NCHA News

OPEN CHAMPION HASHTAGS

Super Stakes Open champion Hashtags, ridden by Tatum Rice. 
Hart Photography.

Hashtags, sired by Metallic Cat and owned by Jose Raul Garcia, Caracas, VZ, scored 220 points under Tatum Rice to win the 2017 Lucas Oil NCHA Super Stakes.  Melting Snow, owned by Buck Creek Quarter Horses, Nemo, Tex. and also sired by Metallic Cat, scored 219.5 points for the reserve championship under Clay Johnson. Hot Revolver, sired by Spots Hot and shown by James Payne, scored 219 points to place third for owner Kathleen Moore, Madill, Okla.

Hashtags made his debut as a 2016 NCHA Futurity Finalist (8th place) and this year has been a finalist in the Cattlemen’s Derby and the Ike Hamilton Futurity. Including his Super Stakes winner’s check of $74,095 and prior official earnings of $81,390, the blue roan stallion has earned $155,485.

Rice, whose biggest single paycheck came when he placed third in the 2013 NCHA Futurity riding Johnny Reyngo, had NCHA earnings of $1,355,492 coming into the Super Stakes; he is slated to be inducted into the NCHA Riders Hall of Fame in June.

Hashtags is out of Dual Rey Tag LTE $50,706, by Dual Rey; his second dam, Playin Tag LTE $220,949, won the 2004 NCHA Super Stakes Non-Pro with Cara Barry Brewer.

Open reserve champion Melting Snow and Clay Johnson.

Reserve champion Melting Snow LTE $77,803 was an NCHA Futurity Semi-Finalist and 2017 Abilene Spectacular finalist with Clay Johnson, who had won the 2012 NCHA Super Stakes riding  KR Isadora Dual LTE $146,164. Melting Snow, a $280,000 purchase at the 2015 Western Bloodstock NCHA Futurity Sales, is out of a full sister to Dual Rey, cutting’s #3 all-time leading sire of NCHA money earners.

Clay Johnson, winner of the 2013 NCHA Futurity aboard Dual Smart Kitty LTE $316,251, by Dual Smart Rey, is a member of the NCHA Riders Hall of Fame and has earnings of $994,363.

Hot Revolver LTE $65,249 was an Abilene Spectacular and Arbuckle Mountain finalist under James Payne, before coming to the 2017 NCHA Super Stakes. The gray daughter of Spots Hot, sire of 2016 NCHA Futurity champion Second Spot, is the first performer out of Baretta Boon LTE $58,000, by Playgun.

James Payne, an NCHA Hall of Fame Rider and earner of $2,470,281, has had two previous NCHA Super Stakes finalists and was reserve champion in 2013 on Quick Be A Cat $83,786.

Non-Pro champion Lindy Ashlock on In Reyverse. Hart Photography.

Lindy Ashlock, Abilene, Tex., took command Saturday in the second set of the Lucas Oil NCHA Super Stakes Non-Pro Finals and never looked back. Riding In Reyverse, by Dual Rey, Ashlock scored 222 points to win the championship and $39,982. Brandon Westfall, Los Olivos, Calif., earned 220.5 points on Laguna Girl, by CD Royal, for the reserve championship, and Mary Ann Rapp, Weatherford, Tex., placed third with 219 points aboard Molokai, by Metallic Cat.

Ashlock and In Reyverse placed fourth in the 2017 Augusta Futurity Non-Pro, and then claimed the reserve championship of the Arbuckle Mountain Futurity Non-Pro. Ashlock, a member of the NCHA Non-Pro Hall of Fame and NCHA earner $1,280,656, also placed in the non-pro finals of the 2017 NCHA Super Stakes Classic, as well as the 2016 Super Stakes Classic and the 2015 Super Stakes on Prowlin High, by High Brow Cat.

Wes Ashlock, Lindy’s husband, won the 2017 NCHA Super Stakes Open Semi-Finals with 222 points riding HC Tailgate Date, by Herding Cats, and came back to tie for sixth in the Super Stakes Finals.

In Reyverse was bred by Double Dove Ranch out of the CD Lights daughter Havanna Lights, whose dam, Stylish Play Lena LTE $264,474, has produced earners of more than $1.5 million, including NCHA Horse of the Year Smooth Talkin Style $293,232. Dual Rey, sire of In Reyverse, ranks third on the list of All-Time Leading NCHA Sires, with offspring earnings of $33 million.

Non-Pro reserve champion Brandon Westfall on Laguna Girl.

When he was 14, Brandon Westfall, the NCHA earner of $225,038, showed Lulu Snow to place eighth in the 2014 NCHA Super Stakes Non-Pro Finals; last year he was an NCHA Super Stakes Classic Non-Pro finalist with Johnny Royal. Brandon’s father, trainer Russ Westfall, was reserve champion of the 2004 NCHA Futurity riding Jeeps Posi Traction LTE $332,058, and reserve champion of the 2001 NCHA Super Stakes Classic with Smart Like Dusty $174,024.

Laguna Girl’s sire, CD Royal, is owned and was shown by Russ and Janet Westfall, who have also shown many of the stallion’s top performers. Janet also claimed the 2000 NCHA Futurity Non-Pro reserve champion riding CD Royal. Laguna Girl, with earnings of $868 before the NCHA Super Stakes, is out of Cats Stylish Diva, by High Brow Cat.

Mary Ann Rapp is an NCHA Non-Pro Hall of Fame member and a leading NCHA earner of $4,465,237. She won the 2010 NCHA Super Stakes Non-Pro riding ARC Catmando and the 2003 NCHA Super Stakes Classic Non-Pro on Amanda Stargun. Earlier in the 2017 NCHA Super Stakes, Rapp placed as a finalist in the Non-Pro Classic riding Miss Kitty Reycine LTE $31,752.

Rapp showed Molokai LTE $5,741 as a finalist in the NCHA Non-Pro Futurity. The Metallic Cat daughter is out of the Doc’s Hickory daughter Hickorys Tornado Rio LTE $71,376.