Sired by legandary racehorse Dash For Cash, Miss N Cash turned heads in the cutting pen with his unorthodox breeding and stylish moves. Garnering more than $124,000 in lifetime earnings throughout the 1980’s, Miss N Cash, known as “Cash,” became a well-respected competitor in the cutting pen and in the breeding shed.
The 1983 stallion was bred by Oxbow Ranch in partnership with Anne and B.F. Phillips. Oxbow’s Dan Lufkin sought out the pairing between Dash For Cash and Doc N Missy (By Doc Bar) while looking to reintroduce running horse blood into cow horses.
Doc N Missy was the 1978 National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) Snaffle Bit Futurity Open Champion, and according to Lufkin, was the ideal match for Phillips’ Dash For Cash.
“He added spice,” said Jennifer Gagan, who owned Cash with her husband, E.J. Gagan, at the time of his passing in 2015. “What an incredible idea that was, to play with that pedigree and add a little speed.”
A Different Kind of Cutter
According to a Quarter Horse News article published in September of 1987, cutting industry members watched in interest as Cash competed in the 1986 National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Futurity Open with Mike Haack.
The sorrel stallion finished seventh in the Futurity Open finals with a 216.5, winning $33,349. According to Lufkin, the second cow in the finals kept Cash from the big score he was capable of.
Haack and Cash drew two checks during his derby year before arriving at the 1987 NCHA Derby, held that year at the Bell County Expo Center in Belton, Texas. Advancing to the Open finals, the team marked a hefty 228 to take the lead by more than five points. When the dust settled, Cash had won the Open and $45,557.
“We’ve been expecting it,” Haack told QHN at the time. “He’s been coming on. We had high hopes in the (NCHA) Futurity but we had some bad luck in the finals.”
Cash competed through the beginning of his 5-year-old year, but retired shortly after to become a sire. All told, Cash earned more than $124,000, according to EquiStat.
Breeding Shed Legacy
As a sire, Cash proved potent. His 287 performers won more than $4.7 million. They averaged more than $16,000 in earnings apiece, with six earning more than $100,000 according to EquiStat.
His leading earner is Spookys Cash, a 1997 mare out of San Starlight (by Grays Starlight) who earned $291,410 throughout her career. The mare was a finalist at the 2000 NCHA Open Futurity, 2001 NCHA Super Stakes Open Derby and Reserve Champion in the 2003 NCHA Super Stakes Open Classic Challenge.
Spookys Cash went on to become a noted producer in her own right, so far foaling earners totaling $792,889 with her leading earner being Reyzin The Cash ($278,766, by Dual Rey), the 2015 NCHA Summer Spectacular Derby Open Champion and 2016 NCHA Summer Spectacular Classic/Challenge Open Champion.
Cash’s other leading earners include 1990 mare Dox Smart Buy ($254,903 out of Smart Hickory x Doc’s Hickory) and 1993 gelding Faith N Risk ($209,865 out of One Time Soon x Smart Little Lena).
Maternal Grandsire
As a maternal grandsire, Cash has amassed more than $5 million in earnings, and his top earners show a level of versatility not many horses achieve. His influence as a broodmare sire included multiple events, with his daughters foaling earners in cutting ($3.9 million), working cow horse ($600,895), reining ($334,307) and barrel racing ($157,044).
His leading earner as a maternal grandsire is that son of Spookys Cash, Reyzin The Cash, who not only won $278,766 in the cutting pen but carried on his grandpa’s legacy in the breeding shed having already attained the status of EquiStat Elite $1 Million Sire.
The second-leading earner out of a Miss N Cash mare is Sail On Top Whizard, a 2015 stallion (Whizard Jac x Miss N Sis x Miss N Cash) who won $278,042 in reining events in Europe. And third is Smooth N Cash (Smooth As A Cat x Dox Gavacash x Miss N Cash), whose $271,018 in earnings ranks him as the seventh-richest reined cow horse of all time, according to EquiStat.
Miss N Cash lived to the grand age of 32, spending his last days in Dewey, Oklahoma after being purchased by the Gagan’s in the spring of 2015. After his death in November of 2015 due to a heart attack, Gagan told QHN she wanted Cash to be remembered for his triumphs.
“It was kind of surreal. We bought the semen in March, then we went in May and got Cash and brought him to our ranch,” Gagan said. “We had him all summer. He looked incredible for 32, and he was the sweetest old man. We were so grateful for him. Even if it was for a short period of time, having a piece of him for just a little while was the biggest honor.”
Today, Cash is remembered as an unusually-bred cutter that delivered both in the show pen and the breeding barn.
