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Shanks, Call Me Smurf ready to cut loose in cutting’s World Series

July 13, 2010

Calgary, AB --- As an amateur rider, he’s enjoyed some recent, hard-earned success in the saddle. But Neil Shanks might just have the eagle eye of a talent scout, too.

In 2007, Shanks bought a three-year-old quarter horse gelding by the name of Call Me Smurf, raised and developed by renowned area cutting horse trainer Guy Heintz of High River, Alta. And given Call Me Smurf’s track record since October 2009, the product of Rafter H Ranche stallion Jose Boon might just be ready to challenge the world at the Calgary Stampede’s 38th annual Cutting Horse Competition.

Shanks, of Priddis, Alta., and Heintz will both take a turn on Call Me Smurf, in the Non-Pro and Open divisions, respectively, as the Cutting Horse Competition takes over the Big Top between now and Thursday, July 15. For the second straight year, this marquee Stampede show will be a participating event in the National Cutting Horse Association’s Mercuria/NCHA World Series of Cutting.

“I’d already bought Miss Docaboon (which Heintz rode to victory at the 2007 Stampede cutting competition) from Guy, and I was watching Smurf in the round pen, one day, when Guy was at home working him,” says Shanks. “He’s a very cool, unique-looking horse. I wasn’t super-experienced, by any means, in what makes great cutting horses. But he really seemed to be in the game, and in tune to what was happening. And I said to Guy: ‘You know, if you want to sell that horse, I’d sure be interested.’ ”

Call Me Smurf, now six, is making his Calgary Stampede debut this week. But he’s clearly no outsider, judging by his exploits over the past nine months. Last October, at the Stampede’s Cutting Horse Futurity, he carried Shanks to victory in the Non-Pro Classic Challenge for five- and six-year-olds. In April, at Olds, he and Shanks won the $50,000 Amateur category at the Canadian Cutting Horse Association (CCHA) national championship finals. And in early May, he was again in the ribbons at one of the NCHA’s premier events — the Western National Championships at Ogden, Utah — claiming a reserve championship, or runner-up position, with Heintz in the $3,000 Novice Horse class, and then teaming up with Shanks for the reserve title in the $50,000 Amateur category.

“Smurf has basically been a very, very strong contender right from his three-year-old year. He just keeps growing, getting stronger, getting smarter,” says Shanks, who owns a chain of six Alberta-based National Transmission automotive shops. “In their four-year-old year, they’re like a teenager — they think they know something, but they really don’t. And in their fifth year, they start to get pretty solid, if they’re going to be a good one. That’s exactly what happened with Smurf, and I’m the beneficiary of those results.

“He’s extremely athletic. Great cow sense and smarts,” adds Shanks. “He’s very strong, and very well built, which is important, because the sport of cutting is very demanding on these horses.”

The sport of cutting shines a spotlight on the pure athleticism, instinct, agility and intelligence of the cutting horse. With horse-and-rider teams attempting to cut at least three individual cows out of a herd within 150 seconds, cutting has evolved into one of the most exciting equine events in North America.

The NCHA counted more than 20,500 members in 2009, and expects continued growth this year, both in terms of sanctioned events and competitors across the continent.

The Stampede’s four-day cutting competition — which began Monday, July 12 with preliminaries at the Okotoks Agricultural Society, and culminates Thursday, July 15 under the Big Top with finals in the Open, Non-Pro and Youth divisions — is the sixth event on the Mercuria/NCHA World Series, which has expanded to eight events from four during its inaugural run in 2009. The NCHA’s so-called “travelling road show” has already wound its way through San Antonio, Houston, Tulsa, Reno, and Oklahoma City, and will later wind up in Rancho Murieta, Calif., and Columbus, Ohio to finish out the year.

“It gave us tremendous credibility, coming out of the blocks in our first year, when we could say that the Calgary Stampede was one of the four events on our inaugural World Series,” says Jeff Hooper, executive director of the Fort Worth, Texas-based NCHA. “The Calgary Stampede has worldwide name recognition and appeal, and when we can say we’re a part of it, that just boosts the whole concept.”

Thanks to the involvement of the World Series, the Stampede Cutting Horse Competition will offer $25,000 in added prize money to each of the Open and Non-Pro divisions, bringing the total purse to $37,408 in Open and $42,296 in Non-Pro. Thirty-three entries will vie for top spot in Open, 45 more in Non-Pro, and 12 in Youth.

Thursday’s finals get underway at 5 p.m. in the Big Top –starting with the Open Division, and following with Youth and then Non-Pro.

Shanks is in his third full season of cutting, and is quick to deflect praise toward Heintz and the turnback riders and herd holders during competitions, but he’s a welcome addition to the regional cutting fraternity.

“He’s still fairly new, but what I admire about him is the fact that he’s all in. He’s a passionate competitor with a lot of integrity,” says Christine Sowiak, chair of the Stampede’s Western Performance Horse committee. “He has the best of Non-Pro values . . . he’s really dedicated himself to the sport.”

At the Stampede’s Cutting Horse Competition, the Open division is designated for professional riders and trainers, while the Non-Pro consists of riders who make no part of their income training cutting horses, and can enter only on horses owned by themselves or immediate family members. The winner of the Youth division will be presented with the Bill Collins Youth Excellence Award.

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