Young and talented cutting horses typically make their first impressions at the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Futurity. But when Julie Jarma’s mare Blackish was sore before the 2017 premier event, her plans had to shift.
The mare, who is in training with Equi-Stat Elite $8 Million Rider Lloyd Cox, was scratched from the Fort Worth, Texas, show, and her focus was set on starting strong in 2018. That is exactly what she did with Cox at The Ike Derby and Classic when she carried him to a stellar 225 for the 4-Year-Old Open and Novice championships.
“We had high hopes for her at the Futurity,” Cox said. “But she has matured a lot just in the last 30 days both mentally and physically, and she is even better than she was before the Futurity.”
Jarma agreed it was tough to pull her mare out of the Futurity, but she is thrilled with the way everything worked out.
“It was a huge disappointment, because we all as a team were really excited to see her show at the Futurity,” Jarma said. “I think it is just what was best for her as a horse to walk down there when she was sound instead of with an injury.
“I honestly didn’t know how it would go, but I was just happy she was going to be able to show. Then when she made the finals, it was even more exciting. I didn’t think she would have a chance to win, because it was her first show trying to keep up with those that had been already shown. But Lloyd did a great job training her, and it just happened to work out and be her morning.”
Jarma feels especially connected to Blackish, because Jarma has history with the mare’s dam and sire. Blackish is the first offspring out of Jarma’s old show mare SS Blacks Lil Kitty (Blue Bayou Boon x Show Biz Kitty x High Brow Cat), who collected $185,839 in the cutting pen. Jarma was working for Cox when he showed Blackish’s sire Hottish (Spots Hot x Stylish Play Lena x Docs Stylish Oak), and she even prepared the stallion a few times before walking to the herd.
Hottish’s first performing foal crop hit the cutting pen in 2017 and made a big impression. At the NCHA Futurity, Hottish not only sired Futurity Open Champion Dual Reyish (out of A Little Reylena x Dual Rey) and Limited Non-Pro Co-Champion Sneakish (out of Smooth Sneakin x Smooth As A Cat), he also had nine finalists among all divisions at the event.
His offspring earned $382,649 at the show, and with Blackish’s success at The Ike, worth $25,988, the stallion was pushed to more than a half a million dollars in offspring earnings. Jarma thinks that Blackish got a lot of the best traits of both of her parents.
“She is the first baby that I personally have bred and raised, so from day one she was really special,” Jarma said. “I kept [SS Blacks Lil Kitty] as a broodmare, because she was my all time favorite mare I ever had. They have a lot of similarities and little quirks that they do. They [Blackish and SS Blacks Lil Kitty] are both pretty stingy, so the momma definitely passed that trait on. I see a lot of him [Hottish] in her when she is working and stuff. I think it is a really good combination. To be able to breed both of them together was a dream come true. She is my horse of a lifetime.”
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