Join the Metallic Cat Team for the 2018 Season
Just as he’s done all year long, Metallic Cat continued to break records at the National Reined Cow Horse Association Snaffle Bit Futurity, which concluded Saturday evening in Fort Worth, Texas. With seven – yes, that’s seven offspring – in the Open finals, Metallic Cat wrapped up that single division with $106,545 in sire earnings. That makes the 12-year-old stallion, unofficially, an NRCHA Million Dollar Sire. It took Metallic Cat just four years to reach that impressive milestone!
Now at his new home, the Rocking P Ranch in Fort Worth, the superstar sire knocked the ball out of the park in the first major event of the fall futurity season. And now’s your chance to be a part of the performance horse industry’s most successful team – the Metallic Cat team.
Starting on Wednesday, Nov. 1, the books open on this stallion’s 2018 breeding season. Breedings are limited to 200 mares, and bookings are available on a first-come, first served basis. Metallic Cat’s fee is $15,000, which includes the chute fee.
“Metallic Cat has proven himself as the hottest young sire in the business, and we’re looking ahead to a bright and exciting future,” said Bobby Patton, the stallion’s owner.
Thanks to this latest infusion of reined cow horse earnings, Metallic Cat’s offspring earnings stand at $16 million. No Western performance horse has earned this much, this quickly. Plus, the World Series of the performance horse industry – the National Cutting Horse Association World Championship Futurity – is right around the corner. The elite event begins next month, and several Metallic Cats are entered in multiple divisions.
So get ahead of the game and book your mare early for Metallic Cat’s 2018 season. For more information, please visit www.m4by5hxkoi-staging.onrocket.site.

On September 20 the legendary cutting stallion Metallic Cat sold in what is surely one – if not the – biggest sale transactions in the cutting horse industry. That afternoon, the star horse unloaded at his new home at Rocking P Ranch in Fort Worth, Texas. Alvin and Becky Fults, who owned and promoted Metallic Cat since he was a 3-year-old, officially sealed the deal with new owner Bobby Patton in negotiations brokered by Jeremy Barwick, owner of Western Bloodstock.
“This is a very emotional day for us,” said Becky Fults. “This horse was our whole life for nine years, and he has impacted our family in more ways than I can begin to express. This was the biggest and hardest decision of our lives.”
With business interests in gas, oil, insurance and ranching, Patton is a partner of Guggenheim Baseball Management, which in April 2012 purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 2015, Patton slid into a the sport of cutting when he bought leading cutting sire Boon San in Walton’s Rocking W Ranch Absolute Dispersal Sale. Then in 2016 he purchased Spots Hot, the 2004 NCHA Open Futurity Champion, earner of $529,435 and sire 2016 NCHA Open Futurity winner Second Spot.
Now, Patton is ecstatic about his latest cutting horse player, “I’m excited! That’s what I’m feeling, more than anything else,” Patton said. “I was really excited when Clayton Kershaw signed his contracts and he was going to be a Dodger for a very long time, and I think this is a similar feeling,” Patton said, referring to when the team signed the superstar player in a 7-year, $215 million deal. “I really do think Metallic Cat might be the Clayton Kershaw of the cutting horse business.”
Indeed, Metallic Cat has set the big leagues on fire. With just four foal crops of show age, the 12-year-old stallion has already amassed $15,455,922 in offspring earnings, according to Robin Glen Pedigrees. No other cutting stallion has earned that much that fast. He was 2016 National Cutting Horse Association Sire of the Year, and at the end of that season stood at No. 13 on the list of all-time leading cutting sires.
“He is an once-in-a-lifetime horse,” Alvin Fults confirmed. “He has impacted the industry, and we are so humbled by his tremendous success. In every way, he has surpassed our expectations.”
Patton explained that Jesse Lennox, resident trainer at Rocking P Ranch, played a part in the acquisition. “We’ve got two Metallic Cat 2-year-olds in the barn that are unbelievable, and Jesse thinks they’re as good a pair of 2-year-olds that he’s ever seen. That went a long way in my decision to buy this horse.”
As for how the Fults came to own Metallic Cat, in 2008 they struck a deal to purchase the stallion, who was a 3-year-old at the time. This happened one year after Galyean used his truck as collateral to obtain a bank loan to buy the good-looking, red roan cutting prospect, which he found in a classified listing on the Internet.  By High Brow Cat and out of Peptoboonsmal daughter Chers Shadow, Metallic Cat hit a home run at the 2008 NCHA Futurity when he and Galyean won the Open division and $250,000. Many victories followed and the stallion retired the same year with $637,711 in cutting earnings.
Right away, Alvin and Becky started promoting their young stallion. “The very first year we stood him there were people who took a risk on him,” Becky said. “We are forever grateful to all those mare owners.” (That faith was rewarded. Today, according to Equistat, 35 of Metallic Cat’s first-crop foals have earned a combined $2.9 million.)
Yes, Metallic Cat was a star player in the cutting sport. Yes, he’s a stellar sire and a record-setter. But according to Becky, he’s so much more “Metallic Cat was truly family, and he impacted every single one of us – he changed our lives,” she explained. “And so many people are a part of our family – including Beau and Ashley Galyean, Dr. Gregg Veneklasen, Debbie Roberts of Spurs in taking his marking to a whole new level, along with all of the people who have helped at our ranch. Also, we thank all of the mare owners who bred to Denver [Metallic Cat’s barn name], along with the trainers and owners who purchased, trained and believed in Metallic Cat’s foals. We appreciate all the fans who followed Metallic Cat and sent letters. We are just very thankful to everyone who made our dream come true.”
Patton is looking forward to the arrival of his horse.
“I’m definitely going to hug him!” Patton said happily, adding that he plans to get his picture taken with Metallic Cat the moment he unloads at the ranch – just like he did with Spots Hot and Boon San. “I look forward to adding this one to the collection.”
Metallic Cat will live at Rocking P Ranch until the 2018 breeding season. That’s when he and Spots Hot go to Brazos Valley Stallion Station in Stephenville, Texas, an operation owned by Jeremy and Candace Barwick. Patton enjoys having his horses at home as much as possible, and he looks forward to what happens next.
“I love the cutting industry and I like to ride the horses,” Patton said. “But I really enjoy the business aspect of cutting. I am intrigued by the economics of the stud business, and that’s what opened my eye to the possibility of owning a great stallion such as Metallic Cat. I’m confident that Metallic Cat is ultimately going to be the best sire in the cutting horse business, and I’m just so very grateful to have the opportunity to own him.
Patton was thanked by the Fults, and added that he understood the gravity of their decision to sell the special stallion.
“I think it was an emotional decision for them, and I know they’re sad their baby is headed south to Fort Worth,” Patton said. “I was worried they were going to change their minds. All I can say, I hope they know he has a good home.”
“It gives us peace that he will have a wonderful home,” Becky said tearfully. “Congratulations to Rocking P Ranch. They now own a once-in-a-lifetime stallion.”
For more information about Metallic Cat, please visit www.m4by5hxkoi-staging.onrocket.site

Written by Stacy Pigott on 24 April 2017.

The National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Super Stakes Open finals on April 15 featured some of the best 4-year-old cutting horses in the industry, several of which have a past that includes the sale ring. Seven of the 21 Open finalists were former sale horses, including the Champion and Reserve Champion.

Long before Hashtags carried Tatum Rice to the Super Stakes Open Championship, breeder Jim Haworth consigned him to the 2014 NCHA Preferred Breeders Sale. Selling through Session 2, the then-yearling colt brought a final bid of $81,000 from Oswaldo Celis, who acted as agent for Venezuelan owner Raul Garcia.

Hashtags’ $81,000 price tag was the day’s fifth-highest, and the 27th highest price overall at the NCHA Futurity Sales. Two years later, Hashtags (Metallic Cat x Dual Rey Tag x Dual Rey) returned to the Will Rogers Complex as a competitor in the NCHA Futurity. He had already tied for 10th in the first go and seventh in the second when his full brother, Black Tags, stepped into the sale ring during the Preferred Breeders Sale (Session 2). Celis placed the final bid at $59,000 for the 2015 colt. The next day, Hashtags was third in the Open semifinals, and he followed that up with an eighth-place effort in the NCHA Futurity Open finals.

Of the seven former sale horses, three were offered multiple times in what is known as “pinhooking.” The most successful of those was NCHA Super Stakes Open Reserve Champion Melting Snow.

As a yearling, Melting Snow was consigned to the 2014 NCHA Preferred Breeders Sale (Session 2) by breeder Holmes Cutting Horses. The filly (Metallic Cat x Nurse Moss x Dual Pep) sold for a respectable $52,000. That same year, Nurse Moss’ 2-year-old Metallic Cat colt, Mosses Man, sold for $210,000.

Melting Snow returned to the NCHA Futurity Sales in 2015, when she was consigned to the 2-Year-Old Sale (Session 1) by Select Stock. This time, it took $280,000 to buy Melting Snow, whose new owner was Rusty Simpson, of Buck Creek Quarter Horses in Nemo, Texas.

Melting Snow was not the only six-figure sale horse in the NCHA Super Stakes Open finals. At the 2014 Select Yearling Sale and Gala, Miss Stylish Katz (High Brow Cat x Miss Stylish Pepto x Peptoboonsmal) sold for $152,000. Breeders Glenn and Debbie Drake consigned the filly, who was purchased by Sierra Oak Ranch. That same week, a full sister of the same age, Katz Stylish Miss, went through the Preferred Breeders Sale (Session 2), where she was repurchased by the Drakes for $45,000.

Horse/Pedigree/Sale Price/Sale/Consignor/Buyer

Hashtags (Metallic Cat x Dual Rey Tag)
$81,000, 2014 NCHA Preferred Breeders Sale Session 2
Consigned by breeder Jim Haworth; sold to Oswaldo Celis

Melting Snow (Metallic Cat x Nurse Moss)
$52,000, 2014 NCHA Preferred Breeders Sale Session 2
Consigned by breeder Holmes Cutting Horses; sold to Rusty & Shelley Simpson
$280,000, 2015 NCHA Futurity 2-Year-Old Sale Session 1
Consigned by Select Stock, sold to Rusty Simpson/Buck Creek Quarter Horses

Miss Stylish Katz (High Brow Cat x Miss Stylish Pepto)
$152,000, 2014 Select Yearling Sale & Gala
Consigned by breeders Glenn & Debbie Drake; sold to Sierra Oak Ranch

Kopykat (Metallic Cat x Playgiarism)
$50,000, 2015 NCHA Futurity 2-Year-Old Sale Session2
Consigned by breeder Mariposa Farms LLP; RNA (reserve not attained)
$60,000, 2016 NCHA Futurity Cutting Horse Sale
Consigned by breeder Mariposa Farms LLP; RNA

Fed Exx (Spots Hot x Shes Twice As Smooth)
$28,000, 2014 Select Yearling Sale & Gala
Consigned by breeders Jeffrey & Jennifer Foland; sold to Wes & Kristen Galyean

Johnny English (Metallic Cat x Turtle Pie)
$20,000, 2014 NCHA Preferred Breeders Sale Session 1
Consigned by breeder Crown Ranch LP; sold to Cody Winters
$26,000, 2015 NCHA Futurity 2-Year-Old Sale Session 1
Consigned by Cody Winters; sold to Alan Chappell

Magnetik Playboy (Metallic Cat x Playboys Mom)
$50,000, 2014 NCHA Preferred Breeders Sale Session 1
Consigned by Alan Chappell; sold to Mark Senn

Written by Stacy Pigott on 24 April 2017.

The National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Super Stakes Open finals on April 15 featured some of the best 4-year-old cutting horses in the industry, several of which have a past that includes the sale ring. Seven of the 21 Open finalists were former sale horses, including the Champion and Reserve Champion.

Long before Hashtags carried Tatum Rice to the Super Stakes Open Championship, breeder Jim Haworth consigned him to the 2014 NCHA Preferred Breeders Sale. Selling through Session 2, the then-yearling colt brought a final bid of $81,000 from Oswaldo Celis, who acted as agent for Venezuelan owner Raul Garcia.

Hashtags’ $81,000 price tag was the day’s fifth-highest, and the 27th highest price overall at the NCHA Futurity Sales. Two years later, Hashtags (Metallic Cat x Dual Rey Tag x Dual Rey) returned to the Will Rogers Complex as a competitor in the NCHA Futurity. He had already tied for 10th in the first go and seventh in the second when his full brother, Black Tags, stepped into the sale ring during the Preferred Breeders Sale (Session 2). Celis placed the final bid at $59,000 for the 2015 colt. The next day, Hashtags was third in the Open semifinals, and he followed that up with an eighth-place effort in the NCHA Futurity Open finals.

Of the seven former sale horses, three were offered multiple times in what is known as “pinhooking.” The most successful of those was NCHA Super Stakes Open Reserve Champion Melting Snow.

As a yearling, Melting Snow was consigned to the 2014 NCHA Preferred Breeders Sale (Session 2) by breeder Holmes Cutting Horses. The filly (Metallic Cat x Nurse Moss x Dual Pep) sold for a respectable $52,000. That same year, Nurse Moss’ 2-year-old Metallic Cat colt, Mosses Man, sold for $210,000.

Melting Snow returned to the NCHA Futurity Sales in 2015, when she was consigned to the 2-Year-Old Sale (Session 1) by Select Stock. This time, it took $280,000 to buy Melting Snow, whose new owner was Rusty Simpson, of Buck Creek Quarter Horses in Nemo, Texas.

Melting Snow was not the only six-figure sale horse in the NCHA Super Stakes Open finals. At the 2014 Select Yearling Sale and Gala, Miss Stylish Katz (High Brow Cat x Miss Stylish Pepto x Peptoboonsmal) sold for $152,000. Breeders Glenn and Debbie Drake consigned the filly, who was purchased by Sierra Oak Ranch. That same week, a full sister of the same age, Katz Stylish Miss, went through the Preferred Breeders Sale (Session 2), where she was repurchased by the Drakes for $45,000.

Horse/Pedigree/Sale Price/Sale/Consignor/Buyer

Hashtags (Metallic Cat x Dual Rey Tag)
$81,000, 2014 NCHA Preferred Breeders Sale Session 2
Consigned by breeder Jim Haworth; sold to Oswaldo Celis

Melting Snow (Metallic Cat x Nurse Moss)
$52,000, 2014 NCHA Preferred Breeders Sale Session 2
Consigned by breeder Holmes Cutting Horses; sold to Rusty & Shelley Simpson
$280,000, 2015 NCHA Futurity 2-Year-Old Sale Session 1
Consigned by Select Stock, sold to Rusty Simpson/Buck Creek Quarter Horses

Miss Stylish Katz (High Brow Cat x Miss Stylish Pepto)
$152,000, 2014 Select Yearling Sale & Gala
Consigned by breeders Glenn & Debbie Drake; sold to Sierra Oak Ranch

Kopykat (Metallic Cat x Playgiarism)
$50,000, 2015 NCHA Futurity 2-Year-Old Sale Session2
Consigned by breeder Mariposa Farms LLP; RNA (reserve not attained)
$60,000, 2016 NCHA Futurity Cutting Horse Sale
Consigned by breeder Mariposa Farms LLP; RNA

Fed Exx (Spots Hot x Shes Twice As Smooth)
$28,000, 2014 Select Yearling Sale & Gala
Consigned by breeders Jeffrey & Jennifer Foland; sold to Wes & Kristen Galyean

Johnny English (Metallic Cat x Turtle Pie)
$20,000, 2014 NCHA Preferred Breeders Sale Session 1
Consigned by breeder Crown Ranch LP; sold to Cody Winters
$26,000, 2015 NCHA Futurity 2-Year-Old Sale Session 1
Consigned by Cody Winters; sold to Alan Chappell

Magnetik Playboy (Metallic Cat x Playboys Mom)
$50,000, 2014 NCHA Preferred Breeders Sale Session 1
Consigned by Alan Chappell; sold to Mark Senn

Numbers from the recent 2017 Lucas Oil/National Cutting Horse Association Super Stakes are in, making it official that Metallic Cat is now that event’s highest earning sire. Sixty-nine of his foals won more than $831,500 across multiple divisions, which is the richest single-show payout in NCHA Super Stakes history. Metallic Cat foals finished Champion and Reserve Champion in the 4-Year-Old Super Stakes Open and topped the 5/6-Year-Old Classic Open, victories that helped their sire lay claim to nearly a third of the 2017 Super Stakes rich purse of $3.1 million.

Metallic Cat is following in the mighty horseshoes of his legendary father, High Brow Cat – the cutting industry’s all-time leading sire. High Brow Cat, who has $74 million in offspring earnings, topped the Super Stakes roster every year from 2004 through 2014 with the best being 2008 when his foals earned $716,688.

That trend changed in 2015 when Metallic Cat earned top billing as the Super Stakes’ leading sire with 43 offspring winning $553,926. In 2016, Metallic Cat was again the No. 1 Super Stakes stallion with 46 foals posting $413,422. Interestingly, in 2014 – the first year the Metallic Cat babies were old enough to show at the Super Stakes – 15 of them won $165,930, which placed their rookie sire fifth in a field of dozens of older, highly accomplished stallions.

All along, Metallic Cat has splintered records right and left. With just three full foal crops old enough for the show pen, the stallion’s lifetime offspring earnings teeter at the edge of $13 million, which is the fastest ascent in the history of the cutting horse industry. No stallion has earned this much, this quickly. Following the recent Lucas Oil/NCHA Super Stakes, according to figures provided by Robin Glenn, Metallic Cat’s lifetime sire money stands at $12,917,517. Also, in a field of dozens of excellent stallions, the relatively young 12-year-old stallion recently earned the prestigious titles of National Cutting Horse Association Sire of the Year and Equi-Stat Horse of the Year for the 2016 season.

Metallic Cat is owned by Alvin and Becky Fults of Amarillo, Texas.

“We’re just so humbled by his tremendous success,” Alvin said. “This has surpassed all of our expectations. We’re just very thankful to the mare owners who believed in ‘Denver’ [Metallic Cat’s barn name] and the trainers and owners who put so much work, time and faith into his foals.”

Taking a look at the 2017 Lucas Oil/NCHA Super Stakes, Metallic Cat’s leading offspring was Hashtags, a stallion ridden by Tatum Rice and owned by Jose Raul Garcia. Hashtags won the Stakes Open division and $74,104. This stallion is out of Dual Rey Tag, whose parents are the $31 million sire Dual Rey and Playin Tag – a mare with $235,000 in cutting earnings and winner of the 2004 NCHA Super Stakes.

Metallic Cat’s next 2017 Super Stakes superstar was Melting Snow, the mare who finished reserve in the Stakes Open for a $65,178 check. She was ridden by Clay Johnson and is owned by Buck Creek Quarter Horses. At the 2015 NCHA Futurity 2-Year-Old Sale, Buck Creek Quarter Horses placed the auction’s highest bid – paying $280,000 for Melting Snow, who is out of Dual Pep daughter Nurse Moss.

At this year’s Super Stakes, nearly half of the Stakes Open finalists – nine of 21 – were Metallic Cat foals. Together they won $382,420 and, inside of the top-10 finishers, Metallic Cat offspring finished first, second, fourth, tied for fifth and tied for seventh. They won money across the spectrum of the Open, Non-Pro and Amateur. In the Classic division for 5- and 6-year-old horses, Metallic Rebel – who was bred by the Fultses and is owned by Thomas Guinn, won the Open Championship with Beau Galyean riding. Metallic Rebel is out of Sweet Abra, an Abracabracre daughter owned by Alvin and Becky.

“I can tell you, it was an exciting Super Stakes!” Alvin said with a smile. “We’ve been blessed with this wonderful sire, and it’s been a dream come true watching foals show and succeed. Metallic Cat’s genes were built for winning, and it looks like those genetics are carrying on into the next generation.”

On the pedigree, High Brow Cat proved to be the perfect match with Chers Shadow, a Peptoboonsmal mare whose offspring have won $639,000. Alvin and Becky purchased Metallic Cat as a 3-year-old in 2008 from professional cutting horse trainer Beau Galyean. One year prior, Galyean ran across a listing for the 2-year-old Metallic Cat on an Internet horse sale site and then put up his truck as collateral to get a bank loan big enough to buy the red roan cutting-bred horse.

That risk paid off – and then paid some more. At the 2008 NCHA Futurity, Metallic Cat and Galyean won the Open division and $250,000 prize check. That was the first of many victories for the pair, and a few years later Metallic Cat retired with $637,711 in lifetime winnings. These days, Metallic Cat is at the heart of the Fults’ breeding program, one that features AQHA’s top sire and two top dams of 2016 (Metallic Cat was the top sire; Sweet Abra was AQHA Dam of the Year, and My Little Abra finished second).

From January through April 2017, Metallic Cat’s foals won just shy of $3 million at major limited-age cutting events. And the season is still young! The Breeders Invitational is on tap for May, and then the busy lineup features the NCHA Summer Spectacular, several lucrative limited-age events and, of course, the NCHA Futurity – which happens to be the cutting industry’s richest event. In fact, Metallic Cat son Stevie Rey Von won the 2015 NCHA Futurity and $200,000 with Ed Dufferena riding.

“When Denver won the NCHA Futurity back in 2008, we didn’t think it could get any better,” Fults said. “But we were wrong. Watching his son win five years later was even sweeter. We were like proud grandparents! Again, it was just more than Becky and I could have dreamed. I can tell you, we’re looking forward to seeing what happens this year!”

Metallic Cat is the contemporary sire to watch, both in and outside of the cutting horse industry. As records are set in cutting pens, Metallic Cat’s offspring are making inroads in other arenas – especially the reined cow horse. At the recent National Reined Cow Horse Association Stallion Stakes, Metalic Dual and Todd Bergen finished reserve in the Open division. Another finalist in that division – Cats Picasso ridden by 2017 World Greatest Horseman champion John Swales – set an all-time show record by marking a sizzling 228 points in the preliminary cow work round. Also in the preliminaries, Metalic Dual and Bergen finished third in the reining standings.

“We’re very excited about how the Metallic Cat foals are branching into the other disciplines,” Alvin said. “There’s a lot of promise in the reined cow horse, plus we’re looking forward to seeing some of his babies in the reining. We’d love for him to make his mark across the Western performance spectrum, that’s for sure. Metallic Cat is such a smart and talented horse, plus he’s got such an amazing mind. And we’re seeing all of those traits in his foals – on a variety of mares.”

For more information about Metallic Cat, please visit www.m4by5hxkoi-staging.onrocket.site

“END”

Hashtags & Tatum Rice • Photo by Kelsey Pecsek

The horses in the April 15 National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Super Stakes Open finals clawed their way through sets of difficult cattle to qualify for a chance at glory. With a field of 21 hopeful 4-year-olds and their riders, cutting fans in the Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas, were anxious to see how the finals would unfold.

Hashtags was one of nine horses by the great Metallic Cat, whose offspring earnings surpassed $12 million this year, to advance to the final round of the Open. The 4-year-old stallion, owned by Jose Raul Garcia, proved to be the best in the pack when he marked a 220 with Tatum Rice from the second draw in the second bunch of the Open finals to walk away with the Championship and a $74,095 paycheck.

“He’s a very good horse,” said Rice, an Equi-Stat Elite $1 Million Rider who lives in Weatherford, Texas. “He’s been very easy to train and he’s always wanted to get along from the get-go. He’s a real feely horse, and he just wants to please.”

Hashtags, bred by Jim Haworth, of South West City, Missouri, is out of the Dual Rey mare Dual Rey Tag ($57,251). His second dam is Playin Tag, a 2000 mare with more than $235,000 in earnings who carried Cara Brewer to the NCHA Super Stakes Open win in 2004.

This win nearly doubled Hashtags’ Equi-Stat record, which stood at $80,346 prior to the Super Stakes. The majority of that total was garnered during the 2016 NCHA Futurity, where the stallion and Rice finished eighth in the Open.

The Super Stakes Open Reserve title went to Melting Snow, a Metallic Cat mare who is owned by Buck Creek Quarter Horses LLC, of Nemo, Texas. Ridden by Clay Johnson, who pushed past the million-dollar mark in lifetime earnings with this performance, Melting Snow marked a 219.5 to miss the win by merely a half-point.

Melting Snow, who is out of Nurse Moss (by Dual Pep), first made headlines in 2015 when she sold for $280,000 at the 2015 NCHA Futurity 2-Year-Old Sale. Prior to that, the red roan mare brought a $52,000 bid from Rusty Simpson when Holmes Cutting Horses offered the then-yearling in the 2014 Preferred Breeders Sale during the NCHA Futurity.

For complete coverage of the NCHA Super Stakes, subscribe to Quarter Horse News.

Sally Harrison’s Blog

Hashtags, sired by Metallic Cat and owned by Jose Raul Garcia, Caracas, VZ, scored 220 points under Tatum Rice to win the 2017 Lucas Oil NCHA Super Stakes.  Melting Snow, owned by Buck Creek Quarter Horses, Nemo, Tex. and also sired by Metallic Cat, scored 219.5 points for the reserve championship under Clay Johnson. Hot Revolver, sired by Spots Hot and shown by James Payne, scored 219 points to place third for owner Kathleen Moore, Madill, Okla.

Hashtags made his debut as a 2016 NCHA Futurity Finalist (8th place) and this year has been a finalist in the Cattlemen’s Derby and the Ike Hamilton Futurity. Including his Super Stakes winner’s check of $74,095 and prior official earnings of $81,390, the blue roan stallion has earned $155,485.

Rice, whose biggest single paycheck came when he placed third in the 2013 NCHA Futurity riding Johnny Reyngo, had NCHA earnings of $1,355,492 coming into the Super Stakes; he is slated to be inducted into the NCHA Riders Hall of Fame in June.

Hashtags is out of Dual Rey Tag LTE $50,706, by Dual Rey; his second dam, Playin Tag LTE $220,949, won the 2004 NCHA Super Stakes Non-Pro with Cara Barry Brewer.

Reserve champion Melting Snow LTE $77,803 was an NCHA Futurity Semi-Finalist and 2017 Abilene Spectacular finalist with Clay Johnson, who had won the 2012 NCHA Super Stakes riding  KR Isadora Dual LTE $146,164. Melting Snow, a $280,000 purchase at the 2015 Western Bloodstock NCHA Futurity Sales, is out of a full sister to Dual Rey, cutting’s #3 all-time leading sire of NCHA money earners.

Clay Johnson, winner of the 2013 NCHA Futurity aboard Dual Smart Kitty LTE $316,251, by Dual Smart Rey, is a member of the NCHA Riders Hall of Fame and has earnings of $994,363.

Hot Revolver LTE $65,249 was an Abilene Spectacular and Arbuckle Mountain finalist under James Payne, before coming to the 2017 NCHA Super Stakes. The gray daughter of Spots Hot, sire of 2016 NCHA Futurity champion Second Spot, is the first performer out of Baretta Boon LTE $58,000, by Playgun.

James Payne, an NCHA Hall of Fame Rider and earner of $2,470,281, has had two previous NCHA Super Stakes finalists and was reserve champion in 2013 on Quick Be A Cat $83,786.

Sally Harrison’s Blog

Rowdy Larson, Overbrook, Okla., pulled no punches in the Lucas Oil NCHA Super Stakes Limited Open Finals with a 222-point championship win on Johnny English and a 217-point lock on the reserve championship aboard Metallic Ina. Wes Ashlock, Abilene, Tex., placed third with 216 points on HC Tailgate Date.

Johnny English LTE $18,620, sired by Metallic Cat, is owned by Nick Meagher, Antonito, Colo. Larson showed the sorrel stallion to win the Limited Open division of the 2017 Cattlemen’s Derby and to place fourth in the Open Derby. He also showed Smartt Catt LTE $19,257, by Metallic Cat, to win the 2017 Cattlemen’s Derby 5/6 Limited Open.

Johnny English, a Western Bloodstock, Ltd. sale graduate bred by Crown Ranch, Weatherford, Tex., is out of Turtle Pie, by Son Ofa Doc, the dam of Jerryoes, 2001 NCHA Futurity Non-Pro champion under Chad Bush, owner of Crown Ranch. Apollo Creed, sired by Metallic Cat, owned by Nancy and Daniel Burkes, and shown by Brett McGlothlin to place fourth in the 2017 Super Stakes Limited Open Finals, was also bred by Crown Ranch.

Metallic Ina LTE $12,902, sired by Metallic Cat, is owned by The Over Forty Ranch, Wichita, Kan. The red roan mare placed ninth in the Bonanza Open with Larson and fifth in the Arbuckle Mountain Limited Open.

This was the eighth major limited open aged event win for Larson, who has NCHA earnings of $278,152. Johnny English and Metallic Ina also both qualified for the NCHA Super Stakes Open Semi-Finals on Friday, April 14.

Written by Kristin Pitzer on 09 April 2017.

During the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Super Stakes Limited Open finals, held on April 9 following the end of the Open second go, 16 determined horse-and-rider teams vied for top honors and a $7,420 paycheck.

Out of the first hole, Johnny English carried Rowdy Larson to a 222, a score that could not be touched through the rest of the finals. Larson himself came the closest to it when he rode back into the herd on Metallic Ina and marked a 217, which earned the Reserve Championship and $6,712 for owner/breeder The Over Forty Ranch.

“It’s amazing. It’s kind of a dream come true for us,” said Larson, of Overbrook, Oklahoma. “I’ve got two really special horses this year, and I’m just happy to do good on them. It’s hard enough to have a good horse and get him showed, but having two of them and getting them both showed in the same night is a pretty amazing deal.”

Johnny English (out of Turtle Pie x Son Ofa Doc) was bred by Crown Ranch LP, of Weatherford, Texas, and is owned by Nick Meagher, of Antonita, Colorado. The stallion and Metallic Ina (out of Hickory Badger Ina x Doc’s Hickory) are both by Equi-Stat Elite $11 Million Sire Metallic Cat. “Johnny’s” lifetime earnings now stand at $21,670, while Metallic Ina’s are approaching $23,000. Larson’s bankroll pushed past the $300,000 marker.

For complete coverage of the NCHA Super Stakes, subscribe to Quarter Horse News.