|
2001 Finalists
Sired by Pepto |
Dad Edges Son for National
Cutting Futurity Title
Texas -- The Dallas Morning News carried a story
on December 17, 2001 by Terry Blount about a
cutting that was all in the family:
Tag Rice rode first in the competition Sunday
night and posted a score that looked like it
might be good enough to win.
And it was for every other rider in the show
except one, his father.
Ronnie Rice topped his son with a score of 223.5
on San Tule Freckles to win the open division
championship of the National Cutting Horse
Association Futurity at the Will Rogers
Coliseum.
"It was a tough deal, but I didn't care if it
was Tag or me who won," Rice said. "I felt we
had the horsepower to get it done if things went
right."
The 49-year-old father knocked his 27-year-old
son out of the top spot after 17 horses failed
to better the 222 Tag Rice earned on Mr Beamon.
The victory by Ronnie Rice, a trainer from
Buffalo, was worth $201,372. San Tule Freckles,
one of two stallions Rice rode in the finals, is
owned by S.E. Montgomery, a resident of
Panasoffkee, Fla. Montgomery had two horses in
the finals from his Flying M Ranch in Bushnell,
Fla.
They may need to open a new bank in Buffalo to
hold all the money the Rice family will take
home. Tag Rice earned $173,344 on Mr Beamon, a
gelding owned by Jerry R. Jones of Granbury.
The Rice duo also rode two other horses in the
finals, including a fourth-place finish for Tag
on Short Candy that was worth $117,290. Ronnie
Rice tied for ninth on Smart Sugar Badger, so
the family made more than $500,000 for the
night.
"I guess we'll just pay the bills until we use
it all up," Ronnie Rice said jokingly. "It
couldn't have turned out better. It took me 20
years to get calm enough to show a horse, but
Tag is as laid back a young man as there is. He
just doesn't worry about anything. He has been
that way his whole life."
Ronnie Rice, who won the 1998 Futurity, admits
he thought Smart Sugar Badger had the better
chance at winning the finals because the horse
had three consecutive scores of 219. But San
Tule Freckles came up with the highest score of
the three-week competition with the 223.5 total
Sunday. The winning horse was sired by Freckles
Playboy, with San Tule Lu has the dam.
"That horse can hold anything, good cow or bad,"
Rice said. "It's like life or death to him when
you drop your hands. He's gritty and very
serious about his business. You don't have to
pick a special cow for him. He is the smartest
Playboy-bred horse I've ever been on. He will
try and try whether the cow is under his neck or
way back."
The Futurity
began with 568 horses trying to earn a spot in
the finals, which included 24 horses and 19
riders from nine states. Six of the 19 horses in
the finals were sired by Peptoboonsmal and three
were sired by Smart Little Lena.
Brad Vaughn, on Hes A Peptosponful, was the
favorite entering the finals after posting a
221.5 score in the semifinals, but Vaughn's
horse scored a 218 Sunday to tie for sixth. |
| |
|
|
