Not Ruf At All Wins NRHA Derby
The 2013 National Reining Horse Association Futurity
Open Champion reigns supreme once more in Oklahoma City.
The 2014 National Reining Horse Association Derby concluded Saturday night with the $428,000-added open finals at the Oklahoma State Fair Park in Oklahoma City. The NRHA Derby show is NRHA’s premiere event for the world’s best 4-, 5- and 6-year-old reining horses. This year’s derby finals were the richest ever, paying out approximately $961,000 to owners and nominators of open and non-pro finalists.
During the open go-round, 571 entries competed for a spot in the finals with 75 of the top-scoring horse-and-rider teams invited back to Saturday night’s event. Until the very end of the finals, thousands of reining fans, watching in-person and online, were treated to exciting leader board changes. Many fans were anxious to see if one of the two past NRHA Futurity champions – Not Ruf At All and Americasnextgunmodel – would follow-up with another major NRHA event championship. In the end, 2013 NRHA Futurity champions Not Ruf At All (A Sparkling Vintage-All Ruffed Up, $220,500 NRHA LTE) and NRHA professional Jason Vanlandingham of Whitesboro, Texas, bested the field by three points for the win with a score of 229.
Vaughn Zimmerman’s stallion, nominated by Petra Zeitler Connor, won $60,000 for the Level 4 open championship ($57,000 to the owner and $3,000 to the nominator). Level 4 open division awards included an NRHA Lawson trophy, a $5,000 gift certificate from Twister Trailer, a saddle from Bob’s Custom Saddles, a Montana Silversmiths buckle, a $300 SmartPak gift card, Purina feed, a pair of Rios of Mercedes boots, Platinum Performance CJ, a Classic Equine pad, a pair of Classic Equine skid boots, $300 gift card from Pard’s Western Shop, a $100 gift card from Kyle Tack, a pad from Center Back Pads and Vetericyn.
Prior to his successes in the show arena, Not Ruf At All was consigned to the 2012 NRHA/Insurance Futurity Sales.
By Christa Morris
National Reining Horse Association
June 30, 2014