The Million Dollar Club

from Reined Cow Horse News, Volume 27, No 5, Official Snaffle Bit Futurity Program 2022

NRCHA Affiliate Listing

There are certain individuals whose winning records have surpassed an incredible milestone. Meet the elite Million Dollar Riders and Million Dollar Sires of the National Reined Cow Horse Association.

All earnings are calculated as of August 31, 2022.

Following the 2021 National Reined Cow Horse Association Snaffle Bit Futurity®, several riders hit milestones in their careers and the trend continued into the 2022 show season. Today, five riders are NRCHA $2 Million Dollar Riders, and we now have 18 Million Dollar Riders.

Idaho horseman Jake Telford celebrated his Two Million Dollar Rider club membership during the 2021 Snaffle Bit Futurity® when he became the fourth member of the prestigious club. A Snaffle Bit Futurity Champion and Reserve Champion World’s Greatest Horseman, Telford continues to pilot horses to the top of the limited age and bridle events.

The newest, and youngest, member of the Two Million Dollar Rider Club is Justin Wright of Santa Maria, California. Wright, who piloted Zak 34 to the 2021 Open Futurity Champion title, surpassed two million in earnings at the 2022 DT Horses Western Derby where he took home more than $128,000 from the event while also qualifying Scooter Kat for the 2022 Cow Horse Challegen at The Run For A Million.

The Million Dollar Rider Club gained four members. During the 2021 event, Clayton Edsall surpassed the million dollar earnings mark, needing only $5,000, the $10,000 earned in the Open Finals let him finish the year with $1,016,157.75 to join the club. Since 2007, Edsall has regularly been in the Snaffle Bit Futurity® Finals, starting with the Limited Open Reserve Champion that year. In 2016, he earned the World’s Greatest Horseman Champion title aboard Skeets Oak Peppy, and annually continued to rack up titles like the Open Two Rein Reserve World Champions, 2018 he earned the 2017 NRCHA Open Hackamore World Champion, and continued to dominate many of the derby-aged events on Bet He Sparks, Metallic Train, Bet Hesa Boon and others. Edsall credits the great horses to his continued success.

Sarah Dawson piloted the 2018 mare Selvarey to yet another career first for the Perrin, Texas, horsewoman when the pair earned the 2022 Tres Osos Cow Horse Derby Open Champion title. She is one of the youngest to achieve this milestone, and she is only the second woman to have earned the Snaffle Bit Futurity Champion title, both aboard the mare, owned by Sheri Jamieson. When asked about the horses that have made this milestone possible, Dawson said there were two that stood out the most: Shine Smarter and Selvarey. Shine Smarter, owned by Linda Mars, is a 2012 mare that took Dawson to her first Snaffle Bit Futurity® Open Finals and qualified her to ride in the Cow Horse Challenge at The Run For A Million.

Matt Koch, of Elizabeth, Colorado, surpassed one million in career NRCHA earnings at The Run For A Million Cow Horse Challenge, presented by XIT Ranch. Koch, who rode Smart Ladies Sparkle that is owned by the XIT Ranch, finished tied for twelfth place and earned $3,500, which pushed him over the mark. A three-time AQHA World Champion and an NRCHA two-rein, bridle and limited age event champion, Koch has been in the top four of the World’s Greatest Horseman and earned a spot in multiple Futurity Finals.

The most recent NRCHA Million Dollar Rider is Nick Dowers of Dyer, Nevada. Dowers emerged on the cow horse stage in 2011 aboard Anne Reynolds’ Shiney And Very Smart, earning the 2011 NRCHA Derby Intermediate and Limited Open champion titles, then followed the 2011 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity® Limited Open Champion title on Smarter Image before earning the 2013 Snaffle Bit Futurity Open win on Time For The Diamond. Since then, he’s been a mainstay at premier events competing annually in the Futurity and derby events as well as earning titles in hackamore and bridle events.

Here are your NRCHA Million Dollar Rider Club members in earnings order as of August 31, 2022.

PRIMO MORALES

COREY CUSHING/$2,997,363.18

Corey Cushing, Weatherford, Texas, achieved the milestone at age 32 during the 2012 Snaffle Bit Futurity, when he won his first Open Championship riding CD Diamond, owned by San Juan Ranch. Since then, Cushing has won two additional Snaffle Bit Futurity champion titles and two World’s Greatest Horseman titles. Cushing became the youngest Two Million Dollar Rider when he won the 2018 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity® aboard SJR Diamond Mist, a son of CD Diamond.

TODD CRAWFORD/$2,766,298.10

Todd Crawford, Blanchard, Oklahoma, is the NRCHA’s first Two Million Dollar Rider. He is the 2006 Snaffle Bit Futurity Champion, an NRCHA Stakes and Derby Champion and a multiple American Quarter Horse Association Working Cow Horse and Reining World Champion in addition to riding in the FEI World Reining Masters. In 2018, he was inducted into the NRCHA Hall of Fame.

PRIMO MORALES

TODD BERGEN/$2,572,829.76

Todd Bergen, Eagle Point, Oregon, is the NRCHA’s second Two Million Dollar Rider, and the first rider to achieve millionaire status in two different associations. In 2004, Bergen became a National Reining Horse Association Million Dollar Rider. He is a two-time NRCHA and NRHA Futurity Champion.

JAKE TELFORD/$2,073,894.20

Jake Telford, Caldwell, Idaho, achieved Million Dollar Rider status in less than a dozen years of NRCHA competition. The eighth member of the NRCHA Million Dollar club is a Snaffle Bit Futurity Reserve Champion, multiple World and National Champion, and earned the Snaffle Bit Futurity Championship in 2015.

PRIMO MORALES

JUSTIN WRIGHT/$2,057,723.23

Justin Wright became an Open rider in 2009, and has earned multiple NRCHA premier event Derby and Spectacular titles, many on the stallion Scooter Kat. The Santa Maria, California, horseman earned more than $307,000 during the 2018 show year to push him over the Million Dollar mark. After winning the 2021 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity® Open aboard Zak 34, he was $100,000 closer to the $2 million mark and then more than $128,000 he earned at one show, the DT Horses Western Derby, in June 2022 pushed him into that elite club.

STEPHANIE DUQUETTE

ZANE DAVIS/$1,836,876.41

Million Dollar Rider Zane Davis, Blackfoot, Idaho, achieved his milestone during the 2015 NRCHA Celebration of Champions in Fort Worth, Texas. Davis was the 2009 Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Champion, the 2017 Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Reserve Champion, the 2014 Hackamore Classic Open Champion, and has garnered numerous other NRCHA premier event titles and top placings.

PRIMO MORALES

TED ROBINSON/$1,949,971.86

Ted Robinson, Oak View, California, was the NRCHA’s first Million Dollar Rider. He has a record seven NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Championships and two World’s Greatest Horseman titles to his name.

PRIMO MORALES

ANNIE M. REYNOLDS/$1,725,293.92

Annie M. Reynolds, of King Hill, Idaho, is the NRCHA’s only non pro female Million Dollar Rider. She was a leading non pro, winning an unprecedented eight NRCHA Futurity Non Pro Championships. Reynolds became a NRCHA Open rider after the 2012 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity, when her career Open earnings surpassed the $100,000 mark. She was inducted into the NRCHA Hall of Fame in 2015.

PRIMO MORALES

CHRIS DAWSON/$1,645,088.15

Perrin, Texas, horseman Chris Dawson became the National Reined Cow Horse Association’s sixteenth Million Dollar Rider at the young age of 36. In 2013, Dawson hit his stride, collecting four out of five NRCHA premier event championship titles. In the fall of 2018, he surpassed the seven-figure milestone at the Southwest Reined Cow Horse Association Pre-Futurity.

PRIMO MORALES

BOYD RICE/$1,527,187.62

Boyd Rice, Weatherford, Texas, already a National Cutting Horse Association multi-million-dollar rider, can now also measure his NRCHA earnings in the seven figures. Rice won the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Championship in 2007 and the World’s Greatest Horseman in 2014 on Oh Cay N Short, becoming the first rider to capture both prestigious titles on the same horse.

PRIMO MORALES

JON ROESER/$1,630,826.83

Jon Roeser, Kuna, Idaho, has won every major NRCHA title, including the Snaffle Bit Futurity and World’s Greatest Horseman Championship. He comes from a family of exceptional horsemen; his father, Jim Roeser, and brother, Dan Roeser, are both NRCHA Hall of Fame inductees. Roeser joins them as a 2019 Hall of Fame inductee.

PRIMO MORALES

DOUG WILLIAMSON/$1,425,371.97

Doug Williamson, Scottsdale, Arizona, is the NRCHA’s oldest Million Dollar Rider. He also passed the $1 Million mark at the 2012 Snaffle Bit Futurity when he was 70 years old. He has won the Futurity Championship twice in his lengthy career.

KATE BRADLEY BYARS

KELBY PHILLIPS/$1,400,755.29

Kelby Phillips is the youngest trainer to achieve Million Dollar status. He garnered his first Snaffle Bit Futurity win in 2013 taking the Intermediate Open on Hickory Holly Time, the stallion he also rode to the 2018 NRCHA World’s Greatest Horseman title. In 2016, he won the Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Champion title with Duals Lucky Charm, and he was Reserve Open Champion in 2019 on Nineteen Ten. He and his wife, Abbie, live in Weatherford, Texas.

PRIMO MORALES

JAKE GORRELL/$1,366,601.52

Jake Gorrell, Porterville, California, achieved NRCHA Million Dollar Rider status in the summer of 2017. The 2017 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Champion, Gorrell has earned numerous NRCHA premier event titles, and he is a regular competitor in the World’s Greatest Horseman competition.

PRIMO MORALES

JAY MCLAUGHLIN/$1,400,140.00

Jay McLaughlin, Clarendon, Texas, passed the seven-figure milestone to become the twelfth NRCHA Million Dollar Rider in the summer of 2016. Besides his status as a NRCHA Million Dollar Rider, McLaughlin has 12 NRCHA and AQHA World Championships to his credit. He was the 2013 NRCHA Futurity Open Reserve Champion and the 2015 NRCHA Stakes Open Champion, and has claimed numerous other titles, finals berths and top placings in reined cow horse and reining competition.

PRIMO MORALES

PHILLIP RALLS/$1,335,726.81

For Phillip Ralls, training and showing great bridle horses such as Dom Dualuise, Short N Catt and Call Me Mitch helped him achieve more than a million dollars in earnings. The Paso Robles, California, horseman crossed the seven-figure milestone at the 2018 National Stock Horse Association Pre-Futurity, held in August, at the South Point Equestrian Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

PRIMO MORALES

LANCE JOHNSTON/$1,286,784.55

Following the 2019 Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Champion and Intermediate Open Champion wins, Lance Johnston achieved Million Dollar Rider status. The Lindsay, California, trainer and his wife, Tammy, have been a fixture in cow horse. Johnston holds multiple premier event titles.

PRIMO MORALES

SARAH DAWSON/$1,156,887.04

Sarah Dawson achieved Million Dollar Rider status following her win aboard Selvary in the 2022 Tres Osos Cow Horse Derby. The mare also carried Dawson to her first Snaffle Bit Futurity® Open Champion title in 2020, making her the second woman to hold the title. Combined with her earnings on multiple limited aged event horses as well as great bridle mare Shine Smarter, the horsewoman joined the club as one of the youngest members. She lives and works with her husband Chris Dawson, and their daughter, Hadley, in Perrin, Texas.

PRIMO MORALES

JOHN WARD/$1,203,917.53

John Ward, of Kingsburg, California, was recognized at the 2009 Snaffle Bit Futurity for reaching NRCHA Million Dollar Rider status. Ward is a two-time Snaffle Bit Futurity Champion, and as owner/operator of Ward Ranch, is part of a family legacy of great wins and legendary cow horses.

PRIMO MORALES

CLAYTON EDSALL/$1,077,068.20

Clayton Edsall has climbed the rider earning’s chart with consistent success in the reined cow horse arena. He counts every major NRCHA premier event championship title to his résumé, bar the Snaffle Bit Futurity, the event where, in 2021, his Finals earnings landed him a spot on the Million Dollar Rider list. He credits consistent earnings aboard Metallic Train, Bet He Sparks, Bet Hesa Boon, Mr Metallic Cat, Heza Rowdy Cat and Skeets Oak Peppy with much of his career earnings. Edsall, originally from Montana, recently moved his training operation from Oakdale, California, to Mineral Wells, Texas. He is married to Chelsea and has two children, Weston and Rylee.

PRIMO MORALES

RON RALLS/$1,059,298.65

Ron Ralls gained Million Dollar Rider status in early 2021. The two-time World’s Greatest Horseman and NRCHA Hall of Fame member’s career has spanned three decades, with his first recorded earnings in 1987, and his first entry into the Open Bridle class at the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity® in 1995. Since then, Ralls, of Gainesville, Texas, has ridden horses to top honors in every major NRCHA event, from futurity and derby-aged horses in snaffle bits, to hackamore and two-rein titles, to bridle aged champions.

PRIMO MORALES

BOB AVILA/$1,046,865.50

Bob Avila, Scottsdale, Arizona, was the NRCHA’s second Million Dollar Rider. He is a three-time NRCHA Open Snaffle Bit Futurity Champion and a World’s Greatest Horseman Champion. He is a NRCHA Hall of Fame Inductee, a National Reining Horse Association Open Futurity Champion, a multiple AQHA World Champion and an AQHA Professional Horseman of the Year.

PRIMO MORALES

MATT KOCH/$1,020,585.96

At the 2022 The Run For A Million Cow Horse Challenge, Matt Koch rode into the NRCHA Million Dollar Rider Club, surpassing the earnings mark when he piloted Smart Ladies Sparkle to $3,500 in the Run For A Million Cow Horse Challenge, presented by XIT Ranch. The horseman started his career on the ranch, and has rode his way to the top aboard horses like Annies Smart Cat, BOXO Opus Magnum, Dual With A Shiner, Metallica Style, Opus Cat Olena and SDP Blue Blood. He lives with his wife, Brianna, and son, Oliver, in Elizabeth, Colorado.

PRIMO MORALES

NICK DOWERS/$1,006,910.74

The Dyer, Nevada, rancher, husband, father and horseman boasts the titles of Open and Intermediate Open NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Champion, as well as multiple premier event wins aboard horses such as Time For The Diamond, High Stressin Cat, Still Get Jealous, Santiago Time, and Smart Shiney Playboy. A two-time The Run For A Million Cow Horse Challenge qualifier, following the 2022 event, Dowers needed $30,000 more to cross the Million Dollar threshold. At the National Stock Horse Associaion Futurity, he earned the championship and $34,000 on Cabanna Boy to step into the Million Dollar Club.

MILLION DOLLARMILESTONE

Several stallions hit earnings highs on the backs of their successful offspring this year.

By Kate Bradley Byars

It was a banner year for reined cow horse sires as their offspring pushed several to milestone earning markers. At the 2022 National Reined Cow Horse Association Snaffle Bit Futurity®, two stallions will receive Millon Dollar accolades, Dual Smart Rey and Woody Be Tuff, and two more will be honored as $4 Million Dollar sires, One Time Pepto and WR This Cats Smart. Metallic Cat will be the first $5 Million Dollar Sire honored by NRCHA.

Dual Smart Rey has sired a World’s Greatest Horseman and a Non Pro Snaffle Bit Futurity Champion, as well as earners of more than $1,089,738.44 in reined cow horse earnings. Owned by Strawn Valley Ranch of Strawn Valley, Texas, the 2002 Quarter Horse stalion (Dual Rey x The Smart Look x Smart Little Lena) has sired NRCHA earners of $1,038,613.54 as of December 1, 2021. The stallion earned more than $330,000 and the NCHA Open Super Stakes Champion title in the arena. His highest-earning offspring is Duals Lucky Charm (out of TRR Ms Pepcid), with more than $276,000 and the 2016 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Champion.

Woody Be Tuff sold in December of 2021, shortly after he crossed the Million Dollar Sire mark with then-owner Center Ranch. The stallion (Nitas Wood x Tuffs Junie x Tuff Wood) sired the 2021 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Champion Zak 34 (a 2018 stallion out of Cat Digs Lucinda), which helped catapult him over the million-dollar mark to claim $1,551,656.46 in reined cow horse offspring earnings. Now owned by Melanie Smith and Kaleb Terlip, Woody Be Tuff stands at the Lazy E Ranch in Guthrie, Oklahoma.

There are four sires who have surpassed offspring earnings of more than $4 million. One Time Pepto reached that mark in January of 2022 and now has $4,370,165.40 in total offspring earnings. Since 2002, Jeffrey and Sheri Matthews of North Carolina have owned the 2001 stallion (Peptoboonsmal x One Time Soon x Smart Little Lena), bred by David and Clare Capps. When the horse achieved NRCHA Million Dollar Sire status in 2014, there were only 61 NRCHA earners to his credit. Now, 232 offspring have contributed to the stallion’s astounding $4 million mark. The 2013 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Champion Time For The Diamond (out of Diamonds With Style), with $1,339,580.17, 2012 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Reserve Champion This One Time (out of Katies Starlight) with $158,969.39, and the 2018 World’s Greatest Horseman Champion Hickory Holly Time (out of Hickorys Holly Cee) with $228,563.40.

WR This Cats Smart reached Million Dollar Sire status with only 87 money-earning foals. Now, the 1999 stallion, bred by Wiens Ranch and owned by the Wagonhound Land & Livestock Co., has $4,254,961.29 in offspring earnings. A champion cutting horse, WR This Cats Smart (High Brow Cat x The Smart Look x Smart Little Lena) can look to earners like the 2007 gelding Tuckers Smart Cat (out of Smoke Time Tuck), a Supreme Reined Cow Horse with more than $150,000 in earnings, as well as Sinful Cat (out of Sinful Playgiril), a 2008 stallion and earner of $102,258, for helping him reach new status.

In 2021, Metallic Cat was honored as the new NRCHA All-Time Leading Sire during the 2021 Snaffle Bit Futurity. Following the conclusion of the Teton Ridge Stallion Stakes in April, Metallic Cat’s offspring had earned more than $5,369,288.15, making him the first sire to cross the $5 million threshold in the NRCHA. Owned by Bobby Patton’s Rocking P Ranch, the 2005 stallion, by High Brow Cat and out of Chers Shadow (by Peptoboonsmal), became an NRCHA Million Dollar Sire in 2018 and surpassed the Two Million Dollar mark less than a year later. By 2020, he had passed the Three Million Dollar mark before becoming a Four Million Dollar Sire in the fall of 2021. His top performers, Call Me Mitch, Metallic Train, Cats Picasso, Ricato Suave, Hazardouz Material and Moonshineandtwoadvil, each have earned more than $100,000 in the NRCHA.

These milestones will be celebrated during the 2022 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Finals on Saturday, October 22, in the Will Rogers Coliseum. Congratulations to the stallion’s connections on this milestone.