Caitlin Rice of Weatherford, Texas, marked 226 on Metallika, as the second rider to the herd, to win the first round of the 7 Ranch NCHA World Finals in Fort Worth’s Watt Arena on November 29, 2019.

As a teenager, Rice had ranked in the Top 10 in the World Standings in the $10,000 Amateur in 2001, and in the $20,000 Non-Pro in 2003 and 2004, but this is her World Finals debut in the Non-Pro division. She came into the Finals ranked 10th in the World Standings. With Friday’s performance, she leapfrogs to sixth place.

Her mount, Metallika, is a 9-year-old gelding bred by Billy Martin by Metallic Cat out of Nyoka Pep, a mare that carried Martin to both the Open and Non-Pro finals of the 1998 NCHA Futurity.

Caitlin’s husband, Scotty, and brother-in-law, Tag Rice, showed Metallika in Non-Pro and Open aged events, respectively. Tag won the Breeders Invitational and The Brazos Bash Classic on the gelding. Metallika brings lifetime earnings of more than $173,000 into the World Finals. Caitlin Rice has career earnings of $260,000.

Blakley Colgrove marked 222 on Cat Man Blue to place second in the first round of the World Finals. Cat Man Blue is a High Brow Cat x Quintan Blue stallion bred by Jim Vangilder.

Colgrove, who placed third in last year’s NCHA Non-Pro Futurity on Smooth Magick, was a Non-Pro World Finalist in 2015, placing seventh in the final standings.

Ali Good of Ringling, Oklahoma, has the math on her side to be the 2019 NCHA Non-Pro World Champion. She came into the World Finals with an unbeatable $38,000 lead in the standings. At age 20, she will be the youngest NCHA Non-Pro World Champion in history. She’s riding Cat Atat Cat in the World Finals.