If you're looking for a sure investment adding gold to your portfolio is a guaranteed winner. If you're looking for a barrel prospect worth its salt, you might also want to start thinking gold, as in palomino gold. We've all heard the saying, always bet on the gray, well move over gray there's a new color in town and its gold. This isn't some new trend or fad that's likely to fade away with the passing of a particular stallion or great producing mare. Breeding for color isn't the primary goal, but gold is dominating the barrel horse industry through a highly successful process of selection. The fact that barrel horses performing at the Wrangler Nationals Finals Rodeo are the "Gold Standard" by which all others are measured only further endorses the industry's golden bloodlines.

WPRA's Pro Elite Sire Incentive program (PESI) is proud to feature three particular stallion owners whose good fortune was their stallions being represented at the NFR this past December. PESI was aware of whose horses were picking up checks and made contact to ensure the owners knew there was PESI Bonus Money at the NFR. Eventual World Champion Yeah Hes Firin (sired by Alive N Firen, ridden by Brittany Pozzi) was the only one of the three that was enrolled prior to 2009. PESI was pleased to receive enrollments this spring for the stallion, PC Frenchmans Hayday and his daughter MP Meter My Hay (ridden by Sherry Cervi) the NFR Average Winner. PESI also picked up progeny enrollments early in the season for NFR Qualifiers Frenchmans Jester (by Frenchmans Guy, ridden by Jordon Peterson) and MP Quick Money (by PC Frenchmans Hayday, ridden by Tammy Fischer). Considering two of the four are palomino and all four are sired by a palomino, gold may be the cowgirl's new best friend.

Did these four horses make the NFR by chance, or were they destined to be there? A visit with these three very prominent stallion owners leads one to believe each of these four horses were destined for greatness. Phyllis Wells, Mel Potter, and Bill Myers share the common philosophy that breeding is a long haul endeavor. Proving a stallion and a breeding program is no small feat when you consider the time lapse between the actual breeding of a mare and arrival of a stallion's first competition age foal crop. In barrel racing you're talking 5 to 6 years before the first performers get their chance to shine. Consequently, a proven barrel sire is often 10 to 15 years old before the success of a particular breeding program can be measured. Each of these three stallion owners built their current program upon a foundation that includes outstanding performance, proven pedigrees and individual excellence. Interestingly enough, each of the three places his, or her, own emphasis more heavily on a different aspect of the overall equation.

Outstanding Performance

Phyllis Wells, owner of Leading Sire ALIVE N FIREN (a.k.a. Trigger), believes you increase your odds for outstanding performance through selective breeding. Unlike Potter or Myers, Wells bred and raised her leading sire. The two best bloodlines for producing top barrel horses at that time were Fire Water Flit and Bugs Alive In 75. Both of whom excelled at their given occupation - Fire Water Flit being a Champion barrel horse and Bugs Alive In 75 being a World Champion race horse and Grade 1 All American Futurity winner.

As good fortune would have it, Wells owned a daughter of Bugs Alive. When it came time to breed her it was a no-brainer for Wells. She chose Fire Water Flit and hit with the outstanding barrel mare, Firem All, which Wells campaigned successfully. The nick was proven. Another mating between Fire Water Flit and Whichwitch S Witch produced Trigger. According to Wells he was destined to be a stallion, "I voodoo-ed Witch every day to have a palomino stud colt. I'd go out there and talk to her belly and say 'palomino stud colt, palomino stud colt', over and over," laughs Wells. "When he hit the ground he was sorrel but he was a stud and there was never a thought to geld him." And, he eventually shed his sorrel baby hair to reveal his true color - palomino.

As for barrel horse pedigrees, Wells likes an infusion of cowhorse bloodlines on blacktype speed, "I think you need to have some cow in there somewhere in order for them to want to rate and turn." When it comes to conformation she and husband Tommy look for a horse that sets up under itself behind, but is not too straight in the stifle and hock. The couple also bred and raised Yeah Hes Firen (a.k.a. Duke), the horse that carried Brittany Pozzi to her second World Championship this year.
"We acquired Duke's momma by accident," Wells recalls. "We were given a mare and when Tommy picked her up the man's wife loaded the wrong mare. When the man came home and realized the wrong mare had been shipped he called Tommy. The mare we brought home was a daughter of Shoot Yeah (Duke's momma) and Tommy really liked her so he just bought her. Other than Witch, she's the only mare we still own."

Wells is very pleased with Trigger's offspring. "He's been bred to all kinds of different mares and we are seeing nice colts from lots of different crosses." If Wells were hand picking mares to breed her stallion to she would select a mare with proven performance every time. She also looks for a mare big enough and with enough length to her body to carry a colt so it has room to grow. Wells attributes crooked legs to their mothers being squatty-bodied and too short-coupled to allow optimum growth space for the foal in utero.

"Trigger is currently breeding 40 to 80 mares per year. We've had some offers to buy him but we've turned them down. We're really excited for Brittany and Duke's success this year but we don't intend to go up on the stud fee," stated Wells. She feels that the down economy prohibits the increase and that a price hike would likely result in booking fewer mares.

Wells feels her stallion is triple-blessed. The passage of time is making it harder and harder to place an infusion of Bugs Alive In 75 within the first three generations on a prospects papers. With the passing of Fire Water Flit and Duke's 2009 World Championship, Alive N Firen has become the heir apparent of this particular pedigree cross. Another positive for Trigger is he carries no Dash Ta Fame, First Down Dash, Dash For Cash, Frenchmans Guy or Sun Frost blood, which makes him an outstanding outcross for mares from those families.



Proven Pedigree

Mel Potter, owner of PC Frenchmans Hayday (a.k.a. Dinero), is a student of the Driftwood bloodline. Potter has been in the stallion breeding business for about 15 years now and his entire operation has been built on a Driftwood foundation. Driftwood was well known for his ability to sire good flat bone, quick speed, athleticism, intelligence, and color.

"He was a great rodeo horse in the '40's," stated Potter. "His characteristics are still dominant today. I have a tremendous interest in reincarnating that line and am trying to increase the percentage of Driftwood blood through line breeding and educating people to the pre-potent qualities it possesses."

According to Potter, there have been approximately 180 NFR horses who trace to the Driftwood bloodline. That not only proves Potter's theory it paved the way to his purchase of Dinero, who was bred and raised by Tye Cowan.

"I bought him (Dinero) because he was full brother to Kristie Peterson's horse, Bozo (French Flash Hawk)," stated Potter. "In my opinion Bozo was the best I ever saw. There were 5, 6 or 7 outstanding horses in that little era there in the 90's when Bozo was running and winning … Bozo, Llavee, Troubles, Hawk … those were all great horses."

Both Bozo and Dinero are by Sun Frost, who by Potter's estimation is probably as well-a-bred horse for quick speed and cow as there is. "I was real familiar with every horse in Sun Frost's pedigree." The fact that Sun Frost's maternal grandsire is Driftwood Ike certainly captured Potter's attention.

The outstanding characteristics Potter looks for and attributes to the Driftwood line are being passed on by Dinero. Pre-potency in a stallion is itself a highly prized characteristic and something you find in the most exceptional sire lines.

"They have great minds, and a willingness to be trained, it's phenomenal how trainable they are," said Potter. "We get a lot of calls from people who go on, and on, about how smart their colts are. I say, 'That's the rule not the exception. You'd surprise me if you called and said you had one that was un-trainable. That would be the exception'. All his colts possess early speed, they naturally work off their hind quarters, and they are cast iron tough."

As for picking mares, nearly every mare in Potter's broodmare band possesses some link to Driftwood. Potter is trying to keep a few of his MP Thriftwood (a.k.a. Winston) daughters to cross back on Dinero. For those unfamiliar with Winston, he has over $150,000 in lifetime earnings and carried Cory Petska to a 2005 NFR average win and the Reserve Champion Heeler title.

"Our biggest problem is Dinero is palomino and Winston is buckskin. Most of our mares are palomino, dun or buckskin and we're getting a lot of cremellos," stated Potter. While cremello is popular right now, and he's not having any trouble moving those horses - it's not a color Potter wants to perpetuate. "I'm kind of curious to see what would happen if you cross a high percentage of Driftwood on the Dash Ta Fame line. I'm also real high on Leo-bred horses."

Driftwood may be the ace-in-the-hole for Potter's success as a breeder but the integral components for proving his program are his rodeo connections. Numero uno among those connections is his barrel racing World Champion daughter Sherry Cervi. Sherry has been competing on home-bred horses since 2000.

"This bloodline outcrosses so well with about anything you breed it to," commented Potter. "We've bred or raised 30 to 40 horses that are currently being hauled down the road and making a living. There were four horses from our program at the NFR this year."

Those four included Sherry Cervi's mare Stingray (MP Meter My Hay), Tammy Fischer's gelding Money (MP Quick Money), as well as Todd Suhn and Cory Petska's NFR mounts.

Potter summed up his strategy by saying, "I'm doing this because I rode Driftwood-bred horses when I was young and I'd like to keep them from disappearing."

Individual Excellence

Where Wells looks first to outstanding performance and Potter places his trust in a proven pedigree, Bill Myers, owner of Frenchmans Guy (a.k.a. Guy) puts more emphasis on each individual horse's attributes. Myers feels his varied experience with horses, ranching, cutting, reining, racing and rodeoing, are the building blocks of his philosophy. Both Myers and his wife Debbie grew up loving horses, riding them and competing on them.

"I grew up ranching and it gave me a great appreciation for a good broke horse that you could do a days work on, who had the soundness for the job," he said. "They were tough individuals. Deb and I have picked positive things that we like from all those different disciplines and tried to put them into our program. The horses that really caught our interest were those who carried the blood of Laughing Boy, a son of Lightning Bar.

"If there was one horse that got us where we are today, I'd have to say it was Lord Alamitos, who was by Leige Lord. Leige Lord was an AAA son of Alamitos Bar. Lord Alamitos was out of Frenchmans Lady (also the dam of Frenchmans Guy), a daughter of Laughing Boy. Lord Alamitos was an exceptional horse. He excelled on the track, won the South Dakota Bred Futurity and ran AA, but he was so talented we took him off the track and put him in reining training. We took him to the open snaffle bit futurities at three and made the finals at Cheyenne, Wyo., and won the Amateur division. As a 4-year old we just cut cattle on him and won the novice division in both the SD Cutting Horse Association & Black Hills Cutting Horse Association. At five we started him on barrels and with three months training he won five of the six futurities and placed second at the sixth. He won around $16,000 and was competing against the likes of Runnerelse. We eventually sold him to Martha Josey. He was a great horse at all things, not just a good horse, a really great horse."

Lord Alamitos' individual excellence led Myers to buy all his siblings. His full sister Lady Lord, who was owned by Joh & Lis Hollman, proved exceptional as well, she was sold to Mary Bonogofsky and went on to win the Dodge National Circuit Finals and qualified for the NFR. The next foal out Frenchmans Lady was PC Sun Frosts, by Sun Frost and again Myers was impressed with the horse's conformation, trainability and athleticism, he was sold to Jan Fischer and the pair quickly set about winning barrel races. The next season's foal was PC French Lady Frost and she was purchased by Fischer before Myers even had a chance to start her. Then came Frenchmans Guy, who Myers purchased in the fall of his weanling year.

"We bought him as a stallion prospect because we knew he would be an athlete," stated Myers. As often happens with young horses, misfortune came knocking and the stallion hopeful lost his right eye in a freak accident. "We were so sick about it we just turned him out. We didn't get him back up until he was a coming three year old. He really had the looks. He broke out so nice that you'd have never known he was missing an eye by the way he rode."

Debbie was rodeoing on his sister at that time so he didn't get used much. During that time he was standing to fewer than 10 mares per year for a fee of $350. However, when Deb retired her mare and started hauling Guy, it didn't take long for others to recognize what Myers and his wife had seen in their stallion from the beginning. "We made the mistake of live covering 50 mares that same year Deb was hauling him and he got pretty sore in his stifles," admits Myers. "We didn't know any better at the time."

When Bozo and Kristie Peterson came along in the '90's it brought good fortune Frenchmans Guy's way. That combined with the onset of shipped semen allowed Frenchmans Guy to be marketed on a much larger scale. There were winners among his very first crop of performers, including Cream Rises who was bred by Fred & Clara Wilson, then came Frenchmans Peach who ran the fastest time at the Old Fort Days barrel futurity. Hot on Peach's heels came SX Frenchmans Vanila who captured the very first Triple Crown Futurity title. And now it's Jordon Peterson's recent NFR qualifier mount, Frenchmans Jester.

The Myers select broodmares by the same process they use to select a performance prospect or a stallion. Myers ranks movement as number one on his check list of positive attributes. Second is intelligence, which he feels has a huge influence on a horse's disposition. Third is athleticism and fourth is looks.

"There are pedigrees Deb and I like that we have found to work for our program," Myers stated. "We are super picky about balance and conformation. I'm a nut about a horse with a clean neck, a short back and low hocks.

"Guy really stamps his offspring. You can walk out in our pasture and pick his babies. I enjoy going to the Oklahoma City futurity because I get to see a lot of his colts there who are out of outside mares. Eight out of 10 of them I really like. Guy has really nicked well with Easy Jet, Pie In The Sky and Streakin Six mares. I personally like him crossed on the performance bred mares. The nice thing about his progeny is they fit about every type and level of rider."

Plans for the future include keeping back the Frenchmans Guy and Hot Colours daughters who are out of the Myers' best race-bred mares with the intention of crossing them on A Smooth Guy and Sky High Guy. Myers predicts, 20 years from now when the industry looks back, Frenchmans Guy will be recognized as one of the greatest broodmare sires of his generation.