Roll Sally and Michael Cooper win Brazos Bash Futurity with Dominating Finals Performance
On the first horse Michael Cooper has ridden for Nancy Galbreath and Dee Merritt, he brought home a championship that dreams are made of. Roll Sally and Michael Cooper scored a massive 224.5 at the Brazos Bash during the Open Futurity finals on October 7 and earned the horse’s happy owners a check for $26,500.
Roll Sally (Rollz Royce x RW Sally Rey x Dual Rey) was started by one of her owners, Dee Merritt. He and Galbreath brought the young mare to Cooper last fall and he wasn’t so sure at first that they would get along very well.
“She wasn’t the most athletic mare, but she had an unbelievable cow to her that was just like she just wanted to lay down all the time, and I couldn’t keep her off her front end for a while,” Cooper explained.
Throughout training, Cooper learned that the mare wasn’t going to fit into his box of how a cutting horse should work, but she created her own box.
“She’s not my usual routine, the way I think one should be, but she’s got her own deal, and so I’ve just tried to adapt to her, instead of training her like I want her to be trained and adapt to her. And it works better that way,” Cooper said.
Merritt had been running into some of the same issues Cooper found, and Galbreath had one thing to say about it after the big win.
Michael Cooper and Roll Sally’s owners accept the trophy saddle. * Photo by Amy Olson
“She kind of humbled all of them [her riders],” Galbreath said with a laugh.
Cooper has come to appreciate the sorrel mare, as any trainer will when they get to ride a smart horse.
“She usually shows a little better than she works at home and she’s got her own funky, real cool ears up,” Cooper described showing Roll Sally. “Like she just does the funk. I don’t know what else to say about her.”
Cooper DominatesRoll Sally wasn’t Cooper’s only successful ride from the Brazos Bash Open Futurity. He and She Is A Dirty Diana (Metallics MVP x Icebreyker x Dual Rey) marked a 223 from earlier in the draw to take home $21,500 for the reserve championship.
“All I could think of is to stay focused on my cows and my task at hand,” Cooper said. “I just want to be consistent and do my job and my fundamentals and just keep my cuts clean and keep coming up through there.”
He had not just two, but three horses in that finals and knew his great help played a part in his success. Jesse Lennox and Lance Cooper, his son, helped Cooper in the herd, while Austin Shepard and RL Chartier turned back for him.
“I had all three of them in that one set and RL did a great job settling the cows. And so they [his turnback and herd help] just, they stayed real tight on my cows for me, because sometimes when you do get to go in there, you miss some cows that might hang up on a cut or something like that and they were phenomenal, making sure that I made the right moves at the right time,” Cooper explained.
He marked a 216 to tie for third with Tosten Peterson on his third horse Jimi Hendreyx (Reyzin The Cash x Wherever I May Roan x Metallic Cat). Peterson was riding Rhinestoned (Hashtags x Just As Reckless x CD Royal). Both Cooper and Peterson took home $14,000 for their efforts.