Sophisticated Catt takes a hard line on a cow in the senior cutting.
About 30 minutes after rider Boyd Rice claimed the junior cutting world championship, he came back into the Jim Norick Arena and rode Sophisticated Catt to the senior cutting world championship November 19 for owners Keith Feister and Dale Koller of Gainesville, Texas. Keith, still clutching his golden trophy, was proud to talk about his faith in his horse and how Sophisticated Catt repaid that faith.
Q: Congratulations. Is this your first world championship? Keith: It’s my first horse I’ve ever had trained. I bought him as an embryo in 2001, three days before the terrorist attacks. I saw his mother, Shania Cee, win the NCHA Futurity. I thought to myself, if I could ever have a colt out of that mare, that would be my next stallion prospect. Eighteen months later, he was offered for sale at the remuda sale Mr. Cogdell had, and my partner, Dale Koller, and I bought Sophisticated Catt and his twin brother’s embryos, foaled them out, raised them, and it’s been a long time coming.
Q: How did you pick Boyd? Keith: The horse started out in the fall of his yearling year with Darren Simpkins, and Darren had success with him in the beginning of his 4-year-old year. I gave him to Boyd a year ago, right after the Futurity, and he and Boyd clicked together and have done well. It’s been an exciting ride this year on the horse.
Q: How did you decide to compete at the World Show? Keith: Where I live in Gainesville, they have twilight shows the last week of July to qualify. Boyd was showing him in Fort Worth that week, and I asked Boyd to try to get him up to Gainesville for those nighttime shows to try to get him qualified. It took two shows to do it, but he got him qualified. He’s a 6-year-old, and we thought this would be a good way to end his show career.
Q: What were you thinking while you were waiting for the other horses to work? Keith: I felt pretty confident. Boyd is a pretty good showman. I think he’s one of the best. I’ve been watching Boyd for a long time, and I liked his showmanship and when I asked Boyd about taking the horse last year, he said he had room for a 6-year-old, and they just fit like a glove, the two of them.
Q: What’s next for Sophisticated Catt? Keith: Rest. We’ll do Stallion Avenue at Fort Worth at the Futurity in a couple of weeks, and after that, he’ll go on a nine-month breeding season. We freeze semen and export semen to Australia, and so from the first of the year through the middle of September, he’ll be collected three or four times a week. Mares will be bred during the breeding season, and the rest of the time we’ll be freezing semen on him. The rest of the year is rest and then breeding, which he deserves.
Fun Fact: Shania Cee, Sophisticated Catt’s dam, was National Cutting Horse Association Horse of the Year in 2000.
WINNER STATS
Horse name: Sophisticated Catt Pedigree: 2002 chestnut stallion by High Brow Cat x Shania Cee by Peppys Boy 895 Exhibitor: Boyd Rice Owner: Keith Feister and Dale Koller, Gainesville, Texas Breeder: Billy Cogdell, Tulia, Texas
Total class entries: 70 Purse: $93,483
World Champion Prizes: Custom-designed gold-tone trophy, Montana Silversmiths buckle, neck wreath, gold medallion, Cripple Creek-logo jacket, world champion patch, Tex Tan product, Justin Boots
