Roger Wagner Comes From Down Under to win Intermediate Open Futurity Championship on Rollzana
EquiStat Elite $3 Million Rider Roger Wagner made an appearance in the States to catch ride two horses in the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) World Championship Futurity. He and Rollzana (Rollz Royce x Wendels Little Missy x High Brow CD) were crowned the Intermediate Open Champions on Nov. 20 in the Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum.
Rollzana is by 2023 top freshman sire Rollz Royce and is only the third earning offspring of Wendels Little Missy (by High Brow CD). Van Bokel Hog Farms of Ontario, Canada owned Wendels Little Missy through her show career and bred the mare to eventually raise Rollzana.
The Canadian-bred horse was ridden by an Australian trainer. Wagner currently resides in Australia but trained cutting horses in the United States for about a decade and won major titles such as the 2004 NCHA Futurity Open Reserve Champion, 2007 and 2013 NCHA Classic Challenge Open Championship, 2011 NCHA Summer Spectacular Derby Open Champion and 2013 NCHA Super Stakes Classic Open Champion. He rode influential cutting horses such as Quintan Blue (Mecom Blue x Quiolena x CD Olena) and Stylish Martini (Docs Stylish Oak x Miss Martini Play x Freckles Playboy).
“I’ve been over here a week to catch ride her,” Wagner said. “So far, her personality has been really good. She’s been real easy for me to get in time with and and get along with.”
Although Wagner hasn’t been riding Rollzana long, he’s gotten along well with the young mare trained by EquiStat Elite $4 Million Rider Grant Setnicka.
“She’s just extremely cowy, very accurate. Doesn’t really miss a cow and what I love the most about her is just her expression on her face, she looks like a like a pointer bird dog,” said Setnicka.
Wagner seconded Setnicka’s statements about her cowyness and style. He also explained how challenging the cattle have been throughout the Futurity.
Rollzana’s style in the show pen sets her apart. * Photo by Amy Olson
“The first black cow kind of got set up pretty good and then the second cow was probably a little bit better, then the last brangus cow we cut was really good and finished strong,” said Wagner. “So I’m very happy with what we ended up being able to do, because it wasn’t a great bunch of cows.”
Wagner and Rollzana marked a 219 during the first go to set them up for a strong show. He said that the cows in the second go were tough to make up ground on but Rollzana marked a 215 on them and punched her ticket to the Intermediate Open finals as well as the Open semi-finals.
For their win in the Intermediate Open finals they were awarded $29,274.
“How she uses her head neck, at this level, that’s the one thing that I think makes a difference, because everyone’s horses are so trained, but if they have that look, it’s the difference between a 19 and 24,” Setnicka said.
Setnicka and Wagner are both looking forward to taking the horse to the semi-finals for owners Van Bokel Hog Farms.