Champion Ashley Galyean, Amarillo, Texas, finished second with a 213 to earn $5,500 aboard Casey Catt (Sophisticated Catt x Amanda Starlight x Grays Starlight). Her husband, trainer Beau Galyean, also made the Derby Open finals with the same horse to earn $2,900. The couple’s combined earnings with the 2008 gelding pushed his career earnings over the $100,000 mark.
Ashley and her father-in-law and Beau’s father, Jody Galyean, made Non-Pro and Open finals with Casey Catt and earned a combined $58,878 with him during December’s 2011 NCHA Futurity in Fort Worth. That’s not bad for a horse Beau and Ashley bought at a sale for $17,000 the previous year.
The horse has consistently made Non-Pro and Open finals with Ashley and Beau Galyean sharing the rides this year. He figures to keep on adding to his career earnings total, Ashley said.
Real Estate developer John Kratzer finally got to join the fun Sunday by guiding his 2007 mare My Lizzy Babe to a final-round 220 and a Classic Open victory worth $9,400 at the South Point Futurity limited-age cutting in Las Vegas, Nev.
Katie Gaughan Banuelos, who breeds, raises and competes with cutting horses with her horse trainer and husband Cookie Banulos, earned the Reserve Champion title with a 218 finish aboard 2006 mare Rey Ja Vu to earn $6,000. Katie is the daughter of South Point Futurity producer Paula Gaughan and the hotel/casino’s owner Michael Gaughan.
My Lizzy Babe (Lizzys Gotta Player x Moms Stylish Oak x Docs Stylish Oak) won four Open cutting titles last year and earned more than $70,000 with Temecula, Calif., trainer Tim Smith. Smith suspected the mare would have earned quite a bit more if not for several early-season events cancelled nationwide last year due to EHV-1 virus concerns.
After a year where the mare “won just about everything” with Smith in 2011, the mare got off to slow start at early 2012 shows with both her owner and trainer, but she’s picked up the pace quite a bit recently, San Diego resident Kratzer said.
This is just the second limited-age event Kratzer has competed at riding My Lizzy Babe. They competed at but did not earn any money during early springs’ NCHA Super Stakes in Fort Worth, Texas. They tuned up for the South Point event by competing at and winning a small weekend cutting in Temecula, Calif.
“She is really a cool horse to ride, and it’s a lot of fun to own one like that,” said Kratzer, who actually earned two titles with his winning 220 as the Classic Non-Pro Champion and as the $200,000 Limited Non-Pro Champion to earn $7,000 and $2,400 checks.
Kratzer, a prior career earner of $184,444 as a cutting horse rider, previously teamed with Smith successfully when the duo shared rides and both won titles with standout 2002 mare Frecklesareinstyle (Docs Stylish Oak x I Know A Secret x Freckles Playboy). That mare, a career earner of $184,444, is now a broodmare with six foals on the ground.
Buoyed by the success of his initial joint effort with Smith, Kratzer told the West Coast’s top-earning all-time cutting horse rider, a career earner of more than $5 million as a cutter, to “go find another one.” So, that’s what he did.
Acting on Smith’s advice, Kratzer bought My Lizzy Babe soon after the December, 2010 NCHA Futurity in Fort Worth, Texas. The horse bred and originally owned by Drummond Land & Cattle Co., Pawhuska, Calif., competed there but did not fare well.
“Tim came back and said, ‘She’s the real deal.’ We looked at her, negotiated, vetted her and got her bought,” Kratzer said. “He saw her one time. I can’t believe that she’s turned out to be this good. She’s really cool.”
“When I married Cookie, I got the horse,” Katie said with a smile. She said the mare has actually competed well with both of them during the past three years.
Rey Jay Vu and Katie won the first round and posted the best two-go composite score prior to finishing as Reserve Champions with a 218 to earn $6,000. That extends the homebred mare’s career earnings to more than $30,000. She also has a pair of embryo transfer Metallic Cat foals on the way.
Rocking K Ranch still owns Rey Jay Vu’s mother, Chexy Pep N Remedy, a career earner of $111,488 during her cutting career, and one of Katie’s all-time favorites as a rider. She’s also the mother of a horse Katie won an NCHA $15,000 Novice Non-Pro Reserve World Championship with a couple of years ago.
Katie had made two prior limited-age finals with Rey Jay Vu, but this is their top finish. Cookie Banuelos competes with the mare more frequently in Open events. Cookie also competed with the mare in Las Vegas but lost a cow in the second go.
Katie and Cookie Banuelos will celebrate their third wedding anniversary in January. They have a daughter, 22-month-old Isabella, who will turn two in October.
Galyean and “R.J.” picked up $5,550 by placing third overall in the Classic Non-Pro with a 216.5 finish. They picked up another $2,340 by winning the Gelding division, plus an extra $1,800 for finishing second to Kratzer and My Lizzy Babe in the Limited Non-Pro to earn a combined $9,640.
SVR Reyl Smart, bred and originally owned by Strawn Valley Ranch, Strawn, Texas, has earned more than $100,000 with Beau in Open competition, but he’s competed better with Ashley in Non-Pro events since the couple bought him in May.
During May’s Breeder’s Invitational in Tulsa, Okla., Ashley Galyean and the gelding earned a combined $31,693 by placing in several divisions during their first show. Ashley and SVR Reyl Smart also earned $9,512 together earlier this month at the West Texas Futurity in she and Beau’s hometown, Amarillo, Texas.
“He’s been really my confidence builder,” Ashley said after the duo’s latest strong finish in Las Vegas. “He’s just always there for me. He’s always real honest. Kick him anywhere and he’s going to go with the cow.”
The 19th annual South Point Futurity, presented by Paula Gaughan and the Las Vegas Cutting Horse Association, concludes Monday with final rounds in the Futurity Non-Pro, Derby Non-Pro, Derby Amateur, and Classic Challenge Amateur divisions.
Kevin Coombe, Atta Kitty, Top Derby Amateur
After celebrating his 50th birthday at the Las Vegas show, Redmond, Ore., dentist Kevin Coombe also picked up his first career limited-age win and $2,000 as the Derby Amateur Champion with a 221 finish aboard his homebred 2008 mare Atta Kitty.
“It feels great. I haven’t show in limited-age events in a few years,” Coombe said. “It feels good to get back into showing. It [the win] was my 50th birthday present, and it’s not bad.”
“This is a horse that we bred and raised, my beautiful wife Karen and I. I had a share of Atta Cat when we raised him, so we bred one of our mares to him. I sent her down to Texas and had Phil Hanson train her. He showed her in the Futurity. Keith Kitchen [a cutting trainer based in Bend, Ore.] has had her ever since. She’s been a great horse.
Derby Amateur Reserve Champion Jenna Napier, 21, a college student based in Bakersfield, Calif., earned $1,500 with a 218 aboard homebred gelding Bruce All Mitey. The horse’s strong performance as a 4-year-old has been a blessing, she said.
“He was supposed to die when he was born. He wasn’t supposed to live,” Napier said, adding the horse spent the first six months of his life undergoing surgeries following a bladder that had ruptured at birth. “He didn’t want to die. He made it through it. We brought him home, and he’s been good ever since.”
Hometown rider Michelle LeMaster earned $1,800 with her first Las Vegas victory as a cutter aboard a gelding trainer Mike Wood, Scottsdale, Ariz., urged her to buy in May.
Dynamite High Brow has proven to be just what the wining rider was looking for, she said. “High school rodeo kids had him, and I was looking for a horse. Mike said he would fit me. I put all of my trust in him to find my horses, and it works.”
The Wenatchee, Wash., attorney and the horse finished second overall in the Classic Amateur with a 215.5 that also topped its Senior rider division. They earned a pair of checks totaling $4,120.
“This Reserve Championship is my top limited-age finish ever. So, it was really exciting,” Spadoni said. “The Senior Championship also means a lot to me. There are a lot of my good friends riding out there, and we have fun with each other. This probably is my best day as a cutter.”
