Best for Last: Sawyer McWilliams Completes FS Fine Lil Hashtag’s Major Limited-Age Event Career with Fort Worth Win

Sawyer McWilliams’ continued the youth’s winning ways in the amateur division at the 2026 NCHA Summer Spectacular, clinching the Classic Challenge title riding FS Fine Lil Hashtag with a score of 222, earning a total of $28,482 and capping the mares’ Fort Worth show record.

Part of that check came from Valley Equine’s incentive—$12,216 to be exact—since FS Fine Lil Hashtag is sired by Hashtags.

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For a rider who’s spent more of his life in the saddle than out of it, the biggest opponent on a run like this one wasn’t the cattle, it’s his own mindset.

“I was thinking just stay consistent, just keep the run going and keep my nerves down,” McWilliams said, “Because the nerves get in the way, and you can lose a cow in five seconds.”

His approach going into the finals herd was simple: don’t chase a score.

“When I go in, I just try to think it’s another run, trying to go to the next round,” McWilliams said. “I go for just an easy, consistent score. If you force a score, it’s never going to come. It always comes naturally.”

A Slip-Up that Set Up a Bigger Win

FS Fine Lil Hashtag, known as “Fire,” to the Summer Spectacular on a roll of her own. As a 5-year-old, she and McWilliams won the Limited Amateur Classic Challenge at the Super Stakes with what was then McWilliams’ career-best score, a 220.

As a 6-year-old, the mare kept climbing, and the pair repeated their win in Super Stakes success with a win in the Intermediate Amateur Classic Challenge.

But their momentum changed at the Summer Spectacular when they lost their cow in first go-round for the intermediate. McWilliams took a deliberate zero on the run and focused on the bigger prize instead: the “big” amateur title. It paid off.

“I think [the zero] was a buildup and a learning process for me,” McWilliams said. “This mare has taught me a hundred things. She’s taught me so much that I never knew.”

Built to Feel the Feet

Bred for exactly this kind of work, FS Fine Lil Hashtag is a 2020 red roan mare by Hashtags (Metallic Cat x Dual Rey Tag) and out of Mighty Fine Merada (Cats Merada x Mighty Fine Pepto).

The breeding shows up under saddle, McWilliams said. “She’s super cowy. So when you ride her, she likes to feel the feet. You can push her to a stop, and she’s the type of [mare] you can use, you don’t have to stay safe. She tries everything she’s got.”

Second Family in the Show Pen

McWilliams trains with Rodrigo Taboga, and he credits him and his wife with a lot more than just riding lessons.

“I don’t think I could have asked for a better trainer,” McWilliams said. “He does above and beyond for me.”

Rounding out the help on the winning run were Shane Carlon in his left corner, Taboga on the right, and Sean Flynn and Lloyd Cox on top.

It’s the kind of team McWilliams says makes all the difference for a rider who didn’t grow up in a cutting family but chose the sport himself.

“I think if you have the right family behind you that believes in you, everything it works out,” McWilliams said. “It doesn’t matter if you grew up in it.”

What’s Next

With Fire’s aged-event career winding down, McWilliams is already looking ahead — to a futurity prospect this year, and to Fire’s next job.

“We’ll retire her, breed her and have babies out of her,” McWilliams said.

A few weekend shows may still be in the mix, but the plan going forward is mainly the breeding barn as McWilliams’ heart is in the limited-age event arena.

2026 NCHA Summer Spectacular Amateur Classic/Challenge Results