Whitmire Ranch’s undefeated filly Whistle Stop Cafe is the 2020 World Champion Racing American Quarter Horse.
Bought by cutters Lainie and Bill Whitmire as a yearling, the gray daughter of Freighttrain BB won the All American Futurity (G1), Heritage Place Futurity (G1) and four other races for 2-year-olds in 2020. She finished the year with $1,974,986 in earnings.
According to the American Quarter Horse Association’s (AQHA’s) announcement of her World Championship, Whistle Stop Cafe is the only the second 2-year-old filly to earn the honor. The only other 2-year-old filly named World Champion was Laico Bird
Lainie and Ray Whitmire, along with daughter Lauren, are active in the cutting horse industry. Beyond riding, the couple from Sallisaw, Oklahoma, founded the World Cutting Horse Association, which promotes beginner-level cutting and aims to make the sport more affordable.
Beyond their involvement in Quarter Horse racing and cutting, the Whitmires also are involved in the barrel horse industry. In 2020, they bought barrel horse stallion JL Dash To Heaven for $1.75 million at the dispersal of his late breeder, Jud Little. The National Finals Rodeo competitor and Equi-Stat Elite $2 Million Sire stands at Cinder Lakes Ranch.
Whistle Stop Cafe also was named the AQHA’s champion 2-year-old and champion 2-year-old filly. She was trained by Blane Wood, and ridden by Ricky Ramirez.
Bred by Bobby D. Cox, Whistle Stop Cafe is out of Sinuous (by Mr Jess Perry). Cox also was named as the champion breeder of American Quarter Horse racehorses in 2020.
