Mike Narachi and Amy Hutchins topped a stacked field of competitors to win the May 17 Professional’s Choice #9 Gold Shootout championship at the 2026 Cinch RSNC North Central Regional Super Sort in Loveland, Colorado. The pair sorted 29 head through the gate in 172.44 seconds to earn the event’s largest paycheck: $6,070.
The win marked a milestone moment for the duo, who were competing together in a Gold Shootout for the first time.
Big Payouts for First-Timers
As a draw team, Narachi and Hutchins arrived at the final round with a clear game plan.
“Amy led the charge,” Narachi said. “She was smart and said, ‘let’s sort them in the back and make the gate a little easier on each of us.’ We had three nice runs.”
Narachi rode a pair of horses to the Gold Shootout title: Remain Anonymous (Smooth As A Cat x Shez Sinsational) and his daughter’s mare, Shes A Reyl Rebel (Metallic Rebel x Tornados Rey Of Hope), known around the barn as “Cupcake.”
For Narachi, who has only been sorting for a little more than a year, the sport started as a way to connect with his daughter, Shyla. What began as casual rides together has quickly turned into a full-fledged passion for ranch sorting—and a competitive drive he didn’t expect.
“I’m doing it for two reasons,” he said. “First, it’s a chance to spend real quality time with my daughter. Second, it’s just plain fun.”
Narachi joked that ranch sorting has completely changed the way he rides. Once content to cruise down the trail at a relaxed pace, he now compares the adrenaline of the sorting pen to “switching from trail riding to Formula 1.”
The family’s weekend sorting success didn’t stop in the Gold Shootout class. Shyla Narachi topped the leaderboard in the Total Feeds #8 class alongside partner BJ Hilborn, taking home $1,586—and borrowed “Zee,” her father’s horse, to do it.
The Narachis, who call Santa Ynez, California, home, are already looking ahead: they’ll haul a full trailer to Fort Worth, Texas, in June for their first Cinch RSNC World Finals.
Horse Power for the Win
For Hutchins, from Wellington, Colorado, the show was practically in her backyard, and her horse Jose Kuervo (Metalic Al x Smart Hickorys Lena), fondly known as “Duncan,” was built for exactly this kind of run.
“He’s just all go,” she said. “There’s no whoa.”
That wide-open throttle is what makes him special in the pen and paid off for the team.
“He’s one of those horses that loves to be the sorter,” Hutchins explained. “We’re still working on the gate, but we’re getting better and starting to figure each other out.”
Hutchins purchased Duncan from the Rasmussen family—and in a small-world moment, Sidney Rasmussen also found Gold Shootout success at the same show, topping the Cinch #13 Gold Shootout.
Like Narachi, Hutchins is relatively new to the sport, having entered the world of ranch sorting just two years ago. But she grew up doing ranch versatility and rodeos, so the transition felt natural—even if stepping into a Gold Shootout class was brand new territory.
“I actually upped my membership this morning to compete in this class,” she said. “This is the first time I’ve ever entered a big class like this.”