October 3, 2002 – Reno, Nevada – Merced, California trainer Brad Buttrey
held on to his lead in the preliminaries and tops the list of finalists in
the Open Finals of the National Reined Cow Horse Association World
Championship Snaffle Bit Futurity.
Buttrey rode Oak Ill Be to one of the highest cow work
scores in recent memory on Wednesday in the first set of the Open Cow Work
preliminaries. Their score of 226, added to a rein work score of 221.5 and a
herd work marking of 218.5, gave them a 666 composite to sweep the field.
Oak Ill Be is a daughter of Ill Be Smart out of Gypsy
Oak that is owned by Joanie Cohn of Cedar City, Utah.
A newcomer to the cow horse world, Boyd Rice of
Spearman, Texas, rode his own Deltas Color, a paint gelding by Color Me
Smart out of Delta Flyers Bueno, to a score of 661 (221.5, 219, 220.5) to
finish second in the composite score. He also won the Limited Open
Composite.
Finishing in the reserve slot in the Limited Open was
another rider better known for his cutting accomplishments, Ascencion
Banuelos. He rode Diamond Bud, owned by Mishawum Farms to a composite score
of 652. Diamond Bud is by Like A Diamond and out of Miss Little Roan Gal
The action continues at the World Championship Snaffle
Bit Futurity on Friday with the Open Two Rein, Youth Bridle, Youth Limited
and Non Pro Limited to start at 7 am.
At Noon, the Non Pro and Limited Non Pro Finals begin,
and the winner of the Non Pro finals will earn $40,000.
