Size. Color. Stopping power. Starey has it all, plus he’s got Bobby Lewis on his back in 2023—meaning he’s a heck of a stud option for ropers looking to breed their mares this year.

A 2013 National Reined Cow Horse Association Snaffle Bit Futurity finalist, Starey was used “like a gelding” as a ranch horse by the Cowan Select Horses program in Montana until Lewis came across him in 2019.

“He’s the perfect-size horse for me,” Lewis said. “And he’s good-boned and good-footed. He’s got high withers, a big butt and a pretty neck. He’s laid back, easy going. He can really, really run and really, really stop. All of those things can come into effect from a sire standpoint for me.”

Lewis qualified Starey to the AQHA World Show in the heading and the heeling the last few years; he was a heeling finalist at the 2021 AQHA World Show and finished in the top five in the heeling there in 2020. Starey was also the Houston Livestock Show Senior Reserve Champion in 2020. In 2022, Starey was a finalist in the Senior Heading at the AQHA World Show.

The steel-grey stud, who turns 13 in 2023, is 15 hands even and weighs 1,175 pounds—the perfect specimen to make a standout head horse. Dual Rey, Starey’s sire, is the No. 2 all-time leading sire of cutting horses, with progeny earning more than $40 million. His dam, Amanda Stargun, has earnings of more than $92,000 and her offspring have earnings in excess of $1.1 million. She is the grand-dam of performers, earning more than $270,000.