Dustin Gonnet realized his dream of winning big at the Will Rogers Coliseum last night as he took out the 2015 NCHA Western Bloodstock Showdown Open Finals.
His run aboard This Cats Got Style dominated from the first cow, scoring a mighty 229, some 7 points in front of second place getter Wes Galyean. Wes was first out with a high score of 222 on Lil Rattler, until Dustin blew everyone else out of the water from the ninth hole.
Dustin, who hails from Alberta, Canada and is one CHTO’s featured trainers, surpassed the million dollar mark with tonight’s cash prize of $75,000.
This Cats Got Style is a High Brow Cat out of Moms Stylish Pepto and owned by Ronald Patton, also from Canada. The mare beat out a host of legendary horses including Don’t Look Twice in the go round to Third Cutting and Junie Wood in the final.
It’s the second ever Slot Cutting event held in the Fort Worth Arena, hosted by Western Bloodstock and the NCHA, where in this particular event, horses of any age can compete for a total prize purse of $330,000 in the Open final alone.
CHTO would like to congratulate Dustin and his wife Marla on a great win! Dustin spoke with CHTO’s Simone Cobb about what the win means to him.