NCHA Non-Pro World Champions April Widman and Woodys Baby compete at the 2017 NCHA World Finals in Fort Worth, Texas.. • Photo by Molly Montag.

NCHA Seeking New Title Sponsors for World Finals & World Series of Cutting

Officials from the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) are seeking new sponsors for the World Finals and World Series of Cutting. They say the current sponsor, Mercuria Global Energy, will not return in 2019.

“Mercuria has been with us and done a great job for many years and been one of the highlights of the cutting season and the cutting horse industry,” said Interim NCHA Executive Director Lewis Wray. “They just feel like at this time they’re going to go in a different direction, but we’re going to continue to make sure that our World Finals are state-of-the-art and they bring a lot of people into Fort Worth.”

The global energy group is the current title sponsor of both the NCHA World Finals, which is held in December in conjunction with the NCHA Futurity, and the eight-stop World Series of Cutting that offers $25,000-added classes for open and non-pro riders.

Although officials are seeking another entity to replace Mercuria in a sole sponsorship role for the World Finals, NCHA President Phil Rapp said they also are exploring the possibility of instead having a group of individuals or businesses join forces to sponsor the annual championship event. Both avenues will be pursued, he said.

Rapp added that the NCHA appreciated Mercuria’s long-running sponsorship.

“We’re grateful for what the Jaeggi family has done and the Mercuria company has done for us over these past, going-on, 10 years. They have contributed immensely to the success of the cutting horse industry, and we thank them for that,” he said. “And, we understand with most things with sponsorships, they have a start date and an end date, and we found that end date in 2018.”

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