Queen rules in non-pro finals
Former South Carolina resident scores victory

One by one, ornery cows slipped past horses in the Futurity Non-Pro finals.

Fifteen of 21 horses lost a cow. And there Elizabeth Queen and Bubble Gum sat in the final draw position. No one ever wants to run last, but on this quiet Saturday evening, Queen saw an opportunity.

"I think it may have helped," she said, "because I really wasn't expecting to do good."

To loud applause, Queen lifted her left hand skyward after she and her gelding marked a rousing 220 to win the Futurity Non-Pro by five points at James Brown Arena.

The 31-year-old Queen, who grew up in nearby Estill, S.C., notched her second Augusta Futurity title. She and husband, Skip, who's originally from Lancaster, S.C., own a combined five titles.

"It's really special," she said. "This is where we learned about cutting. If not for this Augusta Futurity, I wouldn't know what a cutting horse is. And neither would Skip or my mom. I just can't say enough about what Augusta does for this area and getting people from the East Coast into cutting."

Queen of Lipan, Texas, earned her first-place check of $17,001. Her victory prevented a workoff for the title between Adan Banuelos on Dual With Christy and Kelle Earnheart on Mecom Blue Gin. If not for Queen's late run, Banuelos of Amarillo, Texas, and Earnheart of Hernando, Miss., who each earned $9,750, would've recorded the lowest winning score in this event at 215. Phil Rapp and Playboys Ruby marked 216 in 1991.

Irony surrounded Queen's latest victory.

In 1998, she and Mr Gin Corcha won the Futurity Non-Pro finals working last as well.

"That was kind of a good omen, I guess," Skip Queen said.

There's more. Tanquery Gin was the sire of Mr Gin Corcha. Bubble Gum is an unregistered gelding sired by Tachitas Jewel out of an unknown daughter of Tanquery Gin.

The Queens, who have two children (Elliott, 6 and Katherine, 3), purchased the horse in September through the court system when the former owner failed to pay the trainer bill. Katherine named the horse after her love for bubble gum.

Winning on this night wasn't exactly candy. The brutal cows at one point in the competition knocked out nine consecutive horses.

Stacy Shepard of Summerdale, Ala., and Smartlena Quixote won the first two go-rounds and entered with the top aggregate score.

But even they couldn't avoid trouble. The pair lost their first cow and finished with 190.

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

From the Sunday, January 27, 2008 edition of the Augusta Chronicle