Phil Hanson

Money Won

Titles/Finals

• 2019 Super Stakes Open Derby Champion
  
• 2014 NCHA Open Futurity Champion
  
• PCCHA Futurity Open Champion
  
• Multiple NCHA Aged Event Finalist
  
• 2009 El Rancho Futurity Open Champion
  
• 2010 NCHA Super Stakes Champion and Reserve Champion

Top Three Horses Trained

• Special Lil Playboy
  
• LHR Smooth Jamie May
  
• Pounce

How I got started: I grew up around horses. Dad was an all-around trainer, competing in AQHA events and reined cow horse. In 1983 I worked for a ranch in south Oregon, where I started colts. They focused on snaffle bit horses. When their head trainer left, I got the job and moved into cutting. I was there for five years and went out on my own in Nevada in 1988.

Biggest mistake I’ve made in cutting: I was showing Special Lil Playboy at South Point and they had me winning the Derby, but one judge got me for a switch so reviewed it. It cost me the title.

Biggest myth about cutting: That you have to have a lot of experience to win a cutting! If you have the horsepower and a little time, you can make it.

Favorite Quote: The slower you train the faster they finish.

Most memorable moment in cutting: Winning the Futurity in 2014 obviously, but also when I was first and second at the Super Stakes in 2010 on Smooth Jamie May and Pounce respectively.

Training philosophy: To try and bring out the best qualities each horse has to offer. You can’t make a horse more than what he is comfortable doing. If you can make him the best athlete he can possibly be, there will always be a home for him somewhere.