There’s just no stopping Down Right Amazing.
The flashy sorrel stallion and trainer Casey Deary earned their second straight $100,000 paycheck with an impressive victory in the National Reining Breeders Classic.
Deary, of Weatherford, Texas, and the stallion marked a big 230 during the Level 4 Open finals on Saturday, April 22, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Their win over Level 4 Open Reserve Champions Trash Talkin Spook and Andrea Fappani, who marked a 229, comes on the heels of Down Right Amazing’s triumph last month in The American Performance Horseman, a special competition held in conjunction with the American Rodeo.
The NRBC showcased not only the stallion’s talent, but his good mind and consistency. Deary explained the horse is getting to the point in his development where “he’s broke enough that he really doesn’t give me a lot of stuff to work on anymore.”
“I know the horse knows his job, so I do my best to just manage his health, keep him fit and ready to go to work,” Deary said.
It also gave the mare-owning public an opportunity to see what the young breeding stallion can do. Down Right Amazing, whose career earnings now exceed $432,431, is standing to the public this year for owner Deborah Good’s DAG Ventures.
“It just opens a lot of doors for mare owners to breed to him,” Deary said of the horse, who is available this year via frozen semen. “This is the kind of horse that I want right in the future, right? I mean, he’s got the mind, he’s got the ability, he’s got the family, he’s got the look. So in my opinion, I think we’ll see the American obviously, shed a whole lot of light on him as an individual, but to follow it up with the NRBC like that it’s kind of solidified people’s decision to to go to that horse. So, I’m anticipating him having the opportunity to breed a lot of mares [and I’m] looking forward to seeing what he produces.”
Forward Momentum
As good as 2023 has been, Down Right Amazing ended last year on a high note. He and Deary tied for the 2022 NRBC Level 4 Open Co-Reserve Championship and then won the $150,000 Open Shootout at The Run For A Million in Las Vegas. The latter, during which the stallion marked a 228, qualified Deary for this year’s Million Dollar Competition at The Run For A Million.
This weekend’s NRBC, the American Performance Horseman and The Run For A Million were held in different arenas and very different show atmospheres, but Down Right Amazing is so consistent that it doesn’t seem to matter what venue a show is at.
“It really doesn’t,” Deary said.
If Down Right Amazing stays healthy and Good wants her horse to compete in the Million Dollar Competition at The Run For A Million, Deary says the blaze-faced stallion will be his mount — even though the rules state that qualified riders can ride any horse they want in the event planned for Aug. 19 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“I’m not tied to any individual horse. But, if you spend your money to send me to the [Million Dollar Competition] qualifier, and your horse gets me qualified, then I feel like you kind of get that spot,” he said. “So, as long as the horse is healthy and sound, that’s going to be his to use.”
The Royal Bloodlines of Down Right Amazing
Bred by Curtis Performance Horses, Down Right Amazing is by EquiStat Elite $14 Million Sire Colonels Smoking Gun and out of National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) Futurity and Derby Open Champion Shesouttayourleague (by Walla Walla Whiz).
He hails from the powerful female family founded by the great broodmare and reining triple crown winner Wimpys Little Chic, who is the dam of Down Right Amazing’s mother, Shesouttayourleague.
Shesouttayourleague — who, like Down Right Amazing, is now owned by DAG Ventures — is one of a record four NRHA Futurity Level 4 Open Champions foaled out of Wimpys Little Chic, whose total progeny earnings surpass $1.7 million.
2023 NRBC Level 4 Open Top 5 Finishers
The NRBC Level 4 Open Reserve Championship went to Trash Talkin Spook and Andrea Fappani, who marked a 229 to earn $60,000 for owner Marilyn Overgaard.
Here are the top five finishers from the 2023 NRBC Level 4 Open:
Horse, YOB, Pedigree, Rider, Owner, Breeder, Score, Purse
1) Down Right Amazing, Casey L. Deary, DAG Ventures LLC, (Colonels Smoking Gun [Gunner] x Shesouttayourleague x Walla Walla Whiz), 230, $100,000
2) Trash Talkin Spook, Andrea Fappani, Marilyn Overgaard, Richard and Vicky Lynn Dias, (Gunnatrashya x I Spook x Smart Spook), 229, $60,0000
3) Alpha Jac Sparrow, Shawn Flarida, Fritz Leeman, Alpha Quarter Horses LLC, (Spooks Gotta Whiz x Chexanicki x Bueno Chexinic), 227.5, $45,000
4) Ten Thirty, Casey L. Deary, Rancho El Fortin, Brooke Wharton, (Gunnatrashya x Dainty Little Step x Wimpys Little Step), 227, $40,000
5T) Gunnabebigtime, Jason Vanlandingham, Tami Nelson, Tami Nelson, (Gunnatrashya x Big Time Jazzy x Shine Big Time), 226.5, $28,750
5T) Xtra Wimp It Good, Fernando Salgado, Adalberto Gonzalez, Xtra Quarter horses LLC, (Wimpys Little Step x Lovin Me Good x Colonels Lil Gun), 226.5, $28,750
