Cade Shepard & Bama Dawg • Photo by Dawn Baxstrom

Cade Shepard is Shooting Doubles on Half-siblings

It’s tough to win any major limited-age cutting event, given that the field is typically filled with talented combinations. Winning two of those events in less than a month is a feat few can pull off. But Cade Shepard made clinching three major titles in that time frame look easy.

Hot off his win at the Augusta Futurity with Christy Hughes in the 5/6-Year-old Classic Non-Pro, Shepard didn’t miss a beat at The Ike Derby and Classic. He and Christy Hughes put together a solid 221 to add another 5/6-Year-Old Non-Pro Championship to their tally.

Shepard had little time to celebrate before hopping on Christy Hughes’ half-brother Bama Dawg for the 4-Year-Old Non-Pro finals. As the last draw, the pair marked a solid 219.5 to give Shepard his second Championship of the day!

The 5/6-Year-Old Championship was worth $14,437, which pushed Christy Hughes’ lifetime earnings to nearly $125,000. The 4-Year-Old title brought a paycheck of $11,296, to bring Shepard’s total earnings for the day to $25,733.

Christy Hughes is by Equi-Stat Elite $1 Million Sire Thomas E Hughes, who won nearly $400,00 in the cutting pen. Bama Dawg is by cutting’s all-time leading sire, High Brow Cat.

Both horses are out of MH San Tules Dually, who was also shown by Shepard and his dad, Austin, to earnings of $332,387. MH San Tules Dually has seven performing offspring with more than $670,000 in earnings.

Her leading performer is Bamacat, who is a full-brother to Bama Dawg. The 2009 stallion earned $352,194 in the cutting pen. Bamacat, who placed third in the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Futurity Open finals with Austin, went on to take Champion or Reserve honors in several major limited-age events.

Bamacat is now making a name for himself in the breeding shed. He currently has five performing offspring with records totaling $58,377.

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