Quater Horse News
Written by Hannah Harrel
Metallic Cat has been gaining momentum as a sire ever since his first foals entered show pens across the country in 2013. With only four performing foal crops and the National Cutting Horse Association Futurity just around the corner, his offspring record now exceeds $10 million following the Southern Cutting Futurity and Idaho Reined Cow Horse Association Futurity.
This is not the only milestone that he reached in quick fashion. “Denver” is by Equi-Stat Elite $73 Million Sire High Brow Cat and out of the Peptoboonsmal mare Chers Shadow. His $637,711 in earnings makes him the top performer on his dam’s produce record, and he is the highest-earning son of High Brow Cat. His first crop hit the By March 2014, his first crop had already earned more than $500,000. By that summer, he achieved Equi-Stat Elite $1 Million Sire status, making him only the second stallion accomplish the feat that early in his career.
Less than a year later, his offspring record reached $3 million. The checks kept rolling in for horses sired by the 11-year-old stallion, who was bred by The Roan Rangers, of Weatherford, Texas, and just five months later, he reached the $5 million marker. As of November, his record included 375 money-earners with average earnings of $26,757.
“It’s just amazing how fast he hit [$5 million], then to hit 10… We’re just blown away,” said Alvin Fults, who owns the stallion with his wife, Becky. “We had been watching, but I didn’t think he was going to go over 10 before the [National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA)] Futurity. I was like, ‘I just don’t see how it’s going to happen.’ Then all of a sudden, he started climbing. I was one of the doubters.”
Because he has reached the $10 million milestone, and with his foals taking home both the Open and Reserve championships at last year’s NCHA Futurity, the Fultses feel that Denver’s success as a sire has been validated.
“It means the world to us. He is our life out here and he is what we focus on,” Alvin said. “We felt like last year, after winning the Futurity, we could say that he was solidified. And maybe, at that point, he was, but this kind of puts the cherry on the pie for us. Reaching $10 million really solidified him as a sire.”
“It’s incredible,” Becky added. “I remember hitting $1 million in Vegas [at the Pacific Coast Cutting Horse Association Derby in 2014]. We’re so blessed to have him and to have people that took a chance on him in the beginning and bred to him. Where he is now, we’re eternally grateful. It’s a family affair here. We don’t take anything for granted, and we’re appreciative of each and every on of our mare owners that breed to him and are confident in him just like we are. It’s very humbling.”