Red Lights gets First Big Win with Ryan Rapp in Georgia

Red Lights has more show experience than many horses his age and the same can be said for his rider Ryan Rapp. That experience comes in handy when trying to get a horse their big breakthrough. Red Lights had his at the Augusta Futurity on January 15 when he and Rapp won the 4-Year-Old Non Pro finals.

“I love his mom and so we got him and he was just kind of this little, thin, lanky gelding that, kind of early in the year, wasn’t super being special but was a nice, agreeable little horse,” Rapp described the horse as a two and three-year-old.

“Then he got older and stronger, that’s when he really started to kind of show himself and get pretty unique. The one thing that kind of stood out to me about that horse is just he got better every day,” Rapp said.

The horse improved steadily and eventually made the Open semifinals at the NCHA Futurity last fall. After some tough luck there, Rapp was ready to get to Abilene and see if he could find some better cattle to show off his horse.

There, he was the 4-year-old Open Reserve Champion and earned $25,000. Then it was time to get on the road to Perry, Georgia.

Rapp and Red Lights did well in the Open 4-Year-Old again and he said that he had some good momentum going into the Non-Pro classes. Although he didn’t draw the best in the go-rounds, Rapp was glad to have a good draw in the finals.

“We just cut three black cattle we liked and got them cut clean. He did his thing and the cattle did theirs and it worked out,” Rapp said of the finals.

Red Lights (Dont Stopp Believin x Bet On Red x Bet Hesa Cat) is the product of a long family history. Red Lights’ sire, Dont Stopp Believin, is a product of Philip and Mary Ann Rapp’s (Ryan’s parents) breeding program. Dont Stopp Believin‘s dam Dont Look Twice is the highest earning cutting mare of all time and most of her earnings were won with Phil in the saddle. Phil also helped to train and breed the three generations of mares that came before Dont Look Twice.

On the other side of Red Lights’ family tree, Ryan rode Bet On Red and Mary Ann rode her dam, One Red Mist. It’s no seceret that the people of the Rapp family also have a history of success at the Augusta Futurity. Phil and Mary Ann are no strangers to the finals there and now that Ryan and his sister Emma are old enough to show in the Non Pro classes, they’re leaving a mark as well.