NCHA News

Time To Hangem, ridden by Gaylon Wells. Suzanne Sylvester photo.

Time To Hangem, ridden by Gaylon Wells, marked 224 for a four-point win in the Mercuria NCHA World Series of Cutting at the Augusta Futurity Thursday evening, January 18. Madalyn Colgrove took the Non-Pro division with a 220 on One Catty Cupid.

Gaylon Wells.

It was Wells’ second Mercuria win, and his second in a row at Augusta. He won last year on Jay Moss Cougar.

Time To Hangem was bred by Frank and Robin Merrill, by One Time Pepto out of Hangem High Pep, a mare that Frank rode to the Non-Pro finals of the Breeders Invitational in 2006. Hangem High Pep’s bottom line goes back to NCHA Futurity champion and million-dollar producer Lynx Melody.

Time To Hangem is a 10-year-old gelding owned by Victoria Johnson of Houston, Texas. He placed fourth in the 2011 NCHA Futurity with Austin Shepard, and went on to win the Cotton Stakes and qualify for many major finals, including the NCHA Derby, NCHA Super Stakes Classic, Augusta Futurity and the Breeders Invitational. With his $10,823 Mercuria paycheck, he has career earnings of more than $237,000.

Dont Stopp Believin, owned and ridden by Phil Rapp, marked 220 for second place, earning $8,542. Dont Stopp Believin is by Dual Rey out of all-time leading mare Dont Look Twice.

Mercuria NCHA World Series at Augusta Open Finals

Madalyn Colgrove on One Catty Cupid. Suzanne Sylvester photo.

Madalyn Colgrove.

Teenager Madalyn Colgrove of Boligee, Alabama, earned a one-point win over Hall of Famer Lindy Ashlock in the Non-Pro finals. Colgrove rode One Catty Cupid, owned by her grandfather, Joel Colgrove Sr., for the win. It was her first win in five trips to Mercuria finals. She and One Catty Cupid placed second in their previous try, at the All American Quarter Horse Congress.

Colgrove’s achievements include an Unlimited Amateur win at the Breeders Invitational in 2016 with One Catty Cupid, Amateur championships at the NCHA Classic Challenge and Breeders Invitational, and no fewer than five Cotton Stakes trophies. She also finished seventh in the NCHA Non-Pro World Standings last year.

One Catty Cupid is a 7-year-old mare by One Time Pepto out of Arc Catty Dual, the mare that Phil Rapp rode to win the Pacific Coast Futurity in 2007.

Like the Open Mercuria champion at Augusta, Time To Hangem, One Catty Cupid comes out of Austin Shepard’s program. Arthur Noble, for whom Shepard trained NCHA Futurity champion High Brow CD, bought One Catty Cupid for $40,000 as a 2-year-old at the Western Bloodstock NCHA Futurity Sales.

Shepard rode the mare to win the Cotton Stakes and a reserve championship at the Augusta Futurity, during a long string of successes. Between Shepard and the Colgrove family, One Catty Cupid has now earned more than $188,000.

Mercuria NCHA World Series at Augusta Non-Pro Finals