The 2020 National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Futurity was a smashing success for Metallic Cat, who topped the NCHA Futurity Sires list with offspring earnings of more than $1 million.

The success put the stallion’s lifetime Equi-Stat record at just shy of $40 million as of Dec. 28. His son, Meteles Cat, also made the top 15 of the 2020 NCHA Futurity Sires in only his second futurity-age foal crop.

Overall, this year’s NCHA Futurity Sire list is a mix of old and new.

There’s industry legends such as High Brow Cat and Dual Rey, but freshman sires Smooth Talkin Style and Reyzin The Cash both had bang-up years to make the top 5 with their very first futurity-age foals.

This year’s group of top stallions also represents several sire lines, with sons or grandsons of High Brow Cat, Dual Rey, Spots Hot, Peptoboonsmal, Nitas Wood and Grays Starlight.

Quarter Horse News
written by Molly Montag
View article on QHN

A money-winning gelding by Metallic Cat broke a sale company’s previous records when he topped the annual Diamonds in the Desert Premier Horse Sale in Fort Worth, Texas.

The horse, Jack B Metallic, sold for $260,000 at the sale held Dec. 5 at Billy Bob’s Texas in the Fort Worth Stockyards. Typically held in Las Vegas, the sale moved to Fort Worth this year as a result of the relocation of the National Finals Rodeo to the Lone Star State.

Though sale organizers never for sure which horse will end up being the sales topper, they said there clearly was a lot of interest in Jack B Metallic going into the sale. He ended up being the sale company’s highest-selling horse ever.

Codi Gines, co-owner of sale manager MM Auction Services, said Jack B Metallic’s status as a broke, gentle gelding trained in cutting and roping made the Turner Performance Horses consignee stand out as a “showstopper.”

“Everything he had to offer was awesome, so we knew that he could be one of the high sellers,” she said. “But you just can never pick.”

Officials with the sale do not release buyer names, but Gines said Jack B Metallic went to a home in Clark, Colorado. Second-high seller Shine Stylin Shine was bought by someone from Texas, she said.

Diamonds in The Desert High Sellers

Consigned by Turner Performance Horses, the $260,000 sales topper Jack B Metallic was a winning cutter with a lifetime Equi-Stat record of $5,459. He competed in the Western United States and the Pacific Northwest for owner Paje Turner, winning money at Rocking K Productions events, the Utah Cutting Horse Association Futurity show as well as other limited-age events and weekend shows.

His dam, Charlotte Rey, is a daughter of the late Dual Rey who has produced two money earners in Equi-Stat: Jack B Metallic and his full sister, Reychel Cat ($14,831).

Jack B Metallic was bred by Mark and Anne Marie Pearson, of Spearman, Texas.

Quarter Horse News
written by Molly Montag
View article on QHN

Brandon Westfall has done just about everything but win the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Futurity Non-Pro outright.

He was second two years ago. Last year, he rode I Reckon So to the co-championship when he shared the win with Kristen Galyean and Coureygous.

He’d felt good about his chances this year with Fiddle And Steel, a handsome red roan Metallic Cat stallion bred and owned by his parents, Russ and Janet Westfall. However, he cut a cow in the finals so tough that he started to have doubts.

“It was a lot,” he said after the finals on Friday, Dec. 11. “Every turn, I thought it was gonna be its last.”

Fiddle And Steel hung, tough, though, and refused to let the cow get away from him. They finished the run with style, and were rewarded by the judges with a huge 227. The crowd went wild.

Westfall was grateful to his herd help, which included his dad, as well as to the horse.

“He makes it pretty easy. Any time you feel like you’re in a bind, or the few times I showed him this week I felt like, oh boy, this is a little hairy, here. He’s like, ‘Oh, no. I got it.

“He’s pretty awesome.”

Their 227 took the lead from the eventual Reserve Champions, Nitreyious and Reyly Plendl, who marked a 222 in the first of the two-set finals.

A gelding by Metallic Cat, Nitreyious is out of the mare Cherrey (by Dual Rey). Bred by Rodney Wrinkle Cutting Horses, he is co-owned by Reyly and her twin sister and fellow cutter, Regan Plendl.

Fiddle And Steel

Fiddle And Steel is one of five money earners our of the mare Lil Bit Wreckless, a daughter of CD Royal who now has produced winners of more than $240,000. Thanks to his $74,605 first-place paycheck from the NCHA Futurity Non-Pro, Fiddle And Steel is his mother’s leading earner.

Before Fiddle And Steel, the mare’s earners were split between the sires Metallic Cat — Gettin Dark ($56,201) and Reckelle ($19,5900) and Kit Kat Sugar — Ringo ($60,794) and Sugarlesss ($30,463).

Like Fiddle And Steel, all four of the mare’s other winners were bred by Westfall’s parents, Russ and Janet.

Quarter Horse News
written by Molly Montag
View article on QHN