We broke the news that Reliance Ranches and Pitzer Ranch partnered to breed mares with frozen semen by the long-deceased but legendary roping stallion Zan Parr Jack. Now, at the Old West Futurity Sale in Guthrie, Oklahoma, on April 11, Reliance has consigned Zan Parr Peppycat.
The 3-year-old gelding has no chance not to be elite. He’s the same color as his long-deceased sire Zan Parr Jack, the legend that J.D. Yates rode to back-to-back AQHA world championships in Senior Heeling and described as “phenomenally talented, gentle and athletic.”
Zan Parr Jack also sired 10 world champions and 11 reserve world champs including Jack’s Royal Ginger—the ARHFA’s early all-time leading dam—as well as Bar J Jackie and Jack E Eleven, legendary mares that won the world at both ends and produced elite rope horses Popular Resortfigure and With All Probability.
Plus, this colts’ dam Sophisticated Moves is a High Brow Cat granddaughter that won fourth herself in the ARHFA Limited Open Heeling Maturity and made the finals in Junior Heeling at the World Show. Her dam was an own granddaughter of both Peppy San Badger and Doc’s Hickory.
“When we had to shoot the sale video, it was February and I’d only roped the machine on him a little,” said Reliance’s Bobby Mote of the colt by the one-in-a-million sire. “So, we turned the camera on and I turned his first three steers—he scored, ran, turned off and faced. You’d think he’d had a dozen already turned on him!”
As a Sale Graduate, Zan Parr Peppycat will be eligible in 2027 for the Old West Futurity’s lucrative Sale Graduate Sidepots, as well as the million-dollar bonus reserved for any graduate that also wins the main Pre-Futurity. And in 2027, Old West (having recently acquired the ARHFA) will add 5-6-year-old Sale Graduate Sidepots and incorporate Intermediate and Limited divisions.
Last year, Reliance bought a filly named Kiri out of the Old West Sale. That means on April 9 at “The Gamble in Guthrie” in the Heading Pre-Futurity, the 4-year-old by Tres Seis will compete to win the Sale Graduate Sidepot with its whopping $300,000 added. The futurity short rounds are held April 11 before the sale (previews are April 10).
Many of this year’s sale horses at Guthrie are eligible for Riata, Royal Crown and other incentives—and they reflect pedigrees like those favored by Reliance Ranches.
“Barrel racers and headers are honestly looking for the same horse—one that can accelerate fast, has speed and can rate and turn and take off again, all while keeping their mind together,” said Mote. “Barrel racers have been breeding for that a long time. Our 4-year-old by Tres Seis is the real deal. She’s really, really good. But the fees are so expensive to breed to those top barrel-racing sires that ropers haven’t really dabbled in it until now. It’s the same with The Goodbye Lane. But now they’re getting attention.”
He’s not wrong. At last year’s Old West Futurity Sale, 2-year-old Show Me The Cartel by Show Me The Buckles sold for $200,000, while 3-year-old Corona Makes Me Purr, out of the same Corona Cartel daughter and by Cat Man Do, sold for $110,000.
Reliance is investing in rope horses like its great 5-year-old stud Watch The Lane because they’re sons and daughters of renowned barre-racing sires like The Goodbye Lane, Dash Ta Fame and Tres Seis. For reference, The Goodbye Lane sired World Champion Barrel Racer Kassie Mowry’s gelding Jarvis, while Tres Seis sired Tricia Aldridge’s palomino Adios Pantalones—he earned $1 million-plus and the reserve WPRA world title at just 5.
Try not to drool over the prospects consigned to the Old West Elite Rope Horse Sale, starting with Zan Parr Peppycat, for whom the video of the first steers he ever turned is available at OldWest.com. Also for sale is a filly by Show Me The Buckles out of a First Prize Diver daughter and stud colts by The Notorious B I G, Nu One Time Blues and Metallic Cat. It’ll be a sale for the ages.
