From sallyharrison.com
High Brow CD claimed a new record with his 222-point, $21,000 win in the Brazos Bash Derby on Thursday, October 2. The victory, his seventh in limited age event competition, ties Little Badger Dulce’s record for highest number of limited age event wins in the first year of competition, and puts High Brow CD in his own realm, as the leading stallion in terms of first-year limited age event wins.

Ridden by Austin Shepard (pictured), for Grace Ranch, Jennings, LA, High Brow CD drew third to work in the first set of the Derby finals. Shepard selected the first cow, then came with cows on the top for his second and third cuts. High Brow CD handled them all with the trademark “take them as they come, good, bad or ugly” approach that has earned him close to $500,000, in less than 10 months of competition.

Peptos Stylish Miss (LTE $104,113), ridden by John Mitchell, and Toni The Tigress (LTE $33,468), with Matt Gaines, split second and third places on 218-point performances. Peptos Stylish Miss, owned by Slate River Ranch, had won the first go-round with 222 points. Mitchell also placed fourth with 217.5 points aboard Slate River’s Sarah’s Super Cat (LTE $103,956).

For complete result with pedigrees, click here.

From sallyharrison.com
Faced with 226 points to beat and the next-to-last draw, High Brow CD and Austin Shepard went straight for the kill in the finals of the Music City Futurity 4-Year-Old Finals on Wednesday, and marked a near bull’s eye with 230 points. It was High Brow CD’s sixth championship from seven career events, beginning with his win in the 2007 NCHA Futurity.

Reserve champion Cherry Chex Dually had set the target of 226 as the first entry in the second set of cattle, under Eddie Flynn. The Hes A Peptospoonful daughter, owned by Marvine Ranch, was champion of the Abilene Spectacular last January. Hesa Smart Taz, ridden by Michael Cooper, placed third with 219.5 points.

High Brow CD has career earnings of $467,057 and is the highest money-earning freshman in the past 24 years. The High Brow Cat son is owned by Grace Ranch, Jennings, LA.

For complete Music City 4-Year-Old Finals results and pedigrees, click here.

From sallyharrison.com
The NCHA Open Super Stakes had all the elements of a blockbuster. Peptos Stylish Miss and John Mitchell threw out the challenge with a gutsy 222-point performance as the third draw. The score held its number one rank until NCHA Futurity champion High Brow CD and Austin Shepard came cutting, seventh down in the second set, looking for their fourth consecutive major title and the second leg of the NCHA Triple Crown.

Their 227-point run had the crowd roaring. Then Playin N Fancy Smart and Kory Pounds tied into the herd, three slots after High Brow CD, and scored 227 points.

But the cutting wasn’t over until Miss Stylish Pepto and Bill Riddle, cutting dead last, wrung 223 points out of a well worn herd and claimed the resertve championship and $80,418. High Brow CD, by High Brow Cat, and Playin N Fancy Smart, by Smart Little Lena, each won $103,776 as co-champions of the 2008 NCHA Super Stakes, and split $39,200 from the Super Stallion Incentive Fund.

“I felt like my first two cows were really good and my third cow was a little bit gentle,” said Shepard, who rides High Brow CD for the stallion’s new owner, Chris and Staci Thibodeaux’s Grace Ranch, Jennings, LA. “I think if me or Kory, either one or the other, got a better third cow, the one with the better third cow would have won.

“But I’m happy it ended like it did. We both won. I like tying with my friends.” Read the rest of this entry »

From sallyharrison.com
High Brow CD, who was sold by Arthur Noble to Chris and Staci Thibodeaux this past week, is undefeated, after winning the NCHA Futurity, the Augusta Futurity and the Tunica Futurity under Austin Shepard. Shepard, who is 30, claimed his first limited age event title in 2000 with a win aboard Kit Dual in the Southern Futurity. Since then, he has earned more than $2 million

Following the sale of High Brow CD, I spoke with Shepard, who will continue to show the stallion throughout 2008.

Q: When I spoke with you after the first go-round of the NCHA Futurity, you were very enthused about this horse. You’ve ridden your share of good ones, what sets him apart?
A: He’s just so smart and intelligent about a cow. He’s very mature would be the easiest way to put it.

Q: Does that mean that he’s easier to show?
A: I get along better with a horse (like him) that’s smart about a cow as opposed to one that’s really athletic, but doesn’t think about a cow. One like that just doesn’t fit my style.

Q: Has he changed since the Futurity?
A: Not really, and he’s been put in every situation, as far as different pens, different conditions, weather, locations, arenas, buildings. He’s really low maintenance to work and to be around.

Q: What has impressed you the most about him during the past two months?
A: For him to adjust to every situation is probably what has impressed me the most about him so far. The Futurity is a big pen with a big crowd and a big rounded back fence. That’s the one arena that’s different from everywhere else. Then you go to Augusta and it’s a little small, square pen with bigger cattle and a different feel. Then we take him the very next week to Tunica, and Tunica’s a big pen with a flat-back fence and the cows kind of carry you across the pen.

A: Is he different in the show pen than at home?
Q: I think this horse knows when it’s time to perform. I’ve had horses that worked and showed really well, and I’ve had horses that showed well in go-rounds, but that I never could win anything with in the finals. I think this horse feels when the stage is set. When it’s his turn to perform, he knows it. He steps up to the plate. He doesn’t let much of anything bother him. A lot of really good horses are like that.

Q: What is he like when he’s not at work?
A: He’s pretty laid back. We turn him out and spend a lot of time riding him outside. He enjoys that a lot. But once you put him in front of a cow, whether you’re working him or showing him, he’s pretty much all business, and you can feel him really pick him up to another level. He knows his purpose.

Q: Do you have any concerns about showing him during breeding season?
A: I think whether they’ve been bred or not, they know the difference when the weather warms back up. It didn’t really affect him last year. He’s like any other stud. He has days when he’s a little studdier (acting). But it doesn’t take much to get him down to business. It’s obviously going to be a factor, but when we get down to it, I think he’ll know when we mean business.

Q: What is your agenda with him for this year?
A: We’ll go to the Super Stakes and the Cotton Stakes and the Breeders Invitational. Then we’ll see how everything goes through the Derby, and after that, we’ll probably all sit down and decide what we need to do from there.

Q: Do you feel any extra pressure showing this horse now that you two are undefeated?
A: It’s definitely pressure, but I think I’m more excited than I am worried. When you get down to it, if you’re competitive, it doesn’t feel any different than the Futurity. Once you’re nervous, you’re nervous. But I don’t know that when I’m showing that horse, I’ll be thinking about it. It will be more about the job at hand.

Q: You used to show a lot on the weekend level. Is that experience helpful with limited age events?
A: To show that much has given me experience in knowing how to handle different situations. Every time you go down there it makes you better. You take something positive from it.

Q: What other experience has proven valuable to you?
A: My dad (trainer Sam Shepard) taught me a lot about how to work a cow. He learned a lot of that through Buster (Welch). It has to do with the fact that these are cow horses. It’s what they’re bred for and what gets their hearts going. It makes them have so much personality and so much extra intensity and look. It all draws off of the cow.

From sallyharrison.com

High Brow CD, the 2007 NCHA Futurity open champion, who remains undefeated in 2008, after winning the Augusta Futurity and the Tunica Futurity, recently sold to Chris and Staci Thibodeaux, Jennings, LA. What follows is a continuation of my post from January 12 and a photo of the principal players. From left to right: Austin Shepard, Arthur Noble, High Brow CD, Don Ham, Staci and Chris Thibodeaux.

Chris Thibodeaux had his sights on Absolutely Stunning when he went to Fort Worth, for the NCHA Futurity Sales. But he ended up as under bidder for the 5-year-old Smart Little Lena daughter, when the hammer dropped at $575,000, for Jackson Land & Cattle.

“We got up to $570,000 and Al Dunning and Carol Rose [agents for Jackson Land & Cattle] bid $575,000 right back,” recalled Don Ham, Thibodeaux’s friend and advisor. “[Auctioneer] Don Green looked at him and said, ‘You be $580,000, I’ll bet he’ll be $585,000.’

“Chris said, ‘Yah, I bet that’s right.” So that was it. We didn’t buy the mare. Chris bases a lot on gut feeling. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

For several years, Thibodeaux and his wife, Staci, who keep three broodmares and Rio N Freckles, the 2005 NCHA $10,000 Novice world champion stallion, on their 700-acre Grace Ranch in Jennings, LA, had been looking for a stallion to upgrade their program, along with a few choice mares.

“We’d been looking at stallions and several deals had fallen through for one reason or another,” said Chris. “We watched High Brow CD at the Futurity, never knowing that he would become available and we would be the ones to buy him.”

“This horse could not be in better hands,” said Jim Ware, longtime livestock marketing specialist and the breeder of 2007 NCHA Open Futurity finalist Playware. It was Ware, with Thibodeaux in mind, who contacted trainer Austin Shepard and owner Arthur Noble, to see if the High Brow Cat son, out of Sweet Little CD, was for sale.

“Austin Shepard is the first person that I contacted,” said Ware. “He understands what’s going on in this business and he was able to catch lightning in a bottle with this horse.”

After conferring with all parties, Ware drafted contracts and the deal was finalized on January 21 during the Augusta Futurity, pending a veterinarian exam and semen evaluation that took place on February 11.

“We never ran into anything that caused us to hesitate,” said Thibodeaux of the negotiation process. “Everything just fell into place.”

Thibodeaux’s plans are for Shepard to show High Brow CD through the end of this year. “Austin has done such a great job with him, we don’t want to change anything right now,” said Ham. “But there are some people with really, really good mares that want to breed to him, so we will hand pick a few and hopefully breed them with frozen semen.”

High Brow CD’s next show will be the NCHA Super Stakes, which begins on April 1, in Fort Worth. Until that time, he will remain at Shepard’s training facility in Summerville, AL, where Shepard’s veterinarian will collect and ship his semen to Don Ham.

Chris Thibodeaux, 42, owns a physical therapy practice and is one of eight founding shareholders of Louisiana Health Care Group, a home health provider throughout the Southeastern U.S. He and Staci, a retired attorney for the Federal Government, were high school sweethearts. As students at Louisiana State University, they would sometimes watch horse shows at the Coliseum in Baton Rouge and it was there that they became interested in cutting horses.

“As we were eventually able, we dabbled in it more and more,” said Chris. “We like being able to have our whole family involved. It’s real rewarding.” The Thibodeaux have five children: MacKenzi, 11; Madison, 10; Meaghan, 7; C.J., 6; and Marie, 15 months.

“It’s just a blessing,” said Chris of the turn of events in their lives. “There’s no other way to say it. We named our place Grace Ranch because we feel like we’ve been blessed. We don’t know why, but we just try to be good stewards of what God gives us.”

In 2009, the horse will stand at Don Ham’s breeding facility in Whitesboro, Texas. Ham, 40, grew up in the Pilot Point area of North Texas and has had his hand on the lead shanks of some high-power stallions. One of his first jobs was with Bob Perry Quarter Horses, home at one time to Zippo Pine Bar, Zips Chocolate Chip, Freckles Playboy and Travalena.

He left Perry’s to work for Tommy Manion, when High Brow Cat was there, along with Smart Little Lena. Later, he helped put together the Strawn Valley Ranch breeding program in Texas for owner Don Horton. In 1999, Don and his wife, Lisa, established their own business. They currently stand 11 stallions in Whitesboro, TX.

From sallyharrison.com

High Brow CD, the 2007 NCHA Futurity open champion, who remains undefeated in 2008, after winning the Augusta Futurity and the Tunica Futurity, has been sold.

New owners Chris and Staci Thibodeaux, Jennings, LA, and former owner Arthur Noble, Madison, MS, finalized their agreement on Monday, February 11, following routine breeding and soundness examinations of High Brow CD at Louisiana State University. Also on hand were trainer Austin Shepard, who will continue to show High Brow CD; Don Ham, who will stand him in Whitesboro, TX; Jim Ware, agent, along with Ham, in the sale transaction; and Don McGraw, Noble’s attorney.

Price and terms of the sale remain confidential. Last year, however, former NCHA Futurity champion and established sire Peptoboonsmal sold for a rumored $5 million, at the age of 15. High Brow CD is the only stallion to ever win the NCHA Futurity and two other major events within six weeks. He currently has earnings of more than $300,000. Noble purchased High Brow CD as a yearling, at the NCHA Futurity Sales for $63,000.

I spoke with Chris Thibodeaux and Arthur Noble, as well as Austin Shepard, Don Ham, and Jim Ware on Monday, following the sale. For Noble, a homebuilder dealing with the disastrous real estate market, the sale was bittersweet, and he had difficulty articulating his feelings. But last night, I received an email from Noble, who said that I could share his thoughts with you. Tomorrow I will revisit the sale, as well as High Brow CD’s history and future, with Chris Thibodeaux, Austin Shepard, and Don Ham.

In the email that follows, Noble refers to High Brow CD as Wendel, after the stallion’s breeder, Bob Wendel, Bastrop, TX.

Dear Sally,

I apologize for not being able to talk to you today about the sale of Wendel to Chris Thibodeaux. It has been a very emotional couple of months for me. Wendel winning the Futurity, then at Augusta and Tunica, was absolutely amazing - the dream continued.

Chris and I had a contract for the sale of Wendel before the first go-round at Augusta. I told Chris how special a horse Wendel was and that I thought he was “the real deal.” Man, did he make me out to be a salesman or what?

The deal has been a blessing because of the character of the three men involved - Chris Thibodeaux, Don Ham and Jim Ware. I can’t say enough good things about these three. After Wendel won Tunica, I had a conversation about the events of the day with Chris on the way back to my motel. To show you the kind of person that he is, he was very concerned about the sale of Wendel breaking my heart.

Well, he is right, but I will have to get over it. I have a ring, belt buckle, trophy and several magazines to help me remember what we all did together and how special a time it was. And I have learned so much about the horse business from talking to Jim Ware over the past several weeks. I appreciate all that he has done to make this deal as easy and pleasurable as it has been.

Then there is Austin Shepard, who is not only my trainer, but also my friend, and now part of my family. I would not have sold this horse to anyone, if they would not have agreed to leave him with Austin. But it was never an issue.

Austin bought this horse for me - which is a story in itself - and arranged for Gerald Alexander to start him. Gerald did such a good job and Wendel didn’t do so bad for a horse that was believed not to be of open caliber. But I think Gerald was being a little modest. Austin got the horse after last year’s Futurity and the rest, to this point, is history.

Austin is a winner and he is not scared to win. In all three of his wins [on High Brow CD], he could have taken more time on his third cows, but he opted to show the judges that he had the confidence and the courage to win. I owe Austin much more than my gratitude. Honor, integrity and honesty are the words I would use to describe Austin, who I have to keep reminding myself is only 30 years old. I know Austin will win more than this one Futurity, but I am glad he won his first on Wendel.

Don McGraw, who got me into cutting, is my best friend and my attorney, who keeps me out of trouble. He feeds my horses, when I am too lazy to get out of bed; he was there when I purchased Wendel; he checked on Wendel for me at Gerald Alexander’s; he was there with me when Wendel won the Futurity and at Tunica; and he handled putting Whole Lotta Pretty down for me, when I didn’t have the heart to do it myself. And most of all, Don, who is an Ole Miss fan, spent all day at LSU and handled the legal portion of the sale of Wendel to Chris Thibodeaux.

Last, but certainly not least, there is Wendel, my buddy. He was the first yearling I ever purchased, had trained and that competed in the Futurity. What luck! Wendel, I believe, was a blessing from above. What else could it be? The story of how I purchased him is proof enough.

Him winning the Futurity has been the best thing that has happened to me other than my family. I owe the little horse with the big heart more than I could ever repay. And as I write this email, the Futurity trophy is sitting on my desk in front of me, reminding me of what Austin and Wendel have accomplished.

I am relatively new to cutting, only being in it for about seven years, so a lot of the history is also new. But I am learning almost every day how lucky I have been, and thanking God for the blessings he has bestowed on me.

Not being able to keep a Futurity champion, let alone the horse that I love, is very tough. I will be his biggest fan, next to Bob Wendel, and I will be at every event that I can to pull for him and Austin. And, l will get to see him when I go down to the beach, and I will get to breed some mares to him. And, just maybe, I will get to have another dream. And to all that have been trying to win the Futurity, big operators and the so-called little guys like me, I pray that you get to experience the feeling of having a Futurity Champion.

I know this is a rather long email and I hope you can use as much of it as possible in your blog, because Wendel and Austin are treading in areas of the greatest cutting horses in history. And to me he is the best!

Thanks!

Arthur Noble

From sallyharrison.com

NCHA Futurity champion High Brow CD claimed his third major title in as many events with a 228-point win in the 2008 Tunica (formerly Memphis) Futurity on Friday night. Special Nu Kitty placed second with 224.

“He’s one of those you dream about,” said High Brow CD’s trainer, Austin Shepard. “He’s just one of those that makes you feel like you’re bullet proof.”

Purchased as a yearling for $63,000 by Arthur Noble at the NCHA Futurity Sales from breeder Bob Wendell, High Brow CD won the NCHA Futurity semi-finals with 224 points; aced the NCHA Futurity with 226 points; then took Augusta with 222. He is the only horse in history to have won at the NCHA Futurity, Augusta Futurity and Tunica (Memphis), plus the NCHA semi-finals.

“He’s just real smart,” said Shepard of the 4-year-old stallion. “He wants to do right. He’s one step away from having his own barn in my house. He’s my buddy.”

High Brow CD is by High Brow Cat out of Sweet Lil CD, by CD Olena. Sweet Lil CD, the earner of more than $100,000, is half-sister to Sweet Lil Pepto, LTE $218,655; sire Pepto Taz, LTE $130,174; and Sweet Lil Boo LTE $61,759. Second dam Sweet Lil Lena is a full sister to sire Smart Lil Scoot, earner of $266,425. Read the rest of this entry »

From sallyharrison.com

NCHA Futurity champion High Brow CD, ridden by Austin Shepard for Arthur Noble, held his ground as reigning money earner from the crop of 2004, with a 222-point victory, worth $30,000, in the 2008 Augusta Futurity. The High Brow Cat son, out of a CD Olena daughter, qualified for the finals with go-round scores of 217. 5 and 213. It was his first major limited age event since the NCHA Futurity in December. He has now earned $280,000.

CDs Starlight Ms, by CD Olena, ridden by Allen Crouch for George Moore Jr., was reserve with 219 points. Shepard had won the 2007 edition of the Augusta Classic riding Woody Be Tuff, owned by Lana Peacock, and was a finalist in this year’s Classic on Ginas Cat and San Tule Uno.

High Brow CD is one of just two horses to win both the NCHA Futurity and the Augusta Futurity. Chiquita Pistol, who went on to win the NCHA Triple Crown, claimed the 2003 Augusta Futurity. Her rider, Tag Rice, won the 2008 Augusta Classic riding Copaspepto for Marvine Ranch. Read the rest of this entry »

From sallyharrison.com

From first go-round to the last, High Brow CD maintained his mettle and Austin Shepard proved his showmanship in the NCHA Open Futurity.

Last night, the dynamic duo upped the ante late in the first of two sets of cattle. Their 226-point score topped the field by 8.5 points and earned them $250,000. Only Desires Little Rex and Bubba Matlock, reserve champions with 222.5 points, came close enough to see their dust, four-deep in the second set.

“I was just trying to be smooth on my second cow, but it wouldn’t let me off and I kept having to be more aggressive,” said Shepard. “I didn’t think it was ever going to turn away. My horse was out of air and I was trying to slow myself down.”

When the first cow finally turned away, and Shepard turned back to the herd, Shepard spotted a volunteer close to the front. When helper Brett Davis told him that it was fresh, Shepard trotted up and cut it.

“I didn’t have any idea how much time I had,” he said. “It felt like I worked it forever. But when I went back (to the herd) I had twelve seconds left. So I kind of went back to my weekend experience.

“One thing I have learned through showing is that you can’t make a run like that. It just has to happen and you have to be aggressive and smart and pick your opportunities. But when it’s meant to happen, it happens.”

High Brow CD had tied for second with Al Poocino, ridden by Tom Dvorak, in the first go-round with 221 points. Special Nu Kitty, ridden by Clint Allen, won the first round with a record 227 points and the standings remained the same at the end of two go-rounds — Special Nu Kitty followed by High Brow CD and Al Poocino, with a tie.

If wagers had been taken before the Futurity Finals, Allen on Special Nu Kitty, for Wrigley Ranches, would have been the odds-on favorite. But it was not the High Brow Cat’s night to shine and Allen, last year’s reserve champion on Highdrive Cat, rode out, when with seconds left on the clock, a second cow joined the one he had cut.

“When that happened to him and he came straight out, I thought that showed a lot of character,” Shepard said.

It was in the Semi-Finals that High Brow CD and Shepard gave a taste of what was to come, with a 224-point “we’re out to win” performance.

“He’s been one of the nicest horses to train that I’ve ever had,” said Shepard of the High Brow Cat son, owned by Arthur Noble, Madison, MS. “He’s one of those you dream about.”

Noble purchased High Brow CD, his first yearling, for $63,000 at the 2005 NCHA Futurity Sales. Shepard happened to walk through John Justin Sale Arena just before the horse was to sell and Noble asked for his opinion.

“I told him that I loved the mare (High Brow CD’s dam) and we should look at the baby,” Shepard recalled. “If I hadn’t gone to work another horse in the practice pen, Clint Allen could have had that horse and his great mare (Special Nu Kitty). I stood right beside Clint and he was bidding against me.”

Last week during the NCHA Futurity Sales, Sweet Little Kitten, a full sister to High Brow CD out of Sweet Little CD, sold for $93,000, during Western Bloodstock’s Invitational Yearling Sale. Sweet Little CD, by CD Olena, is out of Sweet Lil Lena, a full sister to Smart Lil Scoot, sire of Philip Layne’s 2007 NCHA Futurity Amateur and Non-Pro Limited champion Dual Ya Scoot, as well as Open finalists Moms Stylish Scoot (8th/9th), with Jason Clark for Darren Blanton, and Playware (15th), under Austin Shepard for Lynn Davis.

Sweet Lil Lena is also the dam of Sweet Lil Pepto, sire of Some Kinda Sweety, an Open Finalist under Shannon Hall for Clay McCullar, and Pepto Taz, sire of Heza Smart Taz, a finalist with Michael Copper for George Ward.

Ironically, it was Shepard, at the time part-owner of the horse, who started Futurity reserve champion Desires Little Rex on cattle. Bubba Matlock has had the Smart Little Lena son, with Futurity winnings of $197,004, since last February. Matlock had career earnings of just over $300,000 prior to the 2007 NCHA Futurity.

Shepard, who lives in Summerdale, AL and has NCHA lifetime earnings of nearly $3 million, was a finalist in the 2004 NCHA Futurity aboard Cats Good Intentions, and again in 2005 on CDs Nitty Gritty. He also rode Widows Intentions as 2006 Super Stakes Classic champion and NCHA Derby reserve champion.

From sallyharrison.com

High Brow CD and Austin Shepard nailed three cows for a 224-point win last night in the NCHA Futurity Open Semi-Finals. Peptos Stylish Sue was runner-up with 221.5 under Boyd Rice.

“He had it on his mind,” said Shepard of High Brow CD’s lock on the cattle. Shepard drew late in the fourth herd, after Rice had set the hurdle as the last rider in the second bunch.

“We had a few cows that we wanted and our first two were right there on the front,” said Shepard. “I got in a little bit of a hurry at the end and was probably about to cut the wrong cow. But my help told me to slow down and cut shape and that’s what I did.”

High Brow CD, owned by Arthur Noble, Madison, MS, placed second in the first go-round  with 221 points and earned the second-highest go-round aggregate of 437, behind Special Nu Kitty with Clint Allen for Wrigley Ranches.

“He got a little bit defensive about three days ago,” said Shepard of the colt, who he had been working in the practice pen, following the second go-round on December 2. “The cattle were kind of sorry, so I took him to James Hooper’s place and worked him there the last two days (before the Semi-Finals). It’s really relieved a lot of pressure from him.

“He’s really smart and if you put him in a lot of bad spots, he’ll start to stay inside a cow too much rather than take a big chance. He wants to do what’s right. Tonight, I could feel him get comfortable right off the bat.”

Noble purchased the High Brow Cat son for $63,000, at the 2005 NCHA Futurity Sales, from breeder Wendel Ranches. This past Wednesday, Sweet Little Kitten, a full sister to High Brow CD, sold for $93,000 during Western Bloodstock’s Invitational Yearling Sale.

Sweet Little CD, by CD Olena, the dam of High Brow CD, is out of Sweet Lil Lena, a full sister to Smart Lil Scoot, sire of Philip Layne’s 2007 NCHA Futurity Amateur and Non-Pro Limited champion Dual Ya Scoot, as well as Open finalists Moms Stylish Scoot, with Jason Clark for Darren Blanton, and Playware, under Austin Shepard for Von Sutten.

Sweet Lil Lena is also the dam of Sweet Lil Pepto, sire of  Some Kinda Sweety, a finalist in tonight’s NCHA Open Futurity under Shannon Hall for Clay McCullar, and Pepto Taz, sire of Heza Smart Taz, a finalist with Michael Copper for George Ward.

Shepard was a finalist in the 2004 NCHA Futurity aboard Cats Good Intentions, and in 2005 on CDs Nitty Gritty. He also rode Widows Intentions as 2006 Super Stakes Classic champion and NCHA Derby reserve champion.