The DEFINITIVE List of 2021 NFR Qualifying Heel Horses and Their Bloodlines

This year's NFR-qualifying heel horses are dripping with cow-sense and bred to do their jobs.

Cowy. Quick footed. HARD stopping.

The horses that got their riders to the 2021 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo on the heel side have all three of these things in common. But what else do they have in common? For many, the blood of Peppy San Badger, Freckles Playboy and Doc Bar runs thick. Here are some general observations about these pedigrees.

Playgun makes multiple appearances this year in the NFR heel horse pedigree field. Junior Nogueira’s Apache R Hali sports Playgun on her maternal side, while Jade Corkill’s Sixes Posse is an own son of the famous stallion. Wesley Thorp split his season aboard Pistol Playin Roy, a grandson of Playgun, while Douglas Rich is riding a grandson of Playgun on the paternal side in his gelding, Seven Sun.
Corkill’s JLC Royal American remains the most bred-to-run on the list, with First Down Dash, Beduino and Three Bars on his papers—complemented by a little maternal sprinkling of Shining Spark.
The two mares on the list this year are Nogueira’s Apache R Hali and Harrison’s Lula Dual, though both made limited appearances in 2021.
Lula Dual and Dual Chip are the only siblings in this year’s pack, both paternal offspring of the late stallion Dual Spark.
DT Diamonds R King, ridden some this year by Trey Yates, is out of Dean Tuftin’s famous broodmare Kings Snazzy Sugar—the same mare out of which Billie Jack Saebens Horse of the Year DT Sugar Chex Whiz came.