SJR Reygun and Brady Weaver win Stallion Stakes Open & Intermediate Open Championships
A thrilling night of finals action at the NRCHA Stallion Stakes in Las Vegas, Nevada, wrapped up with Brady Weaver, Enterprise, Utah, scoring a career highlight when he piloted SJR Reygun (Dual Rey x Playguns King Badger x Playgun), a 2012 mare owned by Gary Ewell, to the Open and Intermediate Open Championships. Weaver guided SJR Reygun to a composite 662 score for the win, earning a 215 in the herd work, a 217 in the rein work, and a blistering 230 down the fence.
The Stallion Stakes Open Championship paid just over $35,000, and the Intermediate Open title came with an $8,087 paycheck. Weaver’s prize package included a custom saddle sponsored by the NRCHA, a Gist buckle, a CR Morrison Trophy, a pair of boots from Rios of Mercedes, and a gift certificate from Platinum Performance. The $3,500 Sire Award check went to Linda Holmes, who nominated SJR Reygun’s sire, Dual Rey, to the NRCHA Subscribed Stallion Program.
“I knew she was a good mare,” Weaver said of SJR Reygun, who came into his program as a 2-year-old. “I’m just glad it worked out.”
When describing his incredible 230 score in the fence work, Weaver said he came into the arena intent on doing the “same thing as always – get him across that back pen, and get out with him, and just let my horse do the rest.” He admitted, “I don’t remember much. I don’t know – I just kept spurring!”
It was the biggest career win for Weaver, who arrived in Las Vegas with just over $110,000 in NRCHA lifetime earnings. He came to the reined cow horse discipline after getting his start in the race horse industry.
“I started as a kid, cleaning stalls and riding all the pickles. And they started putting me on the ones that wanted to kill everybody else, and I was too dumb to say no. That was where we started. I wanted to ride cow horses, so I went out to California and worked for a guy named John McDonald. I was around [NRCHA Hall of Fame horseman]Tony Amaral a lot when he was an old man, and he told me a lot of stuff that I didn’t know even what he was talking about then. It just progressed to here,” Weaver said.
He thanked his wife, his support staff at home in Utah, and SJR Reygun’s owners, the Ewells, for supporting him since he first went out on his own as a professional horseman.
The Open Reserve Champion was NRCHA 2 Million Dollar Rider Todd Bergen, Eagle Point, Oregon, riding Metalic Dual (Metallic Cat x Dual Whisper x Kit Dual), owned by Dave and Kathy Ferguson, Cottonwood, California. Metalic Dual earned a 657 composite (218 herd/216.5 rein/223 fence). The Reserve Championship paid $25,939. As the highest-scoring offspring of Metallic Cat in the Stallion Stakes Open Finals, Metalic Dual also earned the $10,000 Metallic Cat Open Incentive check, sponsored by Alvin and Becky Fults of Fults Ranch, Metallic Cat’s owners.
The Stakes Limited Open Champion was SJR Tachitas Cata (Metallic Cat x Tachitas Hickory x Docs Hickory), shown by Stephen Hutchins and owned by MC Performance Horses. Hutchins guided SJR Tachitas Cata to a 628 composite (209 herd/205.5 rein/213.5 cow) for the win, which paid $9,013. The $1,000 Limited Open Sire Award went to Fults Ranch.
Hope Miller, Brush Prairie, Washington, had a brilliant night in Las Vegas with her stallion, Dare To Sioux (A Shiner Named Sioux x Tari Darlin x Taris Catalyst), winning triple championships in the Non Pro, Intermediate Non Pro, and Novice Non Pro divisions. They scored a 647.5 composite (203 herd/219.5 rein/225 cow), earning combined paychecks of more than $13,000. Their prizes included a custom saddle, Gist buckles, a CowTrac system sponsored by CowTrac, a CR Morrison Trophy, boots from Rios of Mercedes, custom spurs from Dennis Moreland Tack, and multiple gift certificates from Platinum Performance and Farnam. Three sire award checks totaling $2,000 went to Carol Rose, who nominated A Shiner Named Sioux to the NRCHA Subscribed Stallion Program.
