GLEN Elgin’s Phil Dawson eats and sleeps cutting horses, his love of the sport netting him a three-way-tie after completion of yesterday’s round one of the National Cutting Horse Association’s Open Futurity currently under way at Australian Equine & Livestock Event Centre in Tamworth.
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He rode Metallic Moon to 146 points, sharing the top seat with fellow Glen Innes cutter Rob Hodgman (Olive Hoover) and Queenslander Jamie Seccombe (Melodys Cat).
“The competition was really fierce,” NCHA Marketing’s Sam Potter said of the 150-strong line up of three-year-old Futurity horses.
“There was only two points separating the top 20 riders.”
The trio will take on the same rivals in today’s round two of the prestigious event from 8am with the final to be determined next Sunday, June 7.
“It’s usually the top 25 that go into the final, but after the second round, they create a bubble, which is basically a score they have to make to qualify,” Potter said.
And while Dawson was raised a farm kid and learned to ride early, his love of the cutting horses didn’t develop until years later after his attendance at Longreach Ag College – the turning point in his life, according to the popular trainer.
“My work experience with Todd Graham (top ranking Queensland trainer) exposed me to the finer points of the sport. I was hooked,” he said.
A couple of stints in the US netted him an American NCHA Futurity crown, until he finally returned home and set up his own training business 23 years ago in the Northern Tablelands area.
He’s now based at Glen Elgin with wife Bernadette, who also competes, and son Sam.
Along with Metallic Moon in the Futurity, Dawson is also looking for a slice of the overall $700,000 in stakes with stablemates Smooth As Cherrycoke, Qwila, TR Revelator and Heavenly Rey. Fellow competitor Mark Buttsworth believes the close results of the first go round in the futurity could be a sign of things to come throughout the two-week event.
Buttsworth was only a point off the top score but the three way tie for first saw the Almora owner trainer place fourth.
His three year old Peps Double Rey was in good form, and the trainer hopes to still be at the AELEC when the finals on.
“I brought two horses down to have a go,” Buttsworth said.
“I am more of a campdrafter but I come down and have a lot of fun.”
“I have probably been coming for 20 years now.”
Buttsworth said that the competition is getting tougher every year.
“I am not surprised it was a tie.”
“There is just so many good horses here.”
After two earlier go rounds, a feature of tonight’s program will be a battle between the Aussies and Yanks when teams of eight from each country contest the final of the Australia v USA Non Pro Cutting Challenge.
