FORT WORTH, Texas — True to form, the National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) World’s Greatest Horseman Championship finals, held Saturday, Feb. 22, in Fort Worth, Texas, came down to the very last fence run. The showdown in Cowtown ended with Spearman, Texas, professional Boyd Rice capturing the $25,000 World’s Greatest Horseman Championship by a half-point aboard Oh Cay N Short.
“He’s so seasoned, and so good in all four events. He’s a special horse,” Rice said. His composite 877.5 score on four events (226 herd/214.5 rein/221 steer stopping/216 cow) earned the coveted World’s Greatest Horseman title. In 2007, he won the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Championship aboard Oh Cay N Short (Oh Cay Quixote x Bit Of Shorty x Shorty Lena), who was owned at the time by Kevin and Sydney Knight. The horse was the Knights’ Christmas gift to Rice in 2012, and last year, he piloted the 2003 gelding to Reserve in the World’s Greatest Horseman.
Phillip Ralls led four California rider in the Top 10, finishing 10 points behind the champion in fourth place on Christina Larson’s Dom Dualuise, earning $9,000. Jake Gorrell took the Roloff Ranch’s Smooth N Cash to a seventh-place finish that paid $5,500, with Mark Luis on BBR Mardi Gras Time (9th place, $4,250) and Doug Williamson on the Rocking J Ranch’s Moon Me Pepto (10th place, $3,750) close behind.
The Championship came with a $25,000 check; a Bob’s Custom Saddle and Gist buckle from World’s Greatest Horseman title sponsor Kalpowar Quarter Horses; a CR Morrison Trophy sponsored by Chris Dawson; a gift card from Santa Cruz Biotechnologies; a Farnam prize packet; custom ostrich boots form Rios of Mercedes; a monogrammed saddle pad from Classic Equine; and a frame from Veda’s Custom Framing.
“It felt like coming home,” Rice said, describing how he felt about winning the World’s Greatest Horseman title in the Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas, where he has shown cutting horses for decades. “There’s so much history here for me, I couldn’t imagine having it anywhere other than in this building, with all the great horses that have come in here and showed.”
Rice’s score held up against a valiant fence run by the Reserve World’s Greatest Horseman, Bobby Lewis, of Overbrook, Okla. He and his stallion, Dual Spark (Dual Pep x Dolittle Lena x Shining Spark) were last to work down the fence and needed a 223.5 to move Rice from the top spot. Lewis and the buckskin stallion put it all on the line with a gritty performance that fell just a half-point short of the win.
2014 NRCHA World’s Greatest Horseman Finals
Feb. 22, 2014 – Will Rogers Coliseum, Fort Worth, Texas
Place/ Horse/ Rider/ Owner/ Total Points/ Money
Champion Oh Cay N Short/ Boyd Rice/ Boyd Rice/ 877.5/ $25,000
Res. Champion Dual Spark/ Bobby Lewis/ Bobby Lewis/ 877/ $18,000
3 Smart Luck/ Todd Bergen/ Cable Creek Ranch LLC/ 869/ $12,000
4 Dom Dualuise/ Phillip Ralls/ Christian Larson/ 867.5/ $9,000
5 Skeets Oak Peppy/ Clayton Edsall/ Clayton Edsall/ 865.5/ $7,500
6 Hes Shinettes CD/ Jake Telford/ Holy Cow Performance Horses LLC/ 865/ $6,500
7 Smooth N Cash/ Jake Gorrell/ Roloff Ranch/ 864.5/ $5,500
8 Halo Cat/ Brandon Buttars/ Larry & Karen Lommen/ 857/ $4,750
9 BBR Mardi Gras Time / Mark Luis/ Mark Luis Training,Adam Rhodes/ 839.5/ $4,250
10 Moon Me Pepto/ Doug Williamson/ Rocking J Ranch Inc./ 413/ $3,750
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