Mavrik and Bella Anderson Win Super Stakes Amateur Classic

Mavrik and Bella Anderson are on a hot streak, and they showed it off during the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Super Stakes in Fort Worth, Texas. The pair rode into the finals at the Abilene Spectacular and The Cattlemens earlier this year, and came out with a championship in Abilene. Now, Anderson can add another $15,773 to Mavrik’s lifetime earnings from the NCHA Super Stakes Amateur Classic Championship title.

Meant to Be

“He’s been amazing this whole show so I had a lot of faith in him, he just always shows up, he’s like the horse that comes to mind when you think of a good gelding,” Anderson said. “He’s always there to help you. So my goal was just to do my job, get clean cuts and not mess him up.”

Mavrik (Metallic Cat x Inmyownsweettime x One time Pepto) is owned but Anderson Cattle Co. and is unofficially Karen Anderson, Bella’s mother’s, horse. For this season though, Bella is getting along with Mavrik extremely well.

So well in fact, that the pair made the Non Pro finals at the Super Stakes and earned $7,379 for a score of 213. After those finals, Anderson realized how close Mavrik was getting to having over $100,000 in Lifetime Earnings.

“Last minute I decided to show him,” Anderson said. “I looked it up after the Non Pro and he was $1,006 away from 100 so I bought an Amateur slot.”

The gamble was well worth it as the team kicked off their amateur run with a score of 219 in the first go round. Then in the semi finals, they marked a 218.5 for fourth in the round.

Anderson got not one but two horses back to the Amateur Classic Finals, and with one in the four-year-old finals earlier, it took a team to get her through the day.

“I had a four-year-old and then two five/sixes and it was funny, they were all fourth in a set. So I had one, the last set of the four-year-old, hopped off, hopped right on Maverick and did the same thing. So yeah, it was a busy day,” Anderson explained.

Bella Anderson and Mavrik are the first horse and rider pair in this short clip. * Video by Amy Olson

RL Chartier’s employees Kylee and Dylan helped Anderson behind the scenes to bring her horses into the arena and have them saddled.

“RL had the horses worked, of course they were great. I got to get on them, got to get them ready, didn’t have to worry about anything,” Anderson said. “I have RL in my herd and Randy, and they both do a really good job making sure I know my cows, because I don’t watch cows so I really have to listen to their directions. And Clay Johnson and Cullen Chartier helped me out front.”

Anderson and Mavrik must’ve picked all of the right cows in the finals, they marked a 221 and took home a check big enough to get Mavrik well over that $100,000 mark. Their score was four points ahead of the nearest contender.

“I need to thank my mother because he’s her horse technically,” she said. “She’s let me show him all this year and he’s just a blessing, he’s amazing, I love that horse.”

Bella Anderson gives Mavrik some love after their second Championship run of the year. * Photo by Amy Olson