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Koontz wins Amateur 4-Year-Old
By Chris Gay
Staff Writer
It was a reversal of fortune for Adam Koontz on Sunday.
The Belton, S.C., native didn't have a good showing in the $50,000 Amateur 5/6-Year-Old finals, the day's opening event, after winning the go-round. But he rebounded to capture his first aged-event title in the Augusta Futurity.
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Adam Koontz on Yellow Rose Vandal won the $50,000 Amateur 4-Year-Old competition with a score of 216.0.
JEFF BARNES/STAFF
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On Yellow Rose Vandal, Koontz posted an early 216 and held on to defeat Cara Barry and Bret Parsons by 1.5 points in the $50,000 Amateur 4-Year-Old finals. Koontz won $4,121, while the co-reserve champions of Barry and Parsons each received $2,576.
"I rode my best horse this morning and I got a bad draw," the 18-year-old Koontz said. "I didn't show him very good this morning and that motivated me to show better the second time on this mare.
"I just didn't step up and show like it was the finals. I wanted to do a little better here."
Koontz scored a 219 on his best horse, Cloud Nine (DNA), in the $50,000 Amateur 5/6-Year-Old go-round Saturday. But he rode last in a group of 12 in the finals and could only manage a score of 207.5
In the $50,000 4-Year-Old finals, Koontz rode second. His mark set the tone for the rest of the event. Barry and Parsons rode in the middle of the pack but couldn't overcome Koontz.
"I got a good draw this time and I got good cows," said Koontz, who has twice won the Area 18 Youth Scholarship Cutting competition. "Everything just worked out."
Koontz said he didn't expect to win this event, especially after making the finals cut by just two points.
He received Yellow Rose Vandal, a mare by Count Vandal out of Jills Little Freckle, as a graduation gift last January. After graduating from Palmetto High School, Koontz moved to Weatherford, Texas, and lived with fellow cutter J.B. McLamb so he could ride her.
"He's (McLamb) the reason I did get on her," Koontz said. "He's the reason she's a good horse."
Koontz, who has shown cutting horses since age 8, began his college career at Clemson University earlier this month. Because of school, Koontz had to choose between the Augusta Futurity and the Memphis Futurity in February.
"I picked this one," he said. "It's closer to home, anyway."
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