A Bonanza for Lloyd Cox

article by sallyharrison.com

NCHA Hall of Fame Rider Lloyd Cox tied himself for the championship of the 2017 Bonanza 4-Year-Old Open on Monday, February 13, at Silverado Arena in Weatherford, Tex.

Cox scored 223 points showing Copperish, owned by Jimmie Miller Smith, and 223 points on his own horse, Nothing Elz Matters, to claim the double championship; he also placed fifth with 218.5 points on Sly Reygirl, owned by Rocking L Cutting Horses. Pharoah And James, shown by Clint Allen for David and Stacie McDavid, and Crafty With Cows, ridden by R.L. Chartier for Carol Ward, scored 219 points as co-reserve champions.

Copperish, bred by Double Dove Ranch out of Stylish Play Lena LTE $264,474, an all-time leading producer of earners of over $1.5 million, and by Metallic Cat, is a three- quarter sister to Smooth Talkin Style LTE $293,232, the 2105 NCHA Open Horse of the Year, also shown by Lloyd Cox. Including her Bonanza earnings of $21,725, Copperish, an open finalist with Cox in the Abilene Spectacular and Ike Hamilton Futurity, has NCHA lifetime earnings of $42,366; Nothing Elz Matters, also sired by Metallic Cat, has earnings of $36,410.

Pharoah And James, sired by Hickorys Indian Pep and most recently an open and novice finalist at the Ike Hamilton Futurity, has NCHA earnings of $33,213. Crafty With Cows, by High Brow CD, third-placed in the 2016 NCHA Futurity and Reserve Champion Gelding in the 2017 Abilene Spectacular, has NCHA earnings of $162,497.

In addition to Copperish, Nothing Elz Matters and Sly Reygirl, Cox also tied with 215.5 points, the seventh-highest score in the 33-horse finals, on Im Highly Decorated, sired by High Brow CD and owned by Norda and Jim Berger, and Smooth XTC, sired by Smooth As A Cat and owned by Kathleen Moore.

Cox, also a finalist in the Bonanza 5/6-Year-Old Open on Miss Meow, owned by Tommy Manion, has earned a total of $64,313 in 2017 Bonanza competition and is an NCHA all-time leading earner of $7.7 million.

Cox Takes Co-Champion Honors at Bonanza Cutting

article by QHN

While there were several riders that had multiple horses in the 4-Year-Old Open finals at the Bonanza Cutting in Weatherford, Texas, one rider in particular had his work cut out for him. Lloyd Cox, of Marietta, Oklahoma, got all six of his horses from the first go into the finals, competing twice in the second bunch and four times in the third bunch. The hard work paid off when he rode two horses to a 223 and tied for the Championship.

“It was different,” said Cox, who surpassed the $8 million milestone at the Bonanza. “It’s a lot of work getting them ready and trying to get them all showed. I got everything showed but one. It doesn’t happen very often, so I was pretty pleased about getting them all in there.”

Though both of his winning runs were at the bottom of the final set of cows, Cox had a game plan that he was able to stick with.

“We cut all the cattle we pretty much wanted to cut that we thought were good that were left, and they turned out to be good,” he explained. “But I cut them good, which makes the difference, especially in this pen. They’re two really nice horses, so they then took over and did their jobs.”

He first marked the high score on Copperish (by Metallic Cat), who is owned by Jimmie Miller Smith, of Geary, Oklahoma. The sorrel mare was bred by Double Dove Ranch, who consigned her to the 2014 National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Futurity Select Yearling Sale. Smith purchased her for $210,000, making her the sale’s second-highest seller.

Lcox CopperishCopperish & Lloyd CoxCopperish is out of the Docs Stylish Oak mare Stylish Play Lena, who boasts lifetime earnings of $289,624. She is an Equi-Stat Elite $1 Million Dam with 17 money-earning offspring. She has also produced Pepto Boom (by Peptoboonsmal, $308,095), Hottish (by Spots Hot, $301,200), Smooth Talkin Style (by Smooth As A Cat, $300,379), Equi-Stat Elite $1 Million Sire Halreycious (by Dual Rey, $227,459), and others.

“She’s a great mare,” Cox said of “Copper.” “I made the semis at the [NCHA] Futurity, but I didn’t make the finals. I didn’t get showed very well. She’s been good pretty much everywhere since the Futurity. I didn’t get her showed every time in the finals and stuff like you want to, but she was good. It wasn’t her fault.”

His second co-champion was Nothing Elz Matters (by Metallic Cat), a homebred belonging to he and his wife Christina. Nothing Elz Matters is out of Little Peppy Jazz (by Smart Little Lena), who has produced five offspring with earnings of more than $90,000.

“He’s just a little bitty ol’ horse, but he’s real cowy and he moves really good and tries really hard,” Cox said of “Rajah.”

For the co-championships, Cox amassed $43,450. He picked up an additional $18,363 from his other four horses in the finals.