The size of the pen at this year’s Augusta Futurity venue may have been challenging for some, but Andrew Sligh has ridden horses for more than three decades and worked with trainer Todd Gain for more than 26 years.
He’s cut his fair share of cattle out of the herd. And, his horse, Generator, came through with a winning 222 in the 5/6-Year-Old Classic Non-Pro Friday night at the show.
“We had a really good draw, got to see what the horses before us were doing. We felt good about the cows we had picked. The Augusta pen this year was so wide, the whole object was to go stop that cow and keep them from going to the walls.
“The cows were stinging us hard, but it was all right there in the middle. My third cow was a rerun. I didn’t even know it was a re-run until after my run was over. I was looking for a nice clean third cut,” Sligh explained.
The win was worth $4,600, inching Sligh toward his goal of getting the 5-year-old to $100,000 in earnings.
“What I like the most about him is when he’s being good and correct,” Sligh said of the stallion. “He’s got a really huge stop and once he turns, he’s so explosive through his turns.”
According to EquiStat, the Augusta Futurity victory brings Generator’s lifetime earnings to $73,207. Sligh purchased the son of High Brow Cat at the 2020 Western Bloodstock National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Futurity sale.
“I was looking for a young horse to do aged events on. Rodrigo Taboga and Beau Galyean had this horse and in the fall of his 3-year-old year Rodrigo had already won like $50,000 on him in the small futurities,” Sligh said.
After buying Generator – who is called “Fridge” at home due to his enthusiasm during feeding time – Sligh and Gann focused on acclimating him to a new program.
“We wanted him to go enjoy his job, show him it was fun to do and go cut a cow. I don’t care about all the real fancy stuff, just go with the cow, hit a stop and be correct. Rodrigo had done a fabulous job on him,” Slight said.
Bred by Glenn and Debbie Drake of Napa, California, Fridge is out of noted producer Stylish And Foxie, an accomplished show mare sired by Docs Stylish Oak who has so far foaled the winners of more than $884,000.
Sligh thanked fiancé Alexis Isla for her help getting Fridge ready, and Gann, Zeke Entz, Walt Irwin and Bill Pearce for their help in the pen.
Reserve Champion in the Augusta Futurity Amateur Classic Challenge was Doug Secrest and Sweett Chaos, a 6-year-old mare by Catty Hawk and out of Gar Bar Lena (by Duals Blue Boon). They marked a 219 for a $4,000 payday.
