Bluebonnet Double
By Robert Eubanks
A flash of brilliance from a promising, injury-plagued stallion, Snappin Cat, enabled Roy Carter to saddle up the winners
of both major Open classes at the Bluebonnet Stakes, which was held May 4-6 at Brenham, Texas.
The stallion, owned by the Snappin Cat Partnership, Aubrey, Texas, marked a 149 to win the 4-year-old Derby by two
points over Miss Five Across, a mare owned by Scott Ferguson, Hempstead, Texas.
Smart Lil Scoot, a 1996 stallion owned by Howard and Hal Sutton's S&S Farms, Hope, Ark., was ridden by Carter to a
winning 152 in the 5/6-year-old Classic/Challenge Open. Brudders Lil Chex, owned by Billie and William Aylesworth,
Lipan, Texas, was second with a 149.
Ferguson scored a 148 on Moe Hickory to capture the Derby Non-Pro by a half point over Chad Bushaw, Weatherford,
Texas, riding Shortys Wish.
The Classic/Challenge Non-Pro finals was a humdinger, as Betsy Mecom, Brenham, Texas, had a freeway-fast lesson
on how to ride without a spur when she marked a 150 on Mighty Aphrodite to tie for the first place with Missy Gardner,
LaMarque, Texas, riding Playn Stylish. The two decided not to work off the title.
Cody deCordova, Groesbeck, Texas, won the $50,000 Non-Pro Any Age with a 150 on Playboys Nu Gun.
The Bluebonnet Stakes, which was judged by Freddie McGee and Wayne Long, drew 199 entries competing for
$55,398.55.
Carter's double
Top- and bottom-side breeding fueled hopes of a brilliant career for Snappin Cat. He is by High Brow Cat out of
Snappers Koko. High Brow Cat, a 1988 son of High Brow Hickory out of Smart Little Kitty by Smart Little Lena, had arena
earnings of $110,783 and several major titles and has become a leading sire. He ranked 11th in 2000 with $567,045
earned by 41 performers and at the end of the year, had moved to No. 34 on the all-time list of leading cutting horse
sires with $1,819,325 earned by 46 performers for an average of $39,551.
Snappin Cat is by Snapper Cal Bar out of Koko Prescription by Doc's Prescription. Snapper Cal Bar, a 1981 stallion by
Cal Bar out of Cee Miss Snapper. He was owned and shown by Merritt Wilson to arena earnings over $261,170,
including the Non-Pro Championship of the 1984 NCHA Futurity, and in 1985, a tie for the NCHA Derby Championship
and the Non-Pro Championship of the PCCHA Cutting Stakes and the Bonanza Cutting.
Wilson and his wife, Penny, bred Snappin Cat, which was purchased by Hanes Chatham, Fort Worth, Texas, in 1988
and then by the Snappin Cat Parnership following the 1999 NCHA Futurity.
"I had tried to buy him when he was 2," Carter said.
Snappin Cat was shown unsuccessfully by Mac Mcleod at the 2000 NCHA Futurity and then was turned over to Carter.
They were unsuccessful at the Bonanza and at the NCHA Super Stakes, Carter had trouble keeping the stallion
standing up. "When he tried to go to the right, he would completely lay down," Carter said. "A lot of times, when a horse
lays down, it's kind of like he's running off ... gutless. But we figured he was hurting. We found out that he had a sore
bone in his hip. After we injected it and got him to where he will stand up, he's been tough. I showed him at one weekend
show and marked a 75."
However, the stallion still was hurting when they competed at the Bluebonnet, where they marked a pair of 149s. He was
given an injection to relieve pain from what was thought to be a bone chip in his knee, but after the Bluebonnet, it was
discovered he had a ligament problem and he will be sidelined for six months.
They worked next to last in the first go and in the middle of the pack in the finals, where the stallion again showed he
can handle tough cattle.
"He's really a pretty-moving, pretty-stopping horse," Carter said. "He handled everything there was to handle."
Carter also finished third with a 146 on Leoetta O Lena, a mare by Dox Lonesome Lena out of Docoetta by Son Ofa
Doc, owned by Angela Montalbano, Houston, Texas.
He trained Leoetta O Lena's sire and bought her dam from Ascencion Banuelos last year. They missed qualifying for the
Super Stakes finals by a half point.
The cattle had barely been settled when Smart Lil Scoot and Carter decided the issue in the Classic/Challenge Open.
"I had four or five cows picked, and fortunately, I cut three I liked," Carter said. "The second cow wasn't that good and I
had 35 or 40 seconds left, so I knew I had to do something. I ïchipped' a cow with 40 seconds left, so I had a lot of
working time, and I think that's what did it."
Although they had earned over $110,800, it was Carter's first title on Smart Lil Scoot, which is by Smart Little Lena out of
Sonscoot by Son O Sugar.
The stallion, which has been under Carter's care the whole way, finished fifth at the 1999 NCHA Futurity ($75,023).
They were finalists at the NCHA Super Stakes, Brazos Bash (fifth), Augusta (eighth), Memphis (tie for ninth) and the
Southern Futurity in 2000 and this year, tied for 13th at the Memphis Classic.
"I can honestly say there isn't anything I don't like about him," Carter said. "He's probably the best-minded stud I've ever
been around. He gives you everything every time. The only times we've messed up, I told Mr. Sutton it wasn't his fault, it
was mine. He's an exceptionally smart horse and reads cows better than any horse I've ever been on."
Carter said the stallion already has some yearling colts and probably 50 mares will be bred to him this year. Smart Lil
Scoot stands at Bristol Ridge Ranch in Navasota, Texas.
Roy, 49, whose dad, John, and brother, Punk, are cutting horse trainers, followed his first love, rodeo, and rode bulls
professionally for 15 years before becoming a cutting horse trainer in the late 1980s.
Since 1990, his mounts have won over $1.1 million, including the Championship of the 1992 NCHA 5-Year-Old Classic
on Playboy Roy. At the 1990 NCHA 6-Year-Old Challenge, he finished one-two on Smart Peppy Lena and Athenas Ear.
He has three children, Hayley Lynn, 27, John Cole, 16, and Jayme, who will be 15 in June.
Despite missing three cutting events, Jayme finished second in her region and will be competing in the Texas High
School Finals. Cole, who lives in Kissimmee, Fla., and loves to work around cattle with his grandfather, Billy Johnson,
spends a lot of summertime with Roy. He has shown cutting horses and Roy said Cole loves to work with his business,
which supplies prized bulls for Professional Bull Riders Tour events.
"He's 6-1, bigger than I am, and plays defensive back in football," Carter said. "He's going to have to come back and
forth because they work out in the summer. He helps me with the bulls and I think if he were to live with me, he might
want to ride them, but I wouldn't want him to."
Derby Non-Pro
Ferguson, 29, had two big shots at the title in the four-horse Derby Non-Pro finals, which was staged at the front end of
a bunch that included the Classic/Challenge Non-Pro finals competition.
He worked first on Miss Five Across, a Bingo Hickory-Tuloma Gay mare, but when they lost a cow, he tried to cut her
again in a sportsmanlike gesture toward his fellow competitors, and then walked out of the herd for an automatic zero
score.
Then after Bushaw worked on Shortys Wish, by Shorty Lena out of SOR Christa Quixote, Ferguson made his winning
run on Moe Hickory, a son of Bingo Hickory out of Miss Kitty Kitty out of Son Ofa Doc.
"He was pretty good for me," said Ferguson, who cut three cows.
Ferguson said it might have been one too-many runs on Miss Five Across, although he said he had about an hour and
a half to rest her after Lavender showed her in the Open.
He had won over $22,000 on Moe Hickory, including the Brazos Bash Non-Pro Championship, third place at the Eld Cid
and two finals at the PCCHA Futurity and Futurity Gelding Stakes in 2000. They were sixth in the Non-Pro at this year's
Sun Coast Winter Championships.
Although Ferguson considered Moe Hickory the best of his three futurity-age prospects, he decided to show him in the
smaller aged events and show two others in the NCHA Futurity, because he was so uncomplicated to show and
easy-going.
"He's so broke and laid back," said Ferguson, who trained the horse. "He is going to do what the cow does, no more and
no less. I figured he could handle it."
Miss Kitty Kitty, 22, is a mare that was owned and shown by Ferguson's dad, Steve Ferguson Sr., and by Scott as a
youth.
Miss Five Across had prior earnings of over $33,800, including the Limited Non-Pro Championship of the NCHA Futruity
($13,579) and the finals at Augusta (fourth), Sun Coast (seventh) and Super Stakes Limited Non-Pro (third).
The mare is extra-special because Ferguson's father still owns the dam and grand-dam and Ferguson did all the
training on her. "The mare has always been my special mare," he said.
Classic/Challenge Non-Pro
Mecom drew up fifth in the Classic/Challenge Non-Pro finals, or ninth overall, and because she worked right behind
Gardner, she knew she needed a big number. She was pleased "because it was the first good draw I had had in a long
time."
She cut two fresh cows, but the second really set up the wild finish.
"I began to lose my right stirrup toward the end of my first cow," Mecom said. "Then on the first turn on my second cow, it
flew off. So, I had only one leg, it was pushing, pushing to sit on that cow.
"I told Roy, ïI'm scared, I can't do this!' and he kept saying, ïBalance, balance.' "
She said she worked the cow around 45 seconds and when she turned around, it was "marrying up" with another cow.
She ended up cutting it again, but Carter had to convince her to go for it.
Carter said, "She wasn't wanting to cut that last cow, but I said, ïBetsy you need to cut it so you can win the cutting.' "
Mecom said, "One thing it did was it taught me how to ride. It was wild. That mare is so quick, a freak of nature, and I
didn't think I could ride her. Losing that stirrup probably was the greatest thing that ever happened to me."
She said Gardner's mare is just getting healthy after battling some physical problems and also had been shown by
Kenny Pugh to fifth place in the Open.
"She said, ïI don't want to go again,' so I said ïLet's be co-champions,' " Mecom said.
Mighty Aphrodite, which didn't get past the first go of the Open while shown by Carter, had earnings of over $23,500
before picking up $2,490.83 in the Classic/Challenge Non-Pro and $313.60 for first place in the Limited Non-Pro.
Mighty Aphrodite is a 1996 mare by Cattin out of Lenas Good Nus by Lenas Jewel Bars.
Cattin, which was owned by Mecom in 1994-95, was sold to Forrest Williamson, who then sold half interest back to the
Mecom family's Wichita Ranch in 1999. The ranch then re-purchased the other half interest in the stallion last year and
stand him at the ranch.
She said there probably have been 70 Cattin foals prior to this year, when they bred 89 mares to him. Mecom also owns
Glitzy Goose, which was shown by Cutter Jones to ninth in the Derby Open and to the Championship of the Derby
Limited Open.
The mare, which was purchased as a 2-year-old at the NCHA Futurity, is by Smart Little Lena out of Haidas Peperment.
She said Merritt Wilson told her he was inspired to use the name when he went to a festival at Steamboat Springs, Colo.,
and saw a goose.