Tag Rice shut out open competition this week at the Memphis Futurity in Tunica, MS. The former NCHA Triple Crown champion won the 5 & 6-Year-Old Classic on Thursday with Lynnies Cat, then came back last night to take the 4-Year-Old Futurity with 223.5 points on Copaspepto, owned by Jon Winkelreid’s Marvine Ranch.
The $27,508 win boosted Copaspeto’s lifetime earnings, with just two months of showing, to $160,000. He also won the Abilene Spectacular Futurity in January and placed ninth in the NCHA Futurity.
NCHA Futurity reserve champion Hydrive Cat, ridden by Clint Allen, set the bar in the Memphis finals with a 221-point performance as the first horse to work in the first bunch. Copaspepto drew next-to-last in the same set.
“The first time I worked him, I thought he was probably going to be my best horse,” said Rice, who met the horse’s owner, Jon Winkelreid, co-president of Goldman Sachs investment bank, last year at the Augusta Futurity. At the time, Winkelreid had just purchased the Peptoboonsmal-sired colt (now a gelding) and his dam, Miss Martini Play, by Freckles Playboy, from 2-L Contractors of Abbeville, LA.
Hydrive Cat earned his second major reserve championship with his Memphis Futurity performance. The High Brow Cat son, owned by Dave and Georgia Husby, Weatherford, TX, is ranked second only to NCHA Futurity champion Oh Cay Felix among 2003 NCHA money earners, with $227,193. He also placed third in the Abilene Spectacular.
“I can’t imagine a better person to have trained this horse,” said Georgia Husby of Allen. “He loves this horse as much as we do. This is out first stallion and we’re really excited.”
Hydrive Cat is one of three performing foals of 2003 out of Ruby Tuesday DNA. The others are Ruby Tuesdays Color, a mare by Color Me Smart, ridden by Matt Budge for Jackpot Ranch to fifth place at Memphis; and a High Brow Cat colt named SDP Buffalo Bill, owned by Buffalo Ranch and ridden by Greg Smith as a finalist in the Abilene Spectacular Futurity.
“We bought the colt when he was about five days old,” noted Husby, who purchased Hydrive Cat from breeder Esperanza Ranch, Parks, AZ. “We had our choice and Rodie Whitman and Winston Hansma went over to Colleen Holt’s (where the foals we born) and picked this one for us.”
Play Miss, who placed third with 220.5 points under John Mitchell, for Slate River Ranch, had been owned by the Husbys as a yearling. They sold the Playgun mare to Glade Knight, owner of Slate River Ranch, last January. The Husbys also own CD Graceful Dual, by CD Olena, who split 12th and 13th in the Memphis Futurity under Clint Allen.
Marvine Ranch also owns Playful Richochet, a finalist (24/31) with Sam Shepard. Shepard and his son Austin qualified five out of the 31 Memphis Futurity finalists, including sixth-placed San Tule Uno, one of Austin’s three mounts. Austin also captured the reserve championship in the Memphis Classic on Thursday with Red Money Merada, owned by Khader Daoud, and was a finalist on Show Biz Ben and Woody Be Tuff (Augusta Classic champion).
Twice-daily audio reports of the Memphis Futurity by announcer Tom Holt can be heard on Cutting Edge News through nchacutting.com.