Nu Passport Booked Chris Dawson a Ticket to the 2024 NRCHA Hackamore Classic Open Championship
Chris Dawson and Nu Passport added $26,500 to their lifetime earnings on July 27 when they won the Hackamore Classic Open Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The pair marked the highest fence work score in the finals to gain a two point lead on their nearest competitors, Veronica Swales and Spanish Nights.
Dawson and the 2019 stallion by WR This Cats Smart and out of Shiney Nu Annie (by Shining Spark) have had some success in the past. The pair placed third at the NRCHA Celebration of Champions Derby in February and have made the finals at numerous premier events. Owned by Kalpowar Quarter Horses and bred by Wagonhound Land & Livestock, the sorrel stallion has earnings of over $100,000 according to EquiStat.
“He’s just simple to show,” Dawson said. “The herd work has been a little bit of a work in progress. Justin [Wright] did a heck of a job on him and made him so easy to show in the reining that it isn’t even funny, so I just don’t really worry about that.”
The duo figured out some more kinks during the Hackamore Classic and improved their herd work score by three and a half points from the prelims into the finals. In the finals, they marked a 219 in the herd, a 220.5 in the rein work and a 225 in the fence work for a grand total of 664.5.
Nu Passport and Chris Dawson during the rein work finals. * Photo by Amy Olson
“I showed him a little differently in the go-round, and kept a little more contact on him, and I didn’t like how he looked. I usually show him on a little looser rein so I cam back tonight and tried to turn him loose a little bit,” Dawson said.
The adjustment paid off for the horse and rider, and the easygoing stallion made quick work of their cow down the fence.
“He’s the kind of horse that if he was a guy you’d want to go drink a beer or hang out with,” Dawson said.
Dawson has high hopes for the young horse and hopes that one day he’ll be able to show him at the World’s Greatest Horseman. But all that couldn’t be possible without a little help.
“I’m glad Kalpowar believed in him, and bought him from Wagonhound who sent him to me. So I owe both them a debt of gratitude,” Dawson said. “I can’t do any of this without my herd help, Matt [Koch] abandoned me at this one but Clay Volmer and Kyle Noyce filled in for him getting me out and Tyler Merril and Boyd Rice, they always turn me back, and I can’t do any of it without them guys. There’s so many people to list other than that, like the staff and owners, but we are blessed by the Lord to be here and we are just so glad to be here.”
Reserve ChampionVeronica Swales and Spanish Nights (Metallic Rebel x Lil Bit Reckless x CD Royal) stunned the crowds in Las Vegas, Nevada when they captured the 2024 NRCHA Stallion Stakes Open Championship. The duo did not dissappoint in Tulsa and captured the Hackamore Classic Reserve Championship with a composite of 662.5 (222 herd, 219 rein, 221.5 cow) and took home a check worth $19,378 for owners Bar One Land & Cattle LLP.