When Diane Mesmer, of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, bought a weanling colt named A Vintage Smoke in 2015, her goal was to win the National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) Futurity. He didn’t disappoint her.
A Vintage Smoke and Equi-Stat Elite $1 Million Rider Jason Vanlandingham became the 2018 NRHA Futurity Level 4 Open Champions with a score of 225.5. In return, Mesmer took home the winner’s prize of $150,000, fulfilling her dream.
A Vintage Smoke (A Sparkling Vintage x Lady Smoke Peppy x Mister Dual Pep) was bred by Karl and Debbie Hapcic, of Gallatin Gateway, Montana. They earned $7,500 from the Futurity as the nominators of the colt. A look at the pedigree of A Vintage Smoke allows us to focus on a returning-the-blood breeding pattern through a 5/8-sister and -brother in blood.
SIRE LINE
A Sparkling Vintage (Shining Spark x Vintage Badger x Peppy San Badger) was the 2001 National Reining Breeder’s Classic (NRBC) Intermediate Open Champion, earning $53,993 during his career. He was also fourth in the 2000 NRHA Futurity Open and third in the 2001 NRHA Derby Intermediate Open.
A Sparkling Vintage is an Equi-Stat Elite $1 Million Sire with offspring earnings of more than $1.7 million. His leading money-winners include Not Ruf At All ($456,530), a winner of the reining Triple Crown with the 2013 NRHA Futurity Open, 2014 NRHA Derby Open and 2016 NRBC Open titles to his credit; Platinum Vintage ($233,105), the winner of the 2015 NRHA Derby Open; and All American Vintage ($194,056), the winner of the 2017 All American Quarter Horse Congress Futurity Open and the 2017 NRHA Futurity Level 4 Open Reserve Champion.
Shining Spark (Genuine Doc x Diamonds Sparkle x Mr Diamond Dude) was the 1994 NRHA Derby Open Champion and the 1993 American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) Junior Reining World Champion. The sire record for Shining Spark shows that he has fathered horses that have won greater than $9 million.
Shining Spark is Equi-Stat’s eighth-leading sire of reining horses, with earners accumulating in excess of $4.4 million in the discipline. His leading reining horse performer is Shining N Sassy ($260,164), the 2008 NRHA Futurity Open Champion. He is also Equi-Stat’s No. 1 all-time leading sire of reined cow horses. With another $4.4 million in offspring earnings in this category, his top cow horse money-winner is Smart Shinetta ($130,977), the 2005 National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Champion.
Vintage Badger is an unshown mare that has produced the winners of $97,329, including 2004 Summer Slide Futurity Open Champion Vintage Boots ($21,594) in addition to A Sparkling Vintage. Her sire, Peppy San Badger (Mr San Peppy x Sugar Badger x Grey Badger III) was the 1974 NCHA Futurity Open Champion.
Peppy San Badger is the sire of horses that have won more than $25 million, the majority of which ($24.7 million) came in the cutting pen. He is the sire of two NCHA Futurity Open Champions — Little Tenina ($394,315) and Peptoboonsmal ($180,487).
Taris Vintage (Doc Tari x Minnick’s Goldie x Lacy’s Blue Gold) is the dam of Vintage Badger, and she earned $1,660 as a cutting horse, according to Equi-Stat. Taris Vintage is the dam of horses that have earned $88,755, led by Taris Little Vintage ($54,315), the 1995 AQHA Junior Reining World Champion and a full sister to Vintage Badger.
Taris Little Vintage, a producer of $768,954, is the dam of two NRHA Futurity Open Champions — 1999 winner Hollywood Vintage ($155,842) and 2006 winner Taris Designer Genes ($272,931).
DAM LINE
Lady Smoke Peppy ($21,019) is a multiple aged-event finalist, including the 2006 Reining By The Bay Non-Pro and Intermediate Non-Pro Reserve championships. She is the dam of three performers, and her leading money-winner is A Vintage Smoke. Her No. 2 offspring is Diamonds On My Mind, a Paint mare that was the 5-Year-Old & Under Open Reserve Champion at the 2013 West Coast Reining Horse Association Best In The West. Her third performer is Gunsmoke Ricochet, who has earned 2 AQHA reining points.
Mister Dual Pep (Peppy San Badger x Miss Dual Doc x Doc’s Remedy) won $43,929 and was fourth in the 1997 NCHA Super Stakes Open. He is a full brother to Equi-Stat Elite $25 Million Sire Dual Pep.
Mister Dual Pep’s sire record reveals that he has progeny with more than $3.3 million earned. His leading money-winners include Mr Dual Rey ($151,820), the 2006 AQHA Senior Reining World Champion; Mister Smart Remedy ($133,532), the 2006 Klamath Reined Cow Horse Derby Open Champion; and Mister Nicadual ($118,181), the 2006 World Equestrian Games Team gold and Individual silver medalist.
Daughters of Mister Dual Pep have produced the winners of nearly $1.9 million in cutting, reining, reined cow horse, versatility ranch horse, ranch sorting and barrel racing. A Vintage Smoke tops that list. He is followed by Lenas Buddy Nic (PT) ($122,822), the 2006 NRCHA Open Two-Rein World Champion, and Dr Lee Hook ($112,585), the 2012 French Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Champion.
Smoky Tibar (Mr Gun Smoke x Tivio Barga x Poco Tivio) is the dam of Lady Smoke Peppy. This mare is an NCHA money-earner and her foals have earned $58,006, with Chris N Kit ($31,900) being her leading performer. The gelding was the 1992 Utah Cutting Horse Association Fall Futurity Open Champion and the 1994 Santa Barbara National Horse Show $5,000 Intermediate Open Champion.
Mr Gun Smoke (Rondo Leo x Kansas Cindy x Kansas Star) was an AQHA Superior cutting horse with 71 points and an NCHA money-earner of $8,476. He was also the sire of horses that earned around $1 million between cutting, reining and reined cow horse. His noteworthy foals include Kit’s Smoke, the 1976 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Champion, and Gun Smoke’s Dream, the 1972 NCHA Futurity Open Champion.
The daughters of Mr Gun Smoke have produced foals that have earned in excess of $5.6 million. They include several $100,000-plus earners, such as the great Trashadeous, who was the 1990 NRHA Futurity Open Reserve Champion and the 1991 NRHA Derby Open Champion.
LINEBREEDING PATTERN
We see a primary linebreeding pattern in this pedigree between Vintage Badger (Peppy San Badger x Taris Vintage x Doc Tari) and Mister Dual Pep (Peppy San Badger x Miss Dual Doc x Doc’s Remedy). Vintage Badger and Mister Dual Pep are 5/8-sister and -brother in blood. They are both sired by Peppy San Badger and out of a granddaughter of Doc Bar.
The two sons of Doc Bar that are the broodmare sires in this pattern are out of different mares. The 5/8-sister and -brother relationship is determined by counting the common ancestors in the third generation of their pedigrees. Five of the eight horses in this generation are the same for both horses. These ancestors are Leo San, Peppy Belle, Grey Badger III, Sugar Townley and Doc Bar. This eliminates them as collateral relatives, but it still gives us a significant linebreeding pattern.
This linebreeding pattern is known as “returning the blood.” Returning the blood is when the linebreeding in the pedigree comes together through the dam of the foal and the sire’s dam. Again, the linebreeding comes through Vintage Badger and Mister Dual Pep. This pattern increases the influence of the sire’s dam on the foal produced because her pedigree ties to the dam of the foal and the linebreeding that is taking place in the pedigree of the foal produced. In this case, it was A Vintage Smoke — the 2018 NRHA Futurity Level 4 Open Champion.
