Opportunities to ride in a four-event competition with the National Reined Cow Horse Association are few and far between, but on June 10, 2021, at the DT Horses Western Derby the NRCHA launches the CD Survivor Memorial Open Bridle Horse Super Spectacular and Non Pro Bridle Super Spectacular.
Horses ridden by Open and Non Pro competitors that are entered in the Bridle Spectaculars, where horse and rider teams show in herd work, rein work and cow work to be crowned a three-event champion, are eligible for this Super Spectacular.
Since 2010, the year after he suffered a life-ending injury, the late CD Survivor has been memorialized annually by owner Nancy Crawford’s Holy Cow Performance Horses’ support of the Open Bridle Spectacular event, adding $25,000 to the purse. A sorrel stallion by CD Olena and out of Have A Lil Lena by Peppy San Badger, CD Survivor earned the elite title of NRCHA Supreme Reined Cow Horse before his death.
For the Super Spectacular, Holy Cow Performance Horses is adding another $5,000 in added money in the composite awards. Open and Non Pro riders will work out of the herd, complete a reining pattern and work a cow down the fence before competing in a jackpot roping to complete the four events of the Super Spectacular.
“The top horses in our sport are the four-event bridle horses we see at the World’s Greatest Horseman,” said Corey Cushing, the NRCHA president and a two-time World’s Greatest Horseman champion. “We felt it was important to continue the focus on the all-around horse by bringing roping to more of our premier events.”
At each of the NRCHA’s premier events, the Spectacular event continues to be a crowd favorite as well as one of the most highly anticipated classes for competitors. Bridle horses are the penultimate reined cow horse, having advance through all training stages. Exhibitors in Scottsdale can compete in the Bridle class, the three-event Spectacular, or now opt to go for additional added money in the CD Survivor Memorial Super Spectacular during the DT Horses Western Derby runs June 2 through 13, at WestWorld of Scottsdale, in Scottsdale, Arizona.
This is the second year for NRCHA to host the Derby at WestWorld, and the first year for DT Horses, owned by Dean Tuftin, to be the event’s title sponsor. DT Horses made a three-year commitment to the event. Based in north Scottsdale, DT Horses is home to elite rope horse facilities while also having close ties to the reined cow horse industry.
With a full slate of horse show classes, the DT Horses Western Derby is set to be another huge event, especially with the $80,000 added to the Open 4- and 5-year-old Derby. The CD Survivor Open Bridle Spectacular, sponsored by Holy Cow Performance Horses, includes $25,000 in added-money to the top bridle horse at the event. In addition, $20,000 is added to the Non Pro division and $10,000 is added to the Non Pro Limited division for the Derby, as voted on by the NRCHA Board of Directors last year.
The show year continues in July with the Dom Conicelli Memorial Eastern Derby, sponsored by MARS Equestrian™, in Cordova, Tennessee, then wraps with the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity® held in Fort Worth, Texas, in October. For more information on these events and reined cow horse, visit www.nrcha.com.
