Thursday, November 29
PG Heavily Armed, ridden by NCHA Hall of Fame Rider James Payne, marked 231 on Thursday to add the third round of the Mercuria NCHA Open World Finals to his list of accomplishments. Dont Stopp Believin and Phil Rapp posted a 227 for second.

The show has four working rounds plus a pencil finals, with the World Finals champion determined by total money won at the show. The year-end World Championship is based on World Finals money, plus money earned during the regular point year.

PG Heavily Armed came to the World Finals in 15th place in the standings. His third-round win elevates him to sixth, with two more rivals in reach before the show concludes in Fort Worth’s Watt Arena on Saturday. The stallion has cracked the quarter-million dollar mark at the World Finals. He’s leading the cumulative score with 690.5 points, and his World Finals earnings so far stand at $16,898.

Payne shows PG Heavily Armed for Michael and Brenda Armstrong of Marietta, Oklahoma. The 6-year-old stallion is by Playgun out of 1997 NCHA Horse of the Year Not Quite An Acre. He won the Mercuria NCHA World Series of Cutting at the West Texas Futurity this summer, as well as the NCHA Classic Challenge and the Brazos Bash Classic.

Hashtags, shown by Hall of Fame Rider Tatum Rice for Hashtag Ventures of Weatherford, Texas, marked 222.5 in the third round of the World Finals to take his 2018 tally to $124,097. He has an unbeatable $48,000 lead for the World Championship. The 5-year-old Metallic Cat x Dual Rey Tag stallion is shown by Tatum Rice for Hashtag Ventures.