Hard Candy for Money: How Shad Mayfield’s Lollipop Became his No. 1
Shad Mayfield and Lollipop didn't always have the bond that's taken them to No. 1 in the world.
Shad Mayfield dismounts from mare "Lollipop" in Round 4.
Shad Mayfield dismounts from mare "Lollipop" in Round 4. Photo by Jamie Arviso

When Shad “Money” Mayfield first acquired the horse that let him tie the fastest calves of his career and packed him straight to No. 1 in the world this year, he hated her. He tried anything to get his money back out of “Lollipop.”

In fact, the only reason he bought Lollipop around Easter of 2023 is, he was desperate. Mayfield was entered up in the California run with no horse—Platinum had torn a tendon at the 2022 NFR, and Rampage was trying to die of EHV-1. 

Back in 2021, Andrew Burks’ mare, Lollipop, had beaten Mayfield’s own Rampage in the AQHA/PRCA Horse of the Year voting. But a couple of years later, she wasn’t working. Mayfield had just watched her short Burks out of a throw at Houston. But he was desperate, so when Blane Cox told him Burks was selling, he bought the bay mare and took her to California. 

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It was a fiasco. She wouldn’t score; she was walking up the rope.

“It went horrible,” recalled Mayfield. “We didn’t get along at all. Then I went to Guymon and did no good. Then to a jackpot on the way home, and no good. I tried to sell her; just wanted my money back. I had Blane text Marty (Yates) and try to get him to take her for what I had in her.”

But nobody wanted Lollipop. 

“I got home and realized I had to make something work,” Mayfield recalled. “We went to bonding. I guess, with mares, you’ve got to bond with them. I was really nice to her. And I did a lot of work with her on a log and a lot of work in the box. I just spent a lot of time with her, and she came around where she liked it again. When I got her, she wasn’t enjoying it. Nowadays when she works that rope, she licks her lips.”

When the pair ventured back out, they won Reno. And it just kept getting better. But Mayfield was hesitant to take her to the her building—that would be the Thomas & Mack Center in December. He’d heard the rumors. Guys knew he’d gotten Lollipop to pull outdoors, but they thought, “Wait until he gets her in a building.”

“I took her to Northside, just to see, and sure enough, she worked,” he said. “A good saddle and a good pad helps a lot.”

Wearing a Best Ever pad under Mayfield’s Billy Hogg saddle, Lollipop just kept working in Las Vegas, to the tune of $102,780. They went 6.9 in Round 4 and 6.7 in Round 10—along with a blistering 6.1 in Round 7 that didn’t hold the full 6 seconds.

“I’ve tied so many fast calves on her,” Mayfield said. “She makes stuff happen fast because she’s so snappy. She’s just so strong that not very many guys could throw a leg over her and win on her, or even stay in the middle of her.”

The dirty-fast Lollipop is registered as Figure To Fly, and is by the same sire as Trevor Brazile’s great calf horse Deputy. Their Lazy E-raised daddy, Popular Resortfigure by Dual Pep out of Bar J Jackie, has forged a reputation for siring standout calf horses. But on the bottom side, Lollipop is straight racehorse. Her dam is an own granddaughter of both Easy Jet and Hempen.

“As soon as I drop my hand, I’m at the calf,” Mayfield said. “It feels like the snap of a finger.”

If Lollipop has a weakness, she will get a little short. It’s not that she takes Mayfield’s throw away, he said. She’s just looking to stop.

“Every chance I get, I free her up,” he said. “She could be going so fast and lock it off all at the same time. I watched her shut Andrew out at Houston and leave him swinging his rope. You’ve really got to ride her.”

Ironically, the better you rope, the better she works.

“I’ve got to be roping super sharp when I’m on her,” he explained. “You’re not going to get on her and not be sharp in some areas and expect it to go well.”

She’s been mentioned by Joe Beaver as one of the tiny handful of horses in history that work just as well over no score on pup calves as they do at, say, Cheyenne. 

“I’d ride Lollipop everywhere if I could,” Mayfield said. “I never want to ride anything else. She won Fort Worth and won rounds in Las Vegas but then I won Reno (twice) and Cheyenne on her—she works in any kind of setup.”

The road can be hard on horses, so Mayfield wants to save as much “lollipop” as he can for the future. It helps that she’s only 14. And he trusts Purina’s grain and Manzanola’s Top of the Rockies alfalfa cubes to keep her going. But how many runs to use up, those are tough decisions. For instance, she’s lethal at Pendleton. But it’s also a dangerous place.

“Shoot, Andrew won second on her there, and last year I won both rounds and was high call and my calf got up,” said Mayfield. “I really want to ride her there! But you know how Pendleton is… I should probably save her.”

It’s no surprise that, finally, Yates offered Mayfield twice the amount for Lollipop that Mayfield tried to take to get rid of her in 2023. Not anymore, said Mayfield.  He’s keeping his best girl.

“I’ve ridden more horses than most guys my age out here,” Mayfield said. “And I’ve never rode anything like her. I think she’s Horse of the Year. I’m top dog this year so they won’t vote for her, but she’s right there. Riley (Webb) and Haven’s (Meged) horses are great, too. I love Haven’s bay horse; he can really run, too.”

Meged and Mayfield will actually match each other in Texas in October. But Money won’t be aboard his hard candy. He’ll be resting Lollipop until December, hoping she packs him to another hundred grand in that Las Vegas building—and his second gold buckle.

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