When the curtain closed on the Level 4 Non Pro Classic Finals, it was NRHA $2 Million Rider Mandy McCutcheon and JLosa scoring a 224.5 to cinch the championship and $30,000. JLosa, by Arlosa Whiz and out Spook N Jessie, is owned by Mandy and her husband Tom McCutcheon.
“I bought her last fall from Fred Thommson and Josefine Spangfors,” Mandy said. “They did all the work on her; I’m just getting to enjoy the glory. I tried for a long time to buy her.”
JLosa made a special first impression on Mandy. “Her stop is what caught my eye and I just watched her the whole time Josefine had her. I loved the look in her eye. It looked like the thoughts in her mind would be good thoughts.”
After showing JLosa at the Cactus Classic in the Open, Mandy said she gained valuable experience and adjusted a few things accordingly. “I used that run really to learn how to show her,” she said. Her changes paid big dividends by the time they arrived at NRBC.
Unofficially, McCutcheon is nearing NRBC earnings of $700,000. This year marks her eighth NRBC Non Pro Classic championship, but Mandy said it’s especially meaningful considering her daughter Carlee’s success in the Finals. “That part was amazing. That put it right over the top for me,” she said of Carlee earning dual Non Pro championships.
In the time leading up to NRBC there was some horse-swapping amongst the McCutcheon ladies, but the final decisions regarding horse and rider pairings were good ones. “Cade said, ‘Mom, you’ve got to give her Dununzio [Dun With Guns].’ Her big brother was looking out for her,” Mandy said. “She had three horses in the finals today and she showed every single one of them so smart. She showed each horse to its ability and I couldn’t be more proud of her.”
While a little horse trading is customary among the McCutcheons, Mandy said with a smile, “I’m not sharing JLosa. For now, momma’s keeping her. That’s the plan anyway.”
Mandy expressed her gratitude to the team behind her on her journey to the NRBC winner’s circle. “My parents, my husband, Cade, Carlee, the crew at the barn, my crew that stays home and makes it so we can be away showing. They make it possible for us to do what we do.”
NRBC Level 3 & Level 2 Classic Champion – Carlee McCutcheon & Dun With Guns
Keeping the winning trend going strong in her family was Carlee McCutcheon, 15, of Aubrey, Texas, who won the Level 3 and Level 2 Non Pro Classic championships. Carlee rode Dun With Guns to a 218.5 to earn a combined $18,500. By NRHA $4 Million Dollar Sire Gunners Special Nite and out of Belle Star Dunn It, Dun With Guns is owned by Carlee’s parents, Tom and Mandy McCutcheon, and was bred by Turnabout Farm, Inc.
McCutcheon, who has been in Katy, Texas, since January attending the Pin Oak Charity Horse Show with her hunter/jumpers, shifted gears into reining with ease as she prepared in the week leading up to NRBC. “Pin Oak started in January, so I haven’t ridden many reiners since then. I just have to focus as much as I can and switch over,” she said.
Of her performance in the Finals, Carlee said her parents told her to go have fun, and that is exactly what she did. “It was a lot of fun. My horse was with me every step. He’s super smart and honest, and I just trust him.”
Carlee thanked her parents and grandparents, Tim and Colleen McQuay, as well as her brother Cade for all their help and support, along with Sara Willeman of Turnabout Farms for breeding Dun With Guns.
NRBC Level 1 Non Pro Classic Champion – Anna Harris
Sixteen-year-old Anna Layne Harris from Sheridan, Arkansas, made her first NRBC count when she captured the Level 1 Non Pro Classic Championship riding Ready N Willing with a 215.5 in the Finals. The 2015 gelding sired by NRHA $3 Million Sire Walla Walla Whiz and out of Dainty Dunit is owned by Delaina Harris and was bred by Arcese Quarter Horses USA.
“I didn’t know what to think coming in, but I was really excited that everything went smooth. Overall, I was just happy that he performed,” Harris said.
Harris, who rides with Yonathan Baruch, invested a lot of time and miles into preparing for the NRBC. “We drive every weekend to Texas, it’s about four hours [one way] so we drive about eight hours to go ride. We went to Tulsa not long ago and cruised him through and it was really smooth. We watched the videos and saw what we could fix and just went in thinking of how to avoid any mistakes.”
Ready N Willing, aka “Red,” qualified with Baruch to the NRHA Futurity Level 4 Finals before Harris and her family acquired him. “I tried him in December, and we ended up buying him then. He rides a lot like my old horse, so it was very easy to step on him and adjust. He’s very quirky, he likes scratches and anything he can eat.”
Harris said her horse handled the run-in pattern for the NRBC Finals with confidence. “I had run very few run-in patterns, so I was very excited to get to do that. He was really free and his circles were really good. I was nervous about the turns, but he got through it good.”
Harris thanked her parents, Delaina and Shane Harris, the entire crew at Baruch Reining Horses, and “I have to thank God for the talent He has given me.”
NRBC Prime Time Non Pro Classic Champion – Shaunda Rai Blinzler & Tagin Stiletto Chics
The Champions of the Prime Time Non Pro was Shaunda Rai Blinzler and Tagin Stiletto Chics with a 219. By NRHA $4 Million Sire Gunners Special Nite and out of the mare Stiletto Tag, Tagin Stiletto Chics was bred by Jennifer Marley.
Blinzler of Scottsdale, Arizona, acquired Tagin Stiletto Chics, aka “Duke,” right before Christmas and has been working to form a partnership that proved to be fruitful at NRBC. “He’s a lot of fun, he’s super honest. I’ve just tried to learn him because I literally haven’t had much time with him. It’s been a crash course in learning,” she laughed.
Of her Finals performance, Blinzler said, “He ran in really good. I’ve been having a little bit of trouble with my spins, but I felt like I got through it good and the rest of the run he was really pure and really honest. There’s just not much more you can ask of them than that.”
Blinzler, a former NRBC Level 4 Non Pro Champion, estimates that she showed at her first NRBC in 2007 but said she hasn’t had a derby horse in several years and is happy to be back with a good one. “It was amazing,” she said. “It feels really good to be back [at NRBC]. It’s fun to be back and to see all of these people again.”
Blinzler thanked her trainer Cade McCutcheon, as well as her husband Ronnie, and the entire McCutcheon team.