Andrea Fappani, San Marcos, California, broke another NRHA record when he became the first European rider to break the million dollar earnings mark and join the elite NRHA Million Dollar Rider club. Though the results are still unofficial pending receipt of show results in the NRHA Office, Andrea earned approximately $32,000 in the Scottsdale Classic Open Futurity, Scottsdale, Arizona, where he placed first, second and fourth. That brings his NRHA earnings to approximately $1,030,000.

Upon arriving in the States in the nineties, Andrea rode with John Slack and Todd Bergen, eventually spending five years as an assistant to NRHA Million Dollar Rider Bergen.

In 1994, riding The Moon Walker, Andrea earned his first NRHA paycheck, $294, at the prestigious Americana, Augsburg, Germany, as a Non Pro competitor. His winning streak began in earnest at the 1997 NRHA Futurity when he placed sixth in the NRHA Non Pro Futurity earning more than $10,000. Riding Best By Tari he also earned the win in the Limited Non Pro Division.

With the coming of the new millennium, Fappani’s name became synonymous with consistency as he became a perennial finalist at the NRHA Futurity and other NRHA major competitions. In 2000, Fappani earned the NRHA Futurity Intermediate Open championship on Hagans Sugarman, owned by James Blumer. Breaking records is nothing new for Fappani: In 2001, riding Lundin Farm’s RR Star, he became the only European rider to win the NRHA Futurity’s Open Division. He was the NRHA Futurity’s runner-up in 2003 when Juston Palmer’s NQH Little Jac carried him to the Open Futurity reserve championship. In 2005, Fappani rode Big Chex To Cash, for the 23 Partnership, to the NRHA Futurity Open Division Reserve Champion title.

At the 2004 NRHA Derby, Fappani was the Open Division Co-Reserve Champion on NQH Little Jac. He rode Steve Simon’s Custom Legend to claim the 2005 and 2006 NRBC Derby Reserve Champion titles. Ghiradelli Chic, ridden by Fappani and owned by Carter M. Smith, was the 2004 Open Gelding Incentive Futurity Champion.

A family man, Andrea and his wife Tish have one son, Luca, and are expecting another son November 23rd, just in time for the 2006 NRHA Futurity. San Marcos, California, is home to their facility, Fappani Performance Horses.

NRHA is proud to welcome Andrea Fappani to NRHA’s list of Million Dollar Riders: Bill Horn (1995), Tim McQuay(1997), Shawn Flarida (2003), Duane Latimer (2003), Todd Bergen (2004), Dell Hendricks (2005) and Craig Schmersal (2005). In 2005, Tim McQuay became the only rider to achieve Two Million Dollar Rider status. Currently, Shawn Flarida is positioned to exceed the two million dollar mark before the end of 2006.