Cade Shepard scored 219 points riding Bama Dawg on Tuesday, to win the first day of NCHA Futurity Non-Pro second go-round competition and, with one remaining day in the second round, to claim the leading cumulative score of 435 points. Elizabeth Quirk on Catillac Reys and Lance Cooper aboard Zen And Tonic tied with 217.5 points, the second-highest score of the day.
Bama Dawg, by High Brow Cat, and Cade Shepard, Summerdale, Ala., share a lot of history. Bama Dawg, out of MH San Tules Dually LTE $330,220, is a full brother to Bamacat LTE $351,360, bred, trained and shown by Cade’s father, the #4 all-time leading earner of $7,066,200. And MH San Tules Dually, by San Tule Freckles, won the 2008 MillionHeir Classic Non-Pro with Stacy Shepard, Cade’s mother. In addition, Christy Hughes LTE $97,828, a three-quarter sister to Bama Dawg, by Thomas E Hughes, carried Cade to win the 2017 NCHA World Series Congress Non-Pro Finals.
Cade Shepard, an NCHA Hall of Fame Non-Pro member and earner of $569,395, has an impressive list of over 20 limited age event wins, including the 2015 NCHA Super Stakes Non-Pro and 2015 NCHA Derby Non-Pro championships aboard Twistful Thinking LTE $277,218.
Lance Cooper, Weatherford, Tex., winner of the 2017 NCHA Senior Youth World Finals, scored 219 points on Zen And Tonic, by High Brow CD, to top the second day of Non-Pro first go-round competition and qualify for the Non-Pro Limited Semi-Finals. They also scored 2015 as Non-Pro first go-round contenders.
Cooper, the NCHA earner of $92,416, made his first mark in an NCHA Futurity in 2014, when he was reserve champion of the Non-Pro Limited and placed in the Non-Pro Finals riding Post Card From Paris LTE $65,907. In 2015, he was a Non-Pro finalist on Smart Lil Bugley.
Elizabeth Quirk, Denham Springs, La., purchased Catillac Reys from his breeder Michelle Cannon, following the NCHA Futurity Open go-rounds; the Metallic Cat son out of Tootsie Rey LTE $200,876, had scored 219 points in the first round for Cannon under Ascencion Banuelos. Quirk is an NCHA Non-Pro Hall of Fame member and earner of $644,296.