Dirrty Shirley earns first Championship in Will Rogers Coliseum with Christina Huntley aboard
Christina Huntley just wanted to show Dirrty Shirley to the best of her ability during the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Summer Cutting Spectacular 5/6 Year-Old Amateur finals. She did just that, and earned the mare her first win in the historic Will Rogers Coliseum with a 224 score.
Dirrty Shirley (Hashtags x San Tule San Doc x San Tule Freckles) was purchased by Christina’s father, E.J., in 2022 and has been in Michael Cooper’s program since. Making the finals at different shows with E.J., Cooper and Christina, the mare had earned $105,380 before the Summer Spectacular win. More specifically, E.J. rode her to Reserve Champion finishes twice at the Summer Spectacular in the Non-Pro division.
“She’s very selective of her people and I’m glad to be one of them,” Christina said of the mare’s personality.
“I knew I had a really good horse, a horse that was capable of going down there and putting together a run to win it. I wanted to ask her where I could and just cut clean and show smart,” Christina said.
The two made it through the go rounds with scores of 218.5 and a 219. Their 219 was the second highest score of the 5/6 Year-Old Semi Finals round. Their 224 in the finals earned a check for $10,240 and armfuls of prizes.
Christina Huntley pats Dirrty Shirley at the end of their run. * Photo by Amy Olson
The next show for the mare will probably be the Brazos Bash, where E.J. and Christina might both show her again. Then, they have hopes to possibly breed her in the upcoming years.
Christina wanted to thank multiple people for helping her reach success in the show pen.
“The biggest thank you to my family. My dad especially, all of my help in the show pen and then every single person at Michael Cooper cutting horses,” she said.
Reserve ChampionAlannah Chartier took home the reserve champion title on High Priced Boon (Boon Too Suen x High Priced Jewel x High Brow CD). The horse, owned by Alannah and Scott Chartier, marked a 222 and earned $9,428 for the reserve championship.