Clyde Bolejack and Reyz A Lil Hell are second high call in the 6-&-Under Heading with a 677.23 on three-head going into the ARHFA Old West Finals June 20 in Heber City, Utah.
The story of how Bolejack ended up on this gelding is about as honest as they come. Friends raised him, and the original plan was to sell him for them. That plan fell apart fast.
“He just was easy to rope on and I said, ‘Man, probably just better buy him and just see what happens,'” Bolejack, a Colorado native who now calls Texas home, said. “We bought him and then tried to sell him and then got offered pretty good money as a 4-year-old and I said, ‘No, we probably better just keep him.'”
It has been the right call. The 2021 buckskin gelding is by Reyz N Hell, a 2013 bay stallion by Dual Rey and out of Playboys Mom, by Freckles Playboy. Dual Rey, an AQHA Hall of Fame inductee, earned over $105,000 in the cutting pen and went on to sire offspring earnings of more than $53 million, earning recognition as one of the all-time great cutting sires in the business. His dam is Cowlady Majority.
Bolejack owns the gelding’s full sister, a 6-year-old mare he heels on, which made it easy to recognize what this horse was early on.
What makes the gelding special, Bolejack said, is what he does not do.
“He doesn’t overdo anything,” Bolejack said. “I’m pretty sure all three runs look the same. He’s very consistent. He scores good, he can run, really faces. I think the biggest thing is he doesn’t get in my way and he doesn’t get in his way.”
That meant everything to Bolejack in the years the gelding has been with the family. He recalled putting his late son, Grayson, who died in a house fire in 2023, in the saddle—letting him ride all over and swing ropes.
“I’d be bringing up steers, whatever, and we’d put our little boy on the saddle with him and he’d ride him consistency all over and swing ropes on him and he didn’t really care,” Bolejack said. “He don’t owe us anything. He’ll always be special to us.”
Bolejack noted the gelding has always been competitive, but this week has been something different.
“Beginning of this year, I won a little bit on him, but he never really was like a standout horse like what he’s been here,” Bolejack said. “There’s been several people say this is a good week for him to really shine.”
It has been a good week across the board for Bolejack. In addition to sitting second in the 6-&-Under Heading, he has three heel horses going back in Saturday’s finals, two in the 4-year-old division and one in the 5-and-6-year-old, and qualified five out of the nine horses he brought to Heber City for the mixed finals.
As for the gelding’s future, Bolejack is not in any rush.
“If we ever did sell him, it would be a very, very picky situation as to where he went,” Bolejack said. “Just a good horse.”
The Old West 6-&-Under Heading Finals run June 20 in Heber City.
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