FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hightower, Rapp and Bartlett Lead the Way at Augusta

Fort Worth, Texas

There were few degrees of separation among Champions of the 22nd annual Augusta Futurity held at the Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center in Augusta, Georgia.

In finals competition, Friday, February 3, the Classic Non-Pro and Open divisions belonged to Cool Little Feet, a ‘95 mare by Smart Little Lena out of Royal Dandy Lena. The mare is owned by H.B. and Kelley Bartlett of Pike Road, Alabama. Faced with a tough set of cows, Kelley Bartlett rode Cool Little Feet and succeeded in winning the Classic Non-Pro Championship title early in the evening.

Later, the 6-year-old mare delivered a second Championship as Faron Hightower, of Bluff Dale, Texas, rode her to a 220 score in the Classic Open finals. Hightower joked since Bartlett had won and the mare looked super, he had to “go out there and not get shown up too bad”.

The following night, Faron Hightower became the second person ever to sweep both the Augusta Futurity and Classic Open divisions by riding Pretty Boy Cat to a Championship win, scoring 221 in the Futurity Open finals. Lloyd Cox was the first to win both the Futurity and Classic Open classes, a feat he accomplished in 2000. Referring to his double win, the 44-year-old Hightower made fun by saying, as an “old-timer”, he wanted to let the younger set know “we’re not done yet”. Pretty Boy Cat is a ‘97 stallion sired by High Brow Cat out of Pretty Lean Chick and owned by Jack and Susan Waggoner of Bridgeport, Texas.

In the Futurity Non-Pro competition, it was Mary Ann Rapp, of Weatherford, Texas, who kept alive family tradition by winning the Championship title riding CD Light, a ‘97 mare by CD Olena out of Cinnabars Lil Star. CD Light is owned by Mary Ann and her husband, Phil Rapp, record-holder of six Augusta Futurity titles. Mary Ann came to the finals with the top aggregate score of 432.5 and won the title with a 221. Last year, Phil became the event’s Non-Pro Champion riding Cats Full Measure posting the very same finals score. The new Augusta Futurity Non-Pro Champion created new family history by riding as an expectant mother. Mary Ann and Phil are having a son, who they will reportedly name Ryan Edward, due June 12.

For complete 2001 Augusta Futurity results visit our website at http://www.nchacutting.com/and click on “Show Results”.