Cutting horses return to Fort Worth with fanfare as stallion named Sanctus wins title
Thoroughbred horse racing fans were elated to witness the running of the Belmont Stakes last month despite challenges from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Belmont Stakes is the third jewel of the sport’s Triple Crown Series. The cutting horse industry also features a Triple Crown Series and its third jewel is the Metallic Cat National Cutting Horse Association Summer Spectacular in Fort Worth.
Cutting horse fans also were thrilled to watch Sunday as the 4-year-old open division finals were held at Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum. A first-year competing stallion named Sanctus and rider Rodrigo Taboga clinched the title with a score of 226. The victory earned the horse’s owner, Scott Durham of Fort Worth, the $25,633 prize.
Taboga said Sanctus arrived at the Summer Spectacular with lots of momentum after faring well at recent aged event shows on the NCHA circuit.
“My horse came to this show with a lot of courage and confidence,” he said.
Taboga, 30, is a native of Brazil who lives in Fort Worth. He’s a professional trainer/rider with success in Brazil and he also works for high-profile NCHA competitor Beau Galyean of Fort Worth.
Adan Banuelos of Granbury and Twice In Santiago finished as the reserve champion with a 223. The horse’s owner, the Double Dove Ranch of Fort Worth, earned $22,484.
Tag Rice, a former NCHA Triple Crown winning rider from Godley, finished third with a 222 aboard Champayne Dreams and owner Scotty Rice of Weatherford earned $19,336. But Scotty Rice also pocketed a $100,000 bonus because Champayne Dreams was the top eligible finisher in the open finals who was sired by former NCHA Futurity champion Metallic Cat, a high-profile breeding stallion that’s owned by Fort Worth businessman Bobby Patton.
Fans were allowed to attend the Summer Spectacular but had to wear masks.
All three jewels of the NCHA’s Triple Crown Series traditionally are in Fort Worth. Numerous cutting horse competitors participated in the sport’s first jewel, the December Futurity, which was not affected by COVID-19. But they were denied competing in the second leg, the Super Stakes in April, which was canceled because of coronavirus concerns.
Only three horses and riders have won the NCHA Triple Crown. They are Smart Little Lena and rider Bill Freeman (1982-83), Docs Okie Ouixote and Joe Heim (1983-84) and Chiquita Pistol and Tag Rice (2002-2003).
Working through changes
Jacobs Crawley, the 2015 world saddle bronc riding champion from Stephenville, is serving as the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s board chairman during these challenging times when western sports continually are making big changes because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Crawley and other world class competitors normally would compete in the larger July rodeos such as the Calgary Stampede in Alberta and the Cheyenne Frontier Days in Wyoming. But Calgary and Cheyenne and other larger rodeos were canceled.
Crawley has competed in smaller towns such as Coleman, Belton and Weatherford. He finished in the money at PRCA rodeos in the three Texas towns in recent weeks.
During the past weekend, Crawley clinched the saddle bronc riding title at a PRCA show in Pretty Prairie, Kansas, where he turned in a score of 84 aboard a bronc named Short Grass, owned by the Beutler & Son Rodeo Co.
During this season of abrupt changes, Crawley is complimentary of the PRCA’s administration (headed up by PRCA chief executive officer George Taylor) that works in the association’s corporate office in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
“Our top leadership in Colorado Springs have been on this from Day 1,” Crawley said. “They’ve got the Plan A, the Plan B and the Plan C. There is a list because things are changing so fast.”
At the beginning of the year, pro rodeo was making headway. For example, the larger rodeos in cities such as Fort Worth (Stock Show Rodeo), San Antonio, Houston and Arlington (RFD-TV’s The American) were featuring the world’s top competitors who were riding for larger purses. Also, the larger winter rodeos for the first time were being broadcast live on the Cowboy Channel, which has its studios in the Fort Worth Stockyards.
Crawley said fans liked what they were seeing.
“The pandemic has kind of broken their hearts because they were excited about all of the new concepts that they had gotten used to in January and February,” Crawley said. “Everybody was spoiled with all of the rodeo.”
And despite the recent setbacks, Crawley is optimistic about the sport’s future.
“With the televised rodeos on the Cowboy Channel and things moving forward, it’s going to be great for years to come,” he said.
PBR update
▪ The Professional Bull Riders tour is scheduled to come Fort Worth’s Dickies Arena on Aug. 29-30. The PBR WinStar World Casino and Resort Invitational is part of the Unleash The Beast, the PBR’s top tier tour. The Fort Worth tour stop will help competitors qualify for the PBR World Finals, which is scheduled for Nov. 4-8 at T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
▪ Eight-time Professional Bull Riders World Finals qualifier Fabiano Vieira suffered a skull fracture and underwent brain surgery on July 2 following injuries he sustained the previous day at the 90th annual Texas Cowboy Reunion in Stamford, according to pbr.com. Vieira, 37, a Brazilian from Decatur, remains hospitalized at Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene, where he underwent surgery. Stock contractor Renato Teixeira and his family created a GoFundMe for Vieira.
▪ PBR competitors rode before fans on July 10-12 at the Danny Sanford Premier Center, an indoor arena in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. They had been riding for several weeks before no fans at the South Point Arena, an indoor arena in Las Vegas, leading up to the Sioux Falls show, Monster Energy Team Championship. Team Cooper Tires (Sage Kimzey, Keyshawn Whitehorse, Stetson Lawrence and Jose Vitor Leme) clinched the title. Leme, a former PBR World Finals qualifier from Decatur, won the MVP title and $10,000, according to pbr.com. Leme earned $47,000 during the entire series of weekly shows in Las Vegas and Sioux Falls.