When Cade McCutcheon and Custom Made Gun hit the arena together in 2015, they did it in a big way. They were the National Reining Breeders Classic (NRBC) Derby Non-Pro Co-Reserve Champions and a few weeks later, they were the National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) Derby Non-Pro Champions. They have successfully campaigned since then, and now they are members of the 2018 United States Reining Team representing their country in the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) World Equestrian Games (WEG).
Custom Made Gun was bred and is owned by McQuay Stables, of Tioga, Texas. He has earned $101,863. McCutcheon, the grandson of Tim and Colleen McQuay, has been the non-pro rider of Custom Made Gun since taking over from Tim.
The pedigree of Custom Made Gun (Colonels Smoking Gun [Gunner] x Custom Made Dunit x Hollywood Dun It) is a journey through the history of McQuay Stables. It is also a pedigree with an interesting pattern for the Gunner/Hollywood Jac 86 magic cross.
SIRE LINE
Gunner (Colonelfourfreckle x Katie Gun x John Gun) was the1996 NRHA Futurity Open Reserve Champion. He went on to win other titles, including the 2001 United States Equestrian Team Festival of Champions Reining Championship. He garnered $177,386 during his performance career.
The purchase of Gunner in 2005 by McQuay Stables brought him into the McQuay breeding program. It was a move that has led to his being a $10 million sire. His top money-winners are Tinker With Guns ($346,368), Gunners Tinseltown ($316,233), Americasnextgunmodel ($305,779), Gunnatrashya ($236,457) and Gunners Special Nite ($222,974).
Colonelfourfreckle (Colonel Freckles x Miss Solano x Doc’s Solano) brings us back to Colonel Freckles. This is the second horse with Colonel Freckles in the pedigree that has qualified for America’s reining team. The pedigree of Colonel Freckles (Jewel’s Leo Bars x Christy Jay x Rey Jay) represents one of the all-time great nicks of Jewel’s Leo Bars on Rey Jay mares. The American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) reports Jewel’s Leo Bar has sired 34 National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) money-earners that have earned $616,336. Of this number, nine were out of three Rey Jay mares. They amassed $289,015 (47 percent) of the total NCHA money earned by Jewel’s Leo Bars cutters.
The power of this nick in reining comes through Colonel Freckles and his three-quarter brother Freckles Playboy (Jewel’s Leo Bars x Gay Jay x Rey Jay). They are on the leading reining paternal and maternal grandsires lists. Combined, they have sired sons that have earnings of more than $2.3 million. Their daughters have produced money-earners of $2.6 million, according to Equi-Stat.
Katie Gun (John Gun x Bueno Katie x Aledo Bueno Bar) earned 68.5 AQHA performance points. She was the 1990 AQHA High-Point Reining Mare, High-Point Junior Reining Horse and Reserve High-Point Reining Horse. She was Superior in reining with 53 points. She also earned points in working cow horse (10.5), Western riding (1.5), team penning (2.5) and trail (1).
Katie Gun is the dam of 24 foals, with 17 of them earning $652,745 in a variety of events, such as reining and reined cow horse. They include Hollywood Gotta Gun, the 2011 North Central Reining Horse Association (NCRHA) Futurity Co-Reserve Champion; Spooks Gotta Gun, the 2007 American Paint Horse Association (APHA) Junior Reining World Champion; and No Guns Please, the 2005 AQHA Junior Tie-Down Roping Reserve World Champion with 283 AQHA performance points.
DAM LINE
Custom Made Dunit (Hollywood Dun It x Custom Red Berry x Custom Crome) is an NRHA money-earner with $1,140 on her Equi-Stat record. She is the dam of horses with earnings of $289,107. Her performers include Customized Gunner, the 2012 NRHA Futurity Non-Pro Co-Champion and a full sister to Custom Made Gun.
Hollywood Dun It (Hollywood Jac 86 x Blossom Berry x Dun Berry) was the foundation sire for McQuay Stables. With Tim in the saddle, Hollywood Dun It was the 1986 NRHA Futurity Open Reserve Champion, the 1987 NRHA Derby Open Champion and the 1987 NRHA Super Stakes Champion. His foals have earnings of greater than $7 million. His leading earners include Hollywoodstinseltown ($178,156); Reminic N Dunit ($169,664); Matt Dillion Dun It ($169,216), the 2006 NRHA Derby USEF Open Champion; Hollywood Vintage ($155,842), the 1999 NRHA Futurity Open Champion; and BH Hollywoods Lady ($119,783), the 1998 NRHA Futurity Open Reserve Champion.
Hollywood Jac 86 (Easter King x Miss Hollywood x Hollywood Gold) was the 1974 and 1975 NRHA Non-Pro World Champion and the first stallion to become a million-dollar sire. Today his progeny earnings stand at $1.6 million. His leading money-winners include Mr Melody Jac ($112,239), the 1988 NRHA Futurity Open Champion; and Marthas Mega Jac ($103,088), a 1999 USET Nation’s Cup Gold Medalist.
Blossom Berry was an NRHA money-winner and an AQHA point-earner. She produced 10 foals, and her offspring earnings among her seven performers in Equi-Stat total $45,664. They include Hollywood Rerun, a full brother to Hollywood Dun It. He earned $30,106 and was the 1990 Solid Gold Reining Futurity Open Reserve Champion.
Custom Red Berry earned $187,902. She was the 2001 NRHA Derby Open Champion and the 2003 AQHA Senior Reining World Champion. She is the dam of horses that have won $171,743, according Equi-Stat. Her foals include Red Berry Wine, the 2009 AQHA Youth Reining World Champion.
The late Custom Crome (Cromed Plated Jac x Another Greyhound x Greyhound Step) was the 1993 NRHA Futurity Open Champion, and his lifetime earnings exceed $116,000. He is the sire of horses with Equi-Stat records of more than $4 million, including Custom Pistol ($254,858), the 2002 NRHA Derby Open Champion; Custom Cash Advance ($230,892); Custom Legend ($228,287), the 2007 NRBC Derby Open Champion; and Cromed Out Mercedes ($147,011), the 2009 NRBC Derby Open Champion.
The sire of Crome Plated Jac is Hollywood Jac 86. This gives the pedigree of Custom Made Dunit a breeding pattern of 2 X 4 to Hollywood Jac 86. The dam of Custom Red Berry is Otter Run Terri, a full sister to Blossom Berry. She was like her sister in that she was an NRHA money-winner with 2 AQHA points. She is the dam of horses that have earned nearly $200,000.
This gives the pedigree of Custom Made Dunit a 2 X 2 breeding pattern to the full sisters Blossom Berry and Otter Run Terri – a collateral inbreeding. When we look at Hollywood Dun It, we see the cross of Hollywood Jac 86 on Blossom Berry and Custom Red Berry is a cross of Custom Crome, a grandson of Hollywood Jac 86 out of Otter Run Terri. Both of these crosses give us a form of the Hollywood Jac 86/Dun Berry magic cross, and we bring that cross together in a linebreeding pattern to concentrate the blood of that cross in the pedigree.
The linebreeding to the Hollywood Jac 86/Dun Berry cross is then outcrossed to Gunner. When we look at the magic crosses for Gunner published in the Dec. 15, 2017 issue of Quarter Horse News, we see that his cross on Hollywood Jac 86 is the No. 1 magic cross for reining with more than $2 million in earnings. The interesting part of this is that in the top 10 money-earners listed, the Gunner/Custom Made Dunit cross has two representatives – Custom Made Gun and his full sister Customized Gunner.
Read about the fellow Team USA members here:
In The Blood: The Wizster – WEG Part 5
In The Blood: Ms Dreamy – WEG Part 4
In the Blood: Heavy Duty Chex —WEG Part 3
In The Blood: ARC Gunnabeabigstar—WEG Part 1
Stay tuned to quarterhorsenews.com for pedigree analyses on the other members of the WEG team.
