In the Blood: Plain Catty

Quarter Horse News Posted onOctober 30, 2017 by Larry Thornton

Plain Catty, a bay roan stallion, is this year’s National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Champion. He was shown by Equi-Stat Elite $1 Million Rider Jake Gorrell. They had a 657.5 composite score, with a 214.5 in the herd work, 218 in the rein work and a 225 down the fence, to secure the winning purse of $125,000. Kevin Cantrelle is the horse’s owner and breeder.

Plain Catty (Bet Hesa Cat x Miss Plain Plain x Just Plain Colonel) has a pedigree that brings together two of the breed’s great nicks. These nicks then come together to form a nick of their own, utilizing a breeding pattern that is very prominent in the American Quarter Horse.

SIRE LINE

Equi-Stat Elite $1 Million Sire **Bet Hesa Cat** has a few big performers to his credit, including Bet Hes Black ($99,618), Reyzurbetsonthiscat ($82,119) and Calico Spots ($38,174). Plain Catty has also added big money to the sire’s record. • Photo by Don Shugart

Bet Hesa Cat (High Brow Cat x Bet Yer Blue Boons x Freckles Playboy) was the 2011 National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Open World Champion. He earned $272,000 and was a multiple limited-age event finalist at major shows, including the 2010 Breeder’s Invitational, where he won the Derby Open Reserve Championship.

Bet Hesa Cat is an Equi-Stat Elite $1 Million Sire with earnings of more than $1.5 million. His 2017 money-winners include Reyzurbetsonthiscat ($93,429), the 2017 Augusta Futurity 4-Year-Old Open Champion, and Calico Spots ($38,174), the 2017 Augusta Futurity 4-Year-Old Non-Pro Champion.

Bet Hesa Cat is also proving to be a reined cow horse sire, with Bet Hes Black ($99,618) adding the 2017 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Reserve Championship to his sire record. Then we can add 2016 Idaho Reined Cow Horse Association Derby Open Champion Boonlight Roan Bar ($46,485), Bet He Sparks ($37,652), the 2017 National Stock Horse Association (NSHA) Futurity Intermediate Open Champion, and Bet Shesa Fancy Cat ($14,986), the 2017 NSHA Futurity Limited Open Champion and Level 1 Limited Open Champion.

High Brow Cat has proven to be a great sire through his title as the all-time leading sire of cutting horses. But a review of the top 10 Open finalists in the 2017 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity shows that he is moving into a new area as the paternal grandsire of reined cow horses. He is the paternal grandsire of seven of the top 10 finalists. These top 10 performers earned $397,125.

Bet Yer Blue Boons (Freckles Playboy x Royal Blue Boon x Boon Bar) was the 2000 NCHA Open World Champion. She earned $350,615. She was the 1997 American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) Senior Cutting Reserve World Champion.

The Equi-Stat produce record for Bet Yer Blue Boons shows that she has earnings of $1.1 million with five of her 11 money-earners each grossing more than $100,000 each. In addition to Bet Hesa Cat, they include Stylish Bet ($180,847), Bets CD ($129,230), Bet Shes Smooth ($113,102) and Bet On Me 498 ($102,877).

Bet Yer Blue Boons’ sire, Freckles Playboy, is the No. 4 leading sire of all time for cutting horse money-winners, according to Equi-Stat. He is the sire of horses with Equi-Stat reined cow horse records totaling $302,823, including Playboys Buck Fever ($62,246), an NRCHA Supreme Reined Cow Horse.

Freckles Playboy (Jewel’s Leo Bars x Gay Jay x Rey Jay) represents the great nick of Jewel’s Leo Bars crossed on the daughters of Rey Jay. This cross produced Freckles Playboy’s full brothers Freckles Hustler ($86,397), the 1981 Atlantic Cutting Horse Association Futurity winner, and Jay Freckles ($43,168), the 1976 NCHA Open Reserve World Champion.

Royal Blue Boon (Boon Bar x Royal Tincie x Royal King) was the 1984 NCHA Super Stakes Open Co-Reserve Champion. She earned $381,764, and she is the all-time leading dam of cutting horse money-winners with offspring earnings in excess of $2.6 million, including Red White And Boon ($922,063).

Boon Bar (Doc Bar x Teresa Tivio x Poco Tivio) introduces us to the next great nick in the pedigree of Plain Catty. Boon Bar ($12,325) won both go-rounds of the 1975 NCHA Futurity Open, but was sidelined by an illness and unable to make the finals of the Futurity.

Boon Bar was a product of the Doc Bar on Poco Tivio mares nick that is so prominent in the influence of Doc Bar on the Western performance horse. His dam, Teresa Tivio, produced 10 foals by Doc Bar. In addition to Boon Bar, they include Doc’s Haida ($67,305); Fizzabar ($50,841) and Doc’s Remedy ($47,453).

DAM LINE

Miss Plain Plain (Just Plain Colonel x Miss Master Blaster x Master Remedy) was shown in cutting and reined cow horse. She proved her versatility in 2004 and 2005 as the World’s Greatest Horseman Reserve Champion. She earned $97,687 in her own career, and she is now the dam of four money-earners that have won $176,278, including Peppy Plain Jane ($17,943).

Just Plain Colonel (Colonel Freckles x Grey Nelly x Blue Whammy Cat) earned $53,676 as a finalist in such events as the 1987 Bonanza Cutting 4-Year-Old Open. His foals have won greater than $1.7 million in a variety of events. His leading money-winner is Just Mister Dual ($144,199). Just Plain Colonel is the maternal grandsire of horses that have won more than $1.3 million. One of his leading grand-get in that division is Very Smart Smoke ($141,336).

Colonel Freckles (Jewel’s Leo Bars x Christy Jay x Rey Jay) is our second cross to the Jewel’s Leo Bar/Rey Jay nick. Thus, we have a collateral linebreeding to this nick of the three-quarter brothers Colonel Freckles and Freckles Playboy.

Miss Master Blaster (Master Remedy x Hobby Cat x Hobby Horse) was primarily shown in the Novice division in cutting, but she was a finalist in the Reno Western 4-Year-Old Open. She earned $7,492, and she is the dam of horses that have won $133,284, with her second-leading money-winner being Missy Dual Master ($14,277).

Master Remedy (Doc’s Remedy x Wininic x Sugar Vandy) is the winner of $194,508. His foals have earned $730,656, with three winners of the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity in Master Checks ($65,201), Otoe Master ($46,244) and Masteroani ($38,974). Master Remedy is the maternal grandsire of horses that have earned in excess of $1 million, including Black Pearl ($121,032), the 2008 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Champion.

Doc’s Remedy (Doc Bar x Teresa Tivio x Poco Tivio) tied for third in the 1976 NCHA Futurity Open, which was won by Colonel Freckles with Freckles Playboy as the Co-Reserve Champion. Doc’s Remedy and his full brother Boon Bar in the same pedigree gives us another collateral linebreeding.

When we look at the pedigree of Plain Catty, we see he is linebred to the Jewel’s Leo Bars/Rey Jay nick and the Doc Bar/Poco Tivio nick, as he carries those bloodlines through both the sire and dam.

When stepping back and looking at the pedigree, there is a breeding pattern known as “returning the blood.” When this breeding pattern exists, the horse is linebred by returning the blood of the common ancestors found in the pedigree of the foal’s dam back into the foal produced through the sire’s dam. This increases the influence of the sire’s dam on the foal being produced, as it is linebred through her to those common ancestors.