Nicole Dalton and The Wow Factor Win APHA World 3-Year-Old Non Pro Hunter Under Saddle

By: Brittany Bevis

Every once in a while, a horse is said to possess the intangible combination of qualities sometimes referred to as “the wow factor.” Nicole Dalton is lucky enough to have raised one of her very own in the spectacular, bay, 18 hand, stallion appropriately named The Wow Factor.

This afternoon, Nicole rode “Neo” to win the 3-Year-Old Non Pro Hunter Under Saddle Futurity here at the APHA World Championship Show. Neo was bred, raised, and broken out by Nicole herself. “We were watching The Matrix the night he was born,” she says. “You breed your whole life to get one like this, minimal bay, pretty, big. I was pretty thrilled.”

As if anyone had to ask, Neo is by APHA stallion, All Time Fancy, and he is almost a carbon copy of his father in both eye appeal, coloring, size, and movement. “I posted pictures of Neo, when he was a baby, and everybody kept saying, ‘Wow! He has the wow factor.’ We were trying to come up with a name that was cool and different, and it stuck.”

For the entirety of his two-year-old year, Neo was piloted by Alyse Roberts, and the pair claimed a Pinto World Championship and Paint Congress Championship. Just two months ago, Neo headed to Texas to visit Tim and Shannon Gillespie to begin preparations for the All American Quarter Horse Congress and APHA World Show. At this year’s Congress, Shannon rode Neo to take Reserve in the 3-Year-Old Hunter Under Saddle Futurity. “It was very exciting, especially for it to be the first year the Congress allowed Paints to go.”

While Neo is certainly eye catching with his fancy looks and smooth moves, the quality Nicole praises the most is his sweet disposition, especially when he interacts with her three small children.

“He’s so easy going, so chill, and so kind. He love the kids. They love on him and dote on him, and there’s not a mean bone is his whole body. He’s loving and wants attention. They were so excited for him, and they’re his fan club. They were so glad to see him, because they haven’t seen him in a year. He will go home from here to stand at stud in Arizona next spring.”

What’s Nicole hoping Neo will be able to produce with his first foal crop? “Clones!” she jokes. “Hopefully, they will have good minds and good legs. He is equally as good at cantering as he is at trotting. A lot of them can do one or the other, but very few can do both.”

The Reserve Champion in the class was Jennifer Heucker with Bigger Yet. Third place was Tracy Stenroos with A Good Nooner. Fourth place was Jenna Toulson with Thefairestofthemall. Fifth place was Lindsay Mclain with Hopefully.