American Rope Horse Futurity Association (ARHFA) owners Jay and Lindsay Wadhams have produced rope horse futurities large and small across the United States for many years. Since 2008, the Wadhamses have submitted results from all of their rope horse futurities to Robin Glenn Pedigrees, which is now QData. The one-of-a-kind database tracks performance earnings as well as AQHA points and awards.
Beginning in 2017, the ARHFA coordinated with National Reined Cow Horse Association leadership to hold the $110,000-added World Championship Rope Horse Futurity in conjunction with the Snaffle Bit Futurity in Fort Worth, Texas. Coming up on its fourth year, the event has generated higher payout and participation numbers while attracting greater interest in the pedigrees that excel. For the first time, ARHFA All-Time Leading Sire and Dam charts are highlighted in the Team Roping Journal, with Bobby Lewis’ Dual Spark and Jack Bogart’s Jacks Royal Ginger topping their respective categories.
Harrison’s and Lewis’ Dual Patron Dominates ARHFA World Championship Heeling
Back-to-Back: Harrison Wins Second-Consecutive ARHFA World Heeling Title, This Time Aboard Dual Axle
Topping both the ARHFA All-Time Leading Sires list and emerging as leading sire of the ARHFA World Championship Futurity is Bobby Lewis Quarter Horses’ Dual Spark. Dual Spark has sired earners of $135,375 in the ARHFA since statistics were recorded in 2008, $90,500 of which has been earned at the ARHFA World Championships between 2017 and 2019.
By Dual Pep and out of the Shining Spark daughter Dolittle Lena, Dual Spark is a three-time AQHA High Point Cutting Champion (2008-2009, 2012) with $61,669 in earnings and 197.5 AQHA points. Dual Spark notched aged event earnings in the NRCHA as a futurity and derby horse before securing prestigious cutting championships like the Senior Cutting win at the 2010 San Antonio Livestock Show. Dual Spark was ridden to second overall at the 2014 NRCHA World’s Greatest Horseman by Lewis.
Bred by Circle Star Land and Cattle Company, Dual Patron leads Dual Spark’s ARHFA World Championship Futurity earners with $38,500 from Fort Worth. Out of the CD O Cody mare Look At Her Glo, Dual Patron was the 2018 ARHFA Open Heeling World Champion with Joseph Harrison. Harrison has a long history with the bloodline, having helped prepare Dual Spark for NRCHA World’s Greatest Horseman steer stopping when the stallion and Lewis were still active in the show pen together.
“I’d like to thank Bobby for letting me ride Dual Patron,” Harrison said, when interviewed after winning the heeling title in Fort Worth. “He’s such a great horse and I’ve had a chance to ride a lot of great horses thanks to Bobby. He’s got a great breeding program and great training facility.”
Full sister to Dual Patron, J Lows Glo has won $29,750 in Fort Worth alone to help propel Dual Spark to top sire status. J Lows Glo earned the 2017 Open Heeling Reserve World Futurity Championship ridden by Harrison for Lewis. Both Dual Patron and J Lows Glo are 2013 models. CSR Dual Boonlite added $21,000 to Dual Spark’s total, with reserve honors in the 2019 Open Heeling in Fort Worth. Ridden by Harrison and owned by Lewis, CSR Dual Boonlite is out of the Peptoboonsmal daughter Dance In The Boonlite.
Incidentally, Harrison’s rodeo mount and former PRCA Horse of the Year runner up, Lula Dual, is also by Dual Spark.
Leading the ranks as top-producing ARHFA broodmare of all time with $101,292 in progeny earnings is Jacks Royal Ginger owned by Jack Bogart Quarter Horses in Oologah, Oklahoma. Sired by Zan Parr Jack, the 2003 palomino mare is out of the Stampedes Light daughter Honey Five Stampede.
Jacks Royal Ginger is the dam of Shesa Royal Cat by Cat Ichi. Shesa Royal Cat is an earner of $19,000 at the ARFHA World Championships in both heading and heeling. Jacks Royal Ginger is also the dam of Two Eyed Meterman by Freckles Meterman that was ridden by Casey Hicks to the 2018 ARHFA World Championship Futurity Open Heading reserve title. Her produce record also includes Jacks Lil Cash and Jacks Ichi Cat, both standouts for the Bogart family.
The Bogarts raised Jacks Royal Ginger after buying her dam from a local breeder.
“We bought Honey Five Stampede from a guy in Bartlesville, Oklahoma,” Jack Bogart said. “He had this really nice buckskin mare, but he was a halter horse guy and didn’t really need her. I bought her for $1,500. She was old. She was probably already 19 or 20 when we bought her. We took her over to the Lazy E and bred her to Zan Parr Jack and that foal was Jacks Royal Ginger.”
She did not enter the world with halter prospect looks, but Jacks Royal Ginger was destined for big things in the show pen and as a producer.
“When Jacks Royal Ginger was born, she looked just like a little Santa Gertrudis calf,” Bogart said. “She had a funny nose and a bunch of red curly hair, but you could tell she was going to turn palomino. And she did; she matured into a pretty mare.”
The would-be leading broodmare could’ve left Bogart’s ownership as a foal had he opted to cash out.
“So, Butch Wise at Lazy E called me and he said, ‘Eddie Gaylord wants to buy that baby of yours.’ She was the only palomino that Zan Parr Jack had sired. I said, ‘Well, I don’t want to sell her; she’s not for sale.’ He said they’d write me a blank check for her, but I turned it down and we left the mare there and rebred her. The second baby was a bay, but she ended up being a big time mare, too. Robbie Schroeder showed her in the AQHA calf roping and team roping and she was a world champion.”
Jacks Royal Ginger was shown successfully by C.R. Bradley in AQHA calf roping and heeling. Jack and Patti Bogart’s son, Paul, rode her to a number of wins, including the AQHA Reserve World Championship in Amateur Heading in 2010. Seeing the mare earn powerhouse producer status affirms the Bogart family’s belief in broodmare power.
“Two years ago, we had three that we bred make the finals of the rope horse futurity in Fort Worth,” said Jack, who raises between five and nine foals a year.
That was in 2018, the year Bogart’s palomino gelding, Two Eyed Meterman, was reserve in the Open Heading. Shesa Royal Cat was a finalist in both the heading and heeling, while Miss Kittys King Cat, out of Gay Wooden Heart and by Cats Moonshine, also made the heading finals. All were ridden by Casey Hicks. Two Eyed Meterman came back in 2019 to place sixth with Paul in the Non Pro Heading.
Jacks Royal Ginger was sold to Brazil and is now deceased, however, the Bogarts are hard at work extending her genetics through Shesa Royal Cat.
“We’ll flush Shesa Royal Cat next year and keep roping on her,” Jack said of the mare known affectionately as “Irene.” Plans include breeding to NRCHA and NCHA superstars Hickory Holly Time, Metallic Cat and Stevie Rey Von.
Of what he looks for when making breeding decisions, Bogart says he’s not one to underestimate maternal genetics.
“For me, I’m an old cow breeder. So for cattle, it’s all about the heritage of the cow,” he said. “On the dam’s side, if you’ve got a mare that’s a strong milker with strong bones and a big, strong frame, then that’s what you’ll get more of. If you’ve got a weak link in one of those areas on the dam side, I believe that will show up in a 4- or 5-year-old colt when you get ready to really do something with it. Say if you’ve got a stifle problem, you can kind of plan on that showing up later in what she produces. I look for them to be sound, good minded and easy to get around as a baby, a yearling, a 2-year-old.”
Jack says the foals out of Jacks Royal Ginger shared a lot of the same desirable traits. All were palomino and close in size—between 14.3 and 15 hands tall, heavy hipped and really good minded.
With nine coming-2-year-olds, the Bogart family is as excited as ever about their program.
“Chris Dawson starts our 2-year-olds and sometimes he will end up keeping the ones that are suited for the Snaffle Bit Futurity,” Jack said. “He’s got three right now, and one of those is entered in the Snaffle Bit Futurity in Fort Worth. The other two, we’ll just have to see.”
Jack is thankful for the friends he’s met in the roping world and especially grateful that his son, Paul, who works in the music industry as a Nashville-based recording artist, has also been able to enjoy competing successfully on their horses.
“We’ve been really, really fortunate,” Jack said. “Paul has been making his way in the music industry for a few years now, but has really excelled in the heading and has been able to take our colts and win on them. Dick Yates started him roping; he was about 8. We went to a clinic and Dick told him, ‘You just stick with me.’ I think that was the difference in him starting out the right way.”
Not only has Paul earned prestigious titles like that of 2014 AQHA World Champion in Amateur Heading on home-raised CD Wooden Heart (Gay Wooden Heart x CD Olena), many wellknown ropers have excelled on Bogart horses. It’s safe to say we’ll see more of that in the future.
While the American Rope Horse Futurity Association All-Time Leading Sire and Dam charts reflect data submitted to Robin Glenn Pedigrees since 2008, the leading sire and dam charts reflecting the ARHFA World Championship Futurity events consist of data from those events held between 2017 and 2019.
“It’s going to be the lifesaver to the AQHA side of showing horses,” Jack Bogart said of the ARHFA. “There’s all kinds of ropings where you don’t see horse earnings tracked but, as a breeder and owner, it’s nice to see these horses recognized.”
The Bogart family is heavily invested in AQHA competition and produces the Oil Can Classic each year in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which features an ARHFA-sanctioned futurity.
“We’ve been involved in the ARHFA since Jay started having them,” Jack said. “We’ve given away a lot of money over the past four or five years in the rope horse futurity at Tulsa. I’m guessing $300,000. The ARHFA is a big draw. The horses are great. It really adds to the shows.”
