Tack
Room
Horse owner Luis De Armas (left)
and trainer Jaime Snider, holding his son, Stone, enjoyed many
great rides and earned one title
each at the BI aboard Sly Playgirl.
Talk
—Photo by Mark Thompson
News From
the Performance
Horse Industry
BI Cutting Shatters Records
T
he Breeder’s Invitational
limited-age cutting, held
May 10-26 in Tulsa, Okla.,
offered extra money and
attracted extra 5-year-old horses
with one-time only Special 5 events
in all divisions for those who missed
shots at last year’s wayward 4-yearold bonuses.
While figures were not yet final in
4-Year-Old divisions at press deadline, the event expected to feature
more than 1,500 entries and a payout topping $2.6 million. The ninth
edition of the event will shatter
previous BI all-time records of 1,020
entries and a $1,737,989 payout in
2009, the year it relocated from Las
Vegas, Nev., to Tulsa.
All incentive monies meant for
last year’s 4-year-olds were held
back after cancellation of the 2011
BI cutting until this year. That
helped skyrocket its 2012 overall
entries.
The 2012 BI’s estimated combined $1.4 million payout to 5-
and 6-year-old horses will break
a record set in early spring by
the 2012 National Cutting Horse
Association Super Stakes.
“That kind of worked out well,” BI
Executive Director Bob O’Bannon
said. “It was sad to not give it to the
4-year-olds last year, but it’s kind
of cool [that] some of the ones who
were not ready, or were hurt last
year, were able to come this year
and win money.”
Many 5-year-old horses eligible
for this year’s one-time only Special
5 events and the standard Classic/
Challenge events for 5- and 6-yearolds competed well in both.
Open and Non-Pro standout mare
Sly Playgirl (That Sly Cat x Taquitas
Playgirl x Freckles Playboy) carried Burleson, Texas, trainer Jaime
Snider to a victory in the BI Special
5 Open finals with a 224, one night
after the pair finished in the middle
of the pack during the Classic/
Challenge Open.
The mare then carried her owner,
Luis De Armas, Boca Rotan, Fla.,
to three Non-Pro finals. De Armas
and the horse won the Classic/
Challenge Limited Non-Pro with a
223, giving the Venezuela native his
first finals victory since exiting the
Amateur division at the end of 2010.
The prior night, De Armas and the
mare were Classic/Challenge NonPro Reserve Champions with a 219
score.
Sly Playgirl’s BI hot streak lasted
a week and a half. Sharing the fun
with two riders, the mare, bred
by Slate River Ranch, Weatherford,
Texas, made nine official cutting
runs in nine days. She reached five
finals and earned about $120,000,
including stallion and broodmare
incentives paid to their owners.
“If that was not perfect, I don’t
know what perfect is going to be.
It couldn’t be any better. She was
awesome every run,” De Armas
said.
One Time Royalty and Lloyd Cox,
Fort Morgan, Colo., marked a 224.5
(Left) Lloyd Cox, pictured with One Time Royalty and his wife, Christina, picked up his second big limited-age
title with the horse during the Classic/Challenge Open finals. (Center) Brandon Dufurrena and Nievas won Special
5 Non-Pro title in Tulsa. (Right) California cutter Tom Kaufmann won two Amateur titles with Duck On A Chain.
—Photos by Mark Thompson
during the Classic/Challenge Open
finals to earn $34,703. They also
finished third in the following day’s
Special 5 Open finals with a 220.5.
One Time Royalty’s earnings from
the two finishes of about $62,000
pushed the stallion’s career total
over $390,000.
Australian horse breeder Sue
Merchant bought the horse (One
Time Pepto x Royal Serena Belle x
Shorty Lena) last August. She left
him with Cox. The horse misses
time at the start and end of the year
to fill breeding commitments in two
continents.
Brandon
Dufurrena,
26,
Gainesville, Texas, and his 5-yearold mare Nievas (Cats Merada x
Smart Little Boogie x EG Southern
Dancer) marked a 224 to win
the Special 5 Non-Pro and earn
$33,089. Nievas’ performance in
Tulsa put her over the $120,000
mark in career cutting earnings.
Mary Ann Rapp, Weatherford,
Texas, riding her and her husband, Phil’s, gelding Shrimp
Shack Shooter (Smooth As A Cat
x Awesome Autumn x Smart Little
Lena) won the Classic/Challenge
Non-Pro with a 220 to earn their
second big check in one day.
One cattle set separated the pair’s
217-point fourth-place finish in the
Special 5 Non-Pro from a Classic/
Challenge win. They earned two
checks totaling more than $41,000.
Tom Kaufmann, Clovis, Calif.,
and his tiny but mighty 2007 mare
Duck On A Chain (Blue Duck Okie
x Zippity Dual x Dual Pep), won a
morning Special 5 Amateur finals
with a 219. They came back two
sets later and topped the Classic/
Challenge Amateur with a 218.5.
Before noon, they’d won twice to
earn $15,664.
Kaufmann, 42, competed in cutting as a teen and into his early 20s.
Until recently launching his successful comeback, he hadn’t competed as a cutter in 20 years. —MT
14 Quarter Horse News ★ June 15, 2012
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