Whatever success Stacy Shepard has this week she can attribute to her mother-in-law.

With two small children in tow, Shepard awakes at 4:30 every morning to work during the Augusta Futurity.

"You can't drag the kids in for that," she said.

That's where Johnell Shepard comes into play. Mother of trainer Austin Shepard, she provides the role of baby-sitting grandmother while her daughter-in-law competes.

"Austin's mom helps me a lot," Stacy said. "I couldn't show if she didn't come. It'd be too stressful."

Shepard and Smartlena Quixote faced little stress Thursday morning as they marked an easy 219 to win the Futurity Open first go-round by 2.5 points at James Brown Arena.

The top 40 horses with scores of 208 or better advanced to today's second go-round, which begins at 8 a.m.

Shepard of Summerdale, Ala., has one of the louder fan clubs inside the arena, especially with 4-year-old son Cade and daughter Caylee (who turns 2 next month).

"Cade likes it when everybody does good," she said. "He gets excited. He hollers for us. It's pretty cute.

"She's (Caylee) been hollering for us since we've been here. You've got to get your kids to holler for you."

There was plenty to yell about in Shepard's second major showing of Smartlena Quixote, a gelding by Dulces Smart Lena out of Floyd Quixote.

She and Austin purchased the horse from James and Gail Hooper in early November.

Austin already had the horse in training and liked what he saw.

"I liked him, too," Stacy said. "But he knows more about it than I do. I just do what he says."

Shepard first showed the horse at the National Cutting Horse Association World Championship Futurity last month. The two missed their first cut. It was a minor hiccup.

"He's very tight on a cow and he stops hard every time," she said. "He never misses a stop."

Shepard, who grew up outside of Stone Mountain, Ga., said she's been coming to the Augusta Futurity as a spectator since she was a child.

"It just took a couple of hours," she said. "We'd drive on up and stay the weekend."

Shepard has been competing here for the past eight years, and her best showing was when she finished second in the 2001 Classic Non-Pro. Though she's yet to win a title, she's accumulated more than $44,000 in winnings in Augusta.

"I've had good luck here, very good luck," she said.

"This is always a special show where you want to win. It's been around so long. I've been coming here forever. It's almost like a little bit of a home show."

Reach Chris Gay at (706) 823-3645 or chris.gay@augustachronicle.com.

From the Friday, January 25, 2008 edition of the Augusta Chronicle