Mandy McCutcheon and Always Gotyer Guns Up break NRBC record in Non-Pro finals while Shawn Flarida and Spooks Gotta Whiz win the Open title.
KATY, TEXAS – It was a colorful finals at the National Reining Breeders Classic with American Paint Horses breaking records and winning the top prizes.
Mandy McCutcheon gives Always Gotyer Guns Up a kiss after learning their score of 231 in the NRBC Non-Pro finals. It’s the highest Non-Pro score ever marked at the NRBC and possibly in any non-pro reining. Photo Courtesy: Paint Horse Journal.
National Reining Horse Association million-dollar rider Mandy McCutcheon of Aubrey, Texas, guided Always Gotyer Guns Up to a 231 in the NRBC Non-Pro finals on April 19 to win the championship title and a check for $40,948. It was the highest Non-Pro score ever at the NRBC and might be the highest Non-Pro score in any NRHA event.
“You never know how big the score will be but I knew this mare was good and I was really happy with her,” Mandy said after her fifth NRBC title win. “From the time she went through that gate, she put her head down and went to work.”
By Colonels Smokingun and out of Always A Dunit (QH), Always Gotyer Guns Up is owned by Mandy’s parents, Tim and Colleen McQuay of Tioga, Texas. The 5-year-old sorrel overo mare won the Southwest Reining Horse Association Futurity and the Ariat Tulsa Reining Futurity in 2010.
“She’s a great mare for me,” Mandy said. “I thank Marco Ricotta for helping me with her, and I also thank my mom and dad—they have provided several great horses for me to ride.”
Another Paint set a second record the next day. With NRHA $4 million rider Shawn Flarida in the saddle, Spooks Gotta Whiz won the NRBC Open finals and a $75,000 check on April 20 with a score of 236. It was the highest score ever marked in the NRBC Open event.
“I got him in January, and this was my first time to show him,” Shawn said of the 5-year-old bay overo stallion who is owned by Michell Anne Kimball of Encinitas, California. “He’s a super-minded horse and his foundation was phenomenal. Tanya Jenkins started him and did really well, and then Jordan Larson did a great job on him.”
By Spooks Gotta Gun and out of Prettywhizprettydoes (QH), Spooks Gotta Whiz won the 2010 NRHA Futurity Open championship with Jordan.
“Michelle called me and asked if I’d be interested in riding him,” Shawn said. “I said I didn’t think I could do any better than the other people who had ridden him, but I’d love the opportunity. She said, ‘I think he’d look really good with a green shirt,’ so I said I’d love to try him.”
Taking the reserve title and $56,000 was NRHA $2 million rider Andrea Fappani on Tinker With Guns, a 6-year-old chestnut solid Paint-bred stallion by Colonels Smokingun and out of Tinker Nic. Andrea marked a 233.5 on the Rancho Oso Rio-owned stallion.
Other American Paint Horses doing well at the NRBC included Scott McCutcheon and MC Gunner winning the NRBC Open Prime Time championship and Ruben Pacheco Cuevas and Sugar Chics Gunnit sharing the reserve NRBC Intermediate Non Pro title with Javier Melo and Imasugaredpepto (QH).
Created in 1997, the NRBC is today the most successful stallion show and incentive program in performance horse history. The NRBC show is held annually at the Great Southwest Equestrian Center in Katy, Texas.
About APHA
The American Paint Horse Association (APHA), the international breed registry for the American Paint Horse headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2012. In fulfillment of its mission to collect, record and preserve pedigrees of the breed, APHA recognizes and supports 111 regional and international clubs, produces championship shows, sponsors trail rides and creates and maintains programs that increase the value of American Paint Horses and enriches members’ experiences with their horses. APHA has registered more than a million horses in 59 nations and territories since it was founded, and now serves over 64,000 active youth and adult members around the world.