The Wizster and Tom McCutcheon have been a team for years, having won titles like the National Reining Breeders Classic (NRBC) Derby Open Reserve Championship in 2016. They are the fifth team we will look at that has qualified to compete on Team USA and represent their country in the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) World Equestrian Games (WEG).
The Wizster (Gallo Del Cielo [Rooster] x Miss Whizard Jac x Whizard Jac) is an 8-year-old gelding bred by Haylee Finan-Fisher, of Salisbury, Connecticut, and owned by Turnabout Farm Inc., of Aubrey, Texas. A look at his pedigree will give us a rare opportunity to look at an individual with no duplication of ancestors in his first five generations. Thus, he has no inbreeding/linebreeding in his pedigree for five generations.
As we have seen, it is a rare occurrence to find a horse with this type of pedigree pattern. He is also the only horse we will look at in the WEG series that carries no Colonel Freckles blood.
SIRE LINE
Rooster (Peppy San Badger x Doc’s Starlight x Doc Bar) was shown as a 4-year-old, earning a modest $28,438. He was a finalist in events like the Chisholm Trail Derby Open and earned his Certificate of Ability.
Rooster proved to be a successful sire that specialized in siring reining and reined cow horses. His Equi-Stat sire record stands at more than $6 million, with more than $4 million in reining and reined cow horse earnings of more than $1 million. His cutting foals have garnered nearly $900,000.
The leading cutting money-winner on Rooster’s roster is Eticket ($111,394), the 1997 National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Futurity Limited Open Champion. The top earner in reining, following The Wizster, is Lena Gallo ($178,598), the 2008 FEI Reining Horse of the Year. The stallion’s leading reined cow horse winner is Roo Star ($83,413), the 2005 National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) Stallion Stakes Open Bridle Champion and the 2008 American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) Super Horse. Roo Star shows the versatility of Rooster, as he has earned $125,247 in a variety of events.
Peppy San Badger, or “Little Peppy” as he was known, was the 1977 NCHA Futurity Open Champion and the 1978 NCHA Derby Open Champion. He then earned the 1980 NCHA Open Reserve World Championship and retired later with earnings totaling $172,711.
Little Peppy (Mr San Peppy x Sugar Badger x Grey Badger III) sired foals that earned in excess of $25 million. His leading money-winners were Little Badger Dulce ($668,461), the 1993 NCHA Horse of the Year; Haidas Little Pep ($425,174), the 1983 NCHA Futurity Open Reserve Champion; and Little Tenina ($394,327), the 1991 NCHA Futurity Open Champion. These three cutters represent the Peppy San Badger magic cross on daughters of Doc Bar. Little Peppy crossed on Doc Bar daughters produced 177 performing foals that earned $6.3 million, with an average of $35,596.
Doc’s Starlight (Doc Bar x Tasa Tivio x Poco Tivio) was a show mare deluxe who earned $134,442 in the Open and Non-Pro ranks. She was the 1977 and 1978 NCHA Open Reserve World Champion and the 1978 NCHA Open World Champion Mare. Her Non-Pro record shows she was a two-time top 10 qualifier. She was Superior in the AQHA with 60 points. Offspring out of Doc’s Starlight have earned $206,079. Her leading money-winner was Bunnys Starlight ($65,461).
Doc’s Starlight allows us to look at the Peppy San Badger cross on daughters of Doc Bar by showing how the mating of these two horses has affected the next generation. She was bred to Peppy San Badger six times, with five of those foals becoming money-earners.
But the key to the impact of this cross on the next generation is that three of their sons are million-dollar sires. Equi-Stat Elite $6 Million Sire Rooster; Equi-Stat Elite $12 Million Sire Grays Starlight and Equi-Stat Elite $1 Million Sire Paddys Irish Whiskey earned their elite status as sires of cutting, reining and reined cow horses. It also shows how their success is making an impact on the versatility we are seeing by the use of cutting-bred horses in events other than cutting.
DAM LINE
Miss Whizard Jac (Whizard Jac x Miss Leyla Jay x Jay James) was unshown. She is the dam of seven foals. The Wizster ($206,152) is her first foal and her only money-winner to date.
Whizard Jac (Topsail Whiz x Bees Honey Jac x Hollywood Jac 86) was the 1996 National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) Futurity Open Champion and the 1999 USET Festival of Champions Gold Medal winner. He earned $175,293. Whizard Jac’s foals have made him an Equi-Stat Elite $1 Million Sire with earnings of more than $1.2 million. His leading performers include Sail On Top Whizard ($278,042), the 2012 NRHA Open World Champion; and Miss Lil Addy Tude ($116,312), the 2011 Tulsa Reining Classic FEI CRI Champion.
Bees Honey Jac ($27,986) was a finalist in the 1991 NRHA Futurity Open and the 1992 NRHA Derby Open. She is the dam of horses that have won $238,925. Her leading money-winner is Whizard Jac, followed by Whizota ($39,093). She is also the dam of Made Whiz Honey, an AQHA ROM performer with 37.5 performance points.
Hollywood Jac 86 (Easter King x Miss Hollywood x Hollywood Gold) earned the 1974 and 1975 NRHA Non-Pro World championships. He was the first stallion to reach NRHA million-dollar sire status. His progeny earnings recorded in Equi-Stat total more than $1.6 million, and his leading offspring is Mr Melody Jac ($112,239), the 1988 NRHA Futurity Open Champion.
The maternal sire record for Hollywood Jac 86 shows that his daughters have produced performers with earnings in Equi-Stat of greater than $4.7 million. The Topsail Whiz/Hollywood Jac 86 magic cross has also produced horses like Topgun Whiz ($153,417), the 1999 NRHA Derby Open Champion; and Who Whiz It ($81,560), the 2003 NRHA Derby Intermediate Non-Pro Co-Reserve Champion and the 2004 Florida State Fair USET Open Reining Champion.
Miss Leyla Jay (Jay James x Cutter Leyla x Cutter’s Reject) was an AQHA point-earner with 4.5 points. This includes 3.5 points earned in hunt seat equitation and 1 point in hunter under saddle.
Jay James was the sire of 16 AQHA performers, including Cutter King James, the 1981 AQHA High-Point Reining Gelding and Reserve High-Point Youth Reining Horse. This three-quarter brother to Miss Leyla Jay earned an AQHA Superior in Youth Reining. Red Ants Rey Jay was another three-quarter brother to Miss Leyla Jay, and he earned 62.5 AQHA points in reining with Registers of Merit in the Youth and Open divisions.
Miss Leyla Jay is the dam of three money-earners recorded in Equi-Stat. They are Dry Doc Bobbie ($9,796), the 1992 NRHA Limited Non-Pro World Champion; Smooth N Dry Doc ($3,359), the 1997 Kansas Reining Horse Association Futurity Open Champion; and Haidas Ley Lena ($117).
Dry Doc Bobbie is the dam of horses with earnings of more than $423,000. They include 2007 NRBC Derby Open Champion Custom Legend ($228,287) and 2004 NRBC Derby Open Co-Reserve Champion Saturdaynight Custom ($86,285).
Our look at The Wizster has shown that to be a champion, a horse doesn’t have to have inbreeding and linebreeding in the pedigree, but it does need to have some great ancestors in that pedigree.
Read about the fellow Team USA members here:
In The Blood: Ms Dreamy – WEG Part 4
In the Blood: Heavy Duty Chex —WEG Part 3
In The Blood: Custom Made Gun—WEG Part 2
In The Blood: ARC Gunnabeabigstar—WEG Part 1
