With the top 15 breakaway ropers in the WPRA’s ProRodeo world standings getting to showcase their talents in front of a global audience this Dec. 8-10 in Arlington, Texas, their horses, too, will shine.
There’s a bit of everything on this list—from grade great ones to horses bred for cutting royalty and everything in between. Here are some key takeaways:
- Interestingly, Shelby Boisjoli’s Canadian-bred Sexy Lil Blue Blood goes back to Secretariat on the bottom side, with iconic cow horses like Smart Little Lena on top.
- Erin Johnson’s riding another run-cow cross in Rio Fols, with legendary Thoroughbred stallion Raise A Native on the top side of the gelding’s papers.
- Doc Olena reigns supreme, making 13 appearances on the five-generation pedigrees of the top 15 horses.
- Smart Little Lena appears seven times on the papers of the top 15 breakaway horses, most often as a paternal grandsire.
- The ladies of breakaway roping ride mares at a significantly higher rate than the top 15 in the heading and heeling. Only four of this year’s NFR team ropers rode mares on their 2020 campaigns, while six of the top 15 breakaway ropers counted on mares in the same timeframe.
- Hope Thompson’s Supercrome Ink is a paternal half-sister to Gypsy Sailor, the horse Charly Crawford rode in 2020 to qualify for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Starlights Gypsy is a favorite of the Thompson-Guy-Crawford-Brazile connection, and we’ll see more horses of that bloodline on the list for years to come.
- Tanegai Zilverberg’s Bit of Snipper is the oldest horse on the list at 18.
- The average age of the horses on this list is 11.63 years old.
1. Cassie Bahe‘s Roy (15) and Gunsmoke (6)
Unregistered
2. Jackie Crawford‘s DS Sassy Shiner
3. Martha Angelone’s WR Class Whiskey (Simba)
4. Jordan Fabrizio’s Whistles Drift Wolf (Shorty)
and Smarter Than Gage (Leonard)
5. Katie Mundorf’s Smart Christmas Four (owned by fellow qualifier Kirby Eppert)
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6. Lari Dee Guy‘s Peptos Black Quixote
7. Shelby Boisjoli‘s Sexy Lil Blue Blood
8. Tanegai Zilverberg’s Bit of Snipper
9. Amanda Coleman’s Bubbas Freckle 210 (Cheecha)
10. Macy Fuller’s Hope My Chex Clear
11. Anna Bahe‘s Roy (15) and Gunsmoke (6)
Unregistered
12. Kirby Eppert’s Mavreyck
13. Hope Thompson‘s Super Chrome Ink (Ink)
14. JJ Hampton‘s Please Love Me
and Milla Wilson
15. Erin Johnson‘s Rio Fols (Bubba)
and Huskers Be Smokin (Chico)
