NCHA 4CYTE Autumn Spectacular a huge success

“Cutting horses and riders travelled to Scone NSW from New Caledonia, TAS, SA, VIC, QLD & regional NSW, to compete at the 2022 4CYTE Autumn Spectacular. Clearly cutters are getting back to doing what they love. This event was well received by the cutting horse community, after two years of lockdown and travel restrictions”, says JP Chevalier NCHA General Manager. He explicitly thanks the Upper Hunter Valley Shire Council and Scone Pony Club for their support and use of this fabulous venue, as well as facilitation services from a wide range of local business.

From the 12th the 19th of March White Park in Scone was abuzz with excitement from cutting horse enthusiasts. The national level aged event show brought over 400 horse and rider entries from across Australia, and utilised over 2,500 head of cattle sourced from local producers. The riders were competing for their industries prestigious Aged Event Titles as well an impressive prize pool, that included $50,000 in added money.

The first half of the week mainly consisted of go rounds 1 & 2 for each of the classes taking place, where the competitors aimed to notch up a high enough aggregate score that would secure them a spot in the finals at the end of the week.

One of the finals that did run earlier on in the week was the Wrigley Cattle Co. Open Classic Challenge, which was taken out by Victorian trainer Aaron Wheatley aboard the Tri Star Quarter Horses owned SPOONFULA HOPE, with a very impressive score of 228pts.
Wednesday saw long time cutting enthusiast and industry supporter Sidney Myer & YULGILBAR KEEP N SWEET take out the Bar Code Direct Non Pro Amateur Futurity with their aggregate score of 427pts from over the 2 rounds.

The Select Sires Open Futurity Limited Final was run on Wednesday afternoon, and was won by Walcha trainer Mat Oakley aboard the Ali Ali owned HIGH VOLTAGE, with a lovely 216pt run.
Each year at the NCHA’s aged event show, the open aged horses and their riders are given a chance to shine. For a second year in a row it was Ashleigh Meagher aboard her families incredibly talented horse MAGICOOL who took out the NCHA Open Non Pro Gold Cup with a huge score of 226pts.

After the completion of the last lot of go rounds in the Non Pro section of the competition it was finals all the way to the end. The J & S Inlgis Limited Non Pro Futurity title was awarded to Rafe Ritchie & TLP WALKIE TALKIE with their aggregate score of 425pts from over the 2 rounds.

Friday saw a huge day of finals take place, with the Terinallum Non Pro Amateur Classic Final kicking off the day. The top place for this class was spilt by two riders on 220.5pts, consisting of Kylie Barnett-Tapp and her mount YULGILBAR GDAY KITTY, and Ashleigh Meagher with hery talented stallion DUCKTALLIC.
Next up it was the Yulgilbar Open Snafflebit final, with the talented Ngaio McDonald aboard the Hannah Mclean owned CAMELOCK JOLENE taking out the class with 220pts. Taking home the Yulgilbar Non Pro Snafflebit title was Victorian competitor Ben Mcewin & SMOOTH LITTLE TWIST with their aggregate score of 443pts from over the 2 rounds.

Again, it was the open horses time in the spotlight with the running of the NCHA Open Gold Cup. All eyes were once again on Ashleigh Meagher & MAGICOOL, who had also won this class last year. The pair clocked up an incredible score of 227pts early on in the class to not only take out the title for a second year running, but become the first horse and rider combination in NCHA history to take out both the Non Pro and Open Gold Cups in consecutive years. This is a huge achievement for such a young rider and will surely be something she will never forget.

The Friday afternoon brought us back to the aged event classes, with the Scone RSL Non Pro Amateur Derby taking place. This class was won by Dominic Williams aboard DOUSEEME with a score of 216pts.
A highly anticipated event was next, the Scone Equine Group Non Pro Futurity. This class was taken out by the talented rider in Amelia Servin aboard her home bred ROCKIN ROCKABYE with a lovely 220pt run. Amelia also had a second horse in the final STORM REYDER, in which she placed third with a 216pt run.

The second last event of the day was the 4CYTE Open Derby. This class saw an absolutely incredible showing from Queensland trainer Mark Buttsworth aboard PEPPYPHALIAR, who scored a whopping 229pts to take out the class honours and also score the highest point run of the entire show.

To wrap up the day of cutting it was the sponsors time to shine, in the Sponsors Cutting event. Taking out the class was ex Hawthorn great and now 4CYTE Business Development Manager Josh Gibson aboard the very talented horse in MAGICOOL. Josh did a fabulous job for his first time in the show pen, whipping up a very nice 78pts to take home the prize of two Diamond Deck tickets to this year’s Futurity in Tamworth.
The final day of competition kicked off with the Youth competitors having their turn in the show pen. First up was the Affinity Senior Youth, which was won by Sophie Ferling aboard TP MUDDY CAT with a 218pts. Taking out the Affinity Junior Youth, was Tamworth competitor Addison Dudley and ONE STYLISH TURPENTINE with 220pts.

Next up we saw the Cinch Australia Non Pro Classic Challenge Final take place. It was once again Amelia Servin’s time to shine this time aboard ROCKIN THE BOONBOX, the pair put together a fantastic run of 221pts to take home the title.

The second last event for the show was the Martins Stock Haulage Non Pro Derby. This class was taken out by Damien Kenny aboard the talented gelding FRONTMAN with a very impressive score of 221.5pts.
The final event for the show was of course the Catalina Open Futurity, where a total of 18 horse and rider combinations crossed the timeline for their chance to take out the prestigious Open Futurity title in the clean slate final. It was first out and first home for the Victorian trainer Aaaron Wheatley aboard the Michael Hawke owned TAPT DANCIN CHERRY. The pair put together a fantastic run of 222 points, 1 point ahead of Queensland trainer Jamie Seccombe & METALLIC LITTLE DREAMER who took out reserve honours, with 221pts.

It was a huge achievement for owner Michael Hawke, who not only had one entry in the Final but three!
With all the arena classes wrapped up, the competitors headed to the Scone RSL to celebrate the recipients of their State Awards with a dinner and hold a charity auction for their NCHA 50th Anniversary Celebrations.
The 2022 NCHA 4CYTE Autumn Spectacular was a fantastic event for not only the cutting industry but of course local area of Scone, and it was wonderful to once again see these major regional events taking place.

Article written by Celina Battig