Justa Girl Named Sue, ridden by Todd Gann, scored 222 points in Jackson, Miss. on Saturday, March 6, to win the NCHA Eastern Nationals $5,000 Novice championship. Kinky Bootz LTE $83,474 earned the reserve championship with 220.5 points under Austin Shepard, and Dontt Say A Word, shown by Bill Pierce, placed third with 219.5 points.

Owned by Jimmy Spriggs, Crossville, Tenn., 5-year-old Justa Girl Named Sue was shown by Beau Galyean as a finalist in the PCCHA 3-Year-Old Futurity for Ellen Carter, Dallas, Tex., and Rodrigo Taboga showed the mare as a finalist in six 2020 Open limited age events. Spriggs acquired Justa Girl Named Sue from Carter in December 2020; this year’s NCHA Eastern Nationals finals performance is her first under Gann.

Justa Girl Named Sue, by Metallic Cat, was bred by Alvin and Becky Fults out of the Spots Hot daughter Some Like It Hott LTE $183,383, and is a full sister to Some Likeit Metallic LTE $108,019.

Todd  Gann is the NCHA Hall of Fame earner of over $1.35 million. He won the 2008 NCHA Eastern Open championship on High Steppin Cat LTE $296,553, and was Open reserve champion in 2004 and 2002 on Little Beau Squeak LTE $50,676 and Miss Genuine Ote LTE $67,544, respectively. He was also reserve champion of the 1994 Eastern Nationals $5,000 Novice on Lenas Lucinda LTE $151,283.

Kinky Bootz, owned and bred by Glenn Drake, Weatherford, Tex., came to Jackson following a co-championship performance in the Arbuckle Mountain 5/6 Open with Shepard, who also showed Kinky Bootz’s co-champion Bama Jelly LTE $228,543, by Bamacat.

Sired by Dual Rey, 5-year-old Kinky Bootz is the first money earner out of Sheza Stylish Cougar LTE $57,040. In 2020, Kinky Bootz and Shepard captured wins in the 4-year-old finals of the Augusta Futurity, the Arbuckle Mountain Futurity, and the Southern Futurity.

Austin Shepard, the NCHA Hall of Fame earner of over $8.5 million and a many-times champion at Jackson, won the 2020 NCHA Eastern Open on Bama Jelly.

Dontt Say A Word LTE $33,951, owned by Don McGraw, Canton, Miss., is a 7-year-old High Brow Cat daughter bred by Waco Bend Ranch out of the High Brow Cat daughter Don’t Look Twice LTE $824,546, the dam of earners of $713,067.

As a 3-year-old, Dontt Say A Word was a 2017 Brazos Bash Open finalist under Phil Rapp, then won the 2018 Augusta Futurity 4-Year-Old Non-Pro with Ray Baldwin. Don McGraw showed her as reserve champion of the 2020 Cotton Stakes 5/6 Amateur Intermediate and was also a finalist in last year’s NCHA Eastern Nationals $5,000 Non-Pro Novice, where Pierce placed eighth on her in the $5,000 Novice.  

Bill Pierce, the NCHA earner of $1,161,375, and many-times NCHA Eastern Nationals finalist, won last year’s $25,000 Novice on Looks Halreycious LTE $119,044 and the 2019 $5,000 on Dual Smart Smart Dee Jay LTE $58,865.

The NCHA Eastern National Championships Present by 6666 Ranch continue through March 13, 2021.