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February
1, 2005 Quarter Horse News Reprint
Royal
Blue Boon & Elaine
Hall, photo by Cappy Jackson |
Royal
Blue Boon Reigns as "First Lady of Cutting"
by
Robert Eubanks
The
influence of legendary stallion Doc Bar through
his outstanding sons and daughters and grand-get
probably never will be equaled, nor forgotten,
in the cutting horse industry.
However,
the importance of the bottom side of a horse’s
pedigree has been reinforced by the greatest producing
mare in the history of the sport — Royal Blue
Boon, a granddaughter of Doc Bar.
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The
blue roan mare, 25, by Boon Bar out of Royal Tincie
by Royal King, owned by Larry Hall Cutting Horses, Weatherford,
Texas, earned $381,764.41 in the arena, including the
championship of the 1984 Atlantic Coast Futurity in
Augusta, Ga., and impressive finishes in the National
Cutting Horse Association Triple Crown events. She ranked
30th on the list of all-time leading cutting horses
at the end of 2003, according to statistics researched
and compiled by Equi-Stat, a division of Cowboy Publishing
Group.
The
relative excellence of a stallion or mare often is settled
by subsequent generations and Royal Blue Boon has upheld
the Doc Bar tradition. And, she has done something that
even the grand old boy couldn’t do. The color of the
cutting horse landscape has been changed by her offspring,
which generally are marked by distinctive blue or red
roan hues.
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Larry
Hall, now deceased, took advantage of embryo transfer
technology to put large numbers of Royal Blue
Boon offspring in cutting horse competition, frequently
breeding four stallions a year to the great mare.
Although performance always has meant more than
paper to many cutting horse breeders, a lawsuit
settlement with the American Quarter Horse Association
in 2002 was a boost to the Royal Blue Boon line.
The
lawsuit settlement allowed registration of more
than one foal produced each year by a mare.
Royal
Blue Boon has produced 18 foals with 16 performers
earning $2,498,079 for an average of $156,129.96.
The next leading broodmare is Playboys Ruby, owned
by Phil and Mary Ann Rapp, also of Weatherford,
with $1,368,804 earned by 10 performers. Jazabell
Quixote, owned by Harden Ranch, Weatherford, Texas,
ranks third with with $1,268,613 earned by 25
offspring.
First-generation
descendants of Royal Blue Boon have won the NCHA
Futurity, championships of other top aged cutting
events and NCHA World titles. But these accomplishments
really are only the start of her story. Her daughters
have produced 29 performers with earnings of $1,231,684,
an average of $42,471.87. Among her first-generation
and second-generation offspring are stallions
and mares that are positioned to affect the industry
for many years to come.
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Royal
Blue Boon
photo by John Brasseaux |
Red
White And Boon, a 1980 gelding by Smart Little Lena,
is the leading offspring of Royal Blue Boon with earnings
of more than $806,000, not including 2004 NCHA championship
earnings. The gelding has helped carry Mary Jo Milner
to four straight NCHA Non-Pro World Championships and
was poised to make it No. 5 for Milner heading into
the NCHA Finals show at Amarillo, Texas.
Bet
Yer Blue Boons, a 1990 Freckles Playboy mare with earnings
of more than $350,000, was the 2000 NCHA World Champion
and marked a sizzling 233 while ridden by Lindy Burch
at the 1999 World Finals in February 2000. Five foals
produced by the mare have earned $275,458.24.
Autumn
Boon, a 1994 Dual Pep mare, earned $259,685.49 while
ridden by Bill Freeman, including the Championship of
the NCHA Super Stakes, Augusta Futurity and El Cid Maturity
in 1998 and the NCHA Super Stakes Classic in 1999. The
mare already has become a significant producer with
$218,184 earned by five foals.
Daughters
of Royal Blue Boon have produced stallions like Royal
Fletch, the 1997 son of Jae Bar Fletch out of Royal
Blue Dually, that won the NCHA Futurity, Bets CD (CD
Olena x Bet Yer Blue Boons), Wild Thing DNA (Smart Little
Lena x Autumn Boon), Boon A Little (Smart Little Lena
x Autumn Boon), Bet On Me 498 (Smart Little Lena x Bet
Yer Blue Boons), and Seven From Heaven (Playgun x Peppys
From Heaven).
Then,
there are the breeding sons of Royal Blue Boon.
Peptoboonsmal,
a 1992 Peppy San Badger stallion out of Royal Blue Boon,
also owned by Larry Hall Cutting Horses, was ridden
by Gary Bellenfant to the Championship of the 1995 NCHA
Futurity and career earnings of $180,487.20. He has
made an incredible impact as a sire — 225 offspring
have earned $5,340,766.18 for an average of $23,736.74,
putting him in the top 20 on the all-time list of leading
sires. Again, his offspring include impressive stallions
and mares, including Little Pepto Gal, a mare which
was the 2002 NCHA Horse of the Year and has career earnings
of $501,324.94.
Boonlight
Dancer, a 1998 stallion by Peptoboonsmal, won the 2001
National Reined Cow Horse Association’s World Championship
Futurity.
Duals
Blue Boon, a 1992 son of Dual Pep out of Royal Blue
Boon, earned $197,448.66 and benefited by the lawsuit
settlement. He initially was listed with the national
DNA registry but now also is AQHA registered, increasing
his desirability as a sire. He has sired 18 performers
with earnings of $619,165.98, an average of $42,589.
Mecom
Blue, a 1995 stallion by Haidas Little Pep out of Royal
Blue Boon, sired Laredo Blue, which carried Scott Ferguson
to the Non-Pro Championship of the 2003 NCHA Futurity
and 2004 NCHA Derby and a share of the 2004 NCHA Horse
of the Year Award. He also sired Quintan Blue, a 2001
mare out of Quiolena by CD Olena, which was ridden by
Roger Wagner to the Open Reserve Championship of the
2004 NCHA Futurity. Mecom Blue, did not have his AQHA
papers, and was named Royal Blue Haida (DNA) when he
was the second-high selling yearling, going for $105,000
to Lannie Mecom of Wichita Ranch at the 1996 NCHA Futurity.
He has sired four performers with total earnings of
$389,014.69.
Laredo
Roan, a 1994 deceased son of Royal Blue Boon, by Haidas
Little Pep, sired 11 performers with earnings of $27,485.09.
Royal
Blue Boon was bred by Curt Donley, now a retired business
law and economics school teacher from Woodward, Okla.
The mare was consigned to the Dec. 12 sale at the Fort
Worth Stockyards, held during the NCHA Futurity.
The
buyer, at $6,500 or $6,700 (according to Donley’s memory),
was James L. Eakin of Floresville, Texas. In 1982, trainer
Larry Reeder, now of Fort Sumner, N.M., purchased Royal
Blue Boon from Tom Bellamy, Red Oak, Texas, at the NCHA
Futurity Sale.
Reeder
immediately knew he had a great filly on his hands and
in a sense, he got to eat his cake and have it too,
when Royal Blue Boon again was sold but remained at
his facility, which was located in Stephenville, Texas.
Larry
Hall, a plumbing contractor and non-pro cutting competitor
who had a keen eye for horse flesh, spent a great deal
of time seeking advice from Reeder and watching him
work cutting horses at Stephenville.
After
watching Reeder work Royal Blue Boon on cattle one day,
Hall came home raving about an awesome blue roan mare
he had just spotted. He convinced his wife, Elaine,
to go and watch the mare.
“I
feel privlieged that Larry had the insight that she
was a great mare and got me to agree to purchase her,”
Elaine Hall said. “He went on this mission. He saw her
and his mission was to convince me. Usually, he accomplished
his mission.”
The
Halls pooled their resources and found a partner, Wendyl
Hambrick, in order to purchase the mare.
Royal
Blue Boon earned $346,839 while ridden by Reeder, $28,244
with Larry Hall and $6,682 while shown by trainer Joe
Heim.
Reeder
and the mare marked a 215.5 for eighth place at the
1983 National Cutting Horse Association Futurity, earning
$39,269.
The
mare earned $253,945.18 in 1984, when she was ridden
by Reeder to three titles and high finishes at the NCHA
Super Stakes and NCHA Derby. At the Atlantic Coast CHA
Futurity (now Augusta Futurity), Royal Blue Boon and
Reeder marked 218 -218 - 437 and 218.5 for second place
in the semifinals before posting a 220.5 for the Championship,
which was worth $54,628.
They
also marked a 226 in the first go-round of the Bonanza
Cutting, where they tied for the Championship with a
221. Royal Blue Boon and Reeder also won the 4-year-old
Open at the Plains Futurity,
The
mare and Reeder tied for the Reserve Championship of
the NCHA Super Stakes, earning $111,371. At the NCHA
Derby, they won the semifinals with a 221 and then marked
a 214.5 for eighth place, earning $21,412. Reeder and
Royal Blue Boon also tied for third in the Open Division
at the NCHA World Championship Finals show in 1985.
Reeder
said the mare could do it all and could run and stop
with the best while keeping a cow from returning to
the herd.
The
beat goes on
Although Larry Hall died in 1996, less than a year after
Peptoboonsmal and Bellenfant captured the NCHA Futurity,
Elaine Hall has kept the breeding program thriving.
There
have been a few changes. The round pen and square pen
still stand, unused reminders of the days Larry trained
his show horses.
“Larrry
really did love Royal Blue Boon,” Elaine Hall said.
“I’m proud of Larry Hall Cutting Horse’s breeding program,”
she said. “Now, I have more mares than we ever had.
I’m trying to keep up with everything.
“I
think Royal Blue Boon’s time has come and gone. The
competition has stiffened beyond anybody’s imagination.
It is just overwhelming and exciting, the ability that
we have bred into these horses.” If Royal Blue Boon
is the queen, then Peptoboonsmal has become the king.
After
winning the Futurity, the stallion and Bellenfant captured
the Gold Coast Winter Championships and Bonanza Cutting.
Peptoboonsmal also was a finalist at the NCHA Super
Stakes and NCHA Derby.
His
first foal crop earned almost one-half million and made
a splash at the 2000 NCHA Futurity. He was the No. 4-ranked
sire in 2003 with $1,439,288 earned by 149 offspring.
Little
Pepto Gal, which earned more than $400,000, was third
at the 2001 NCHA Futurity, and in 2002, won the Bonanza
Cutting and Memphis Futurity, was second at the PCCHA
Cutting Stakes and Memphis Futurity and fifth at the
NCHA Super Stakes.
Peptoboonsmal
also sired Freckles Lena Boon, which earned more than
$255,800 and carried Hope Mitchell to the Non-Pro Championship
of the 2002 NCHA Super Stakes and Augusta Futurity,
to second place at the PCCHA Cutting Stakes and third
place at the Memphis Futurity.
Like
sires that have come before him, “Pepto” also has become
a sire’s sire. Sweet Lil Pepto, his No. 3 money earner
with $235,243.55, is a 1999 stallion out of Sweet Lil
Lena by Smart Little Lena. Boonlight Dancer ($136,252.88),
Pepto Taz ($132,448.97), Boonsmal Cee Lena ($130,411.01),
Peptotime ($118,623.83), Mylanta Lena ($98,990.16),
Yellow Roan Of Texas ($73,134.74) and Hes A Peptospoonful
($72,950.89) head a long list of stallions that are
by Peptoboonsmal. Larry Hall Cutting Horses, which owns
12 broodmares, owns two full sisters to Peptoboonsmal,
Peppys From Heaven and My Angel Of Blue. Peppys From
Heaven, a 1987 mare that earned $142,956.07, is the
top-producing daughter of Royal Blue Boon with 10 performers
that have earned $207,694.84. My Angel Of Blue, a 1996
mare and Royal Blue Boon’s last foal, never was shown
due to an injury that crippled her while she was in
training.
Patches
Of Blue, a 1994 mare by Smart Little Lena, is a full
sister to Red White And Boon, the great gelding owned
by Jim and Mary Jo Milner and an earner of more than
$800,000.
Other
members of Elaine Hall’s broodmare band are: Hickory
Good Girl, 1990, Doc’s Hickory x Clarks Good Girl; Hy
Ho Olena, 1996, Smart Little Lena x Quick O Lena, $28,985;
Lenas Sissy Moon, 1990, Doc O’Lena x Krissie Moon; Meradas
Kitty Rey, 1993, Freckles Merada x Watch Me Kitty; Miss
Hickory Merada, 1991, Freckles Merada x Miss Royal Hickory;
Miss N Jubilee, 1991, Miss N Cash x Dry Docs Jubilee;
Mollie Merada, 1991, Freckles Merada x Jetties Playgirl;
My Sweet Sheree, 1996, Freckles Playboy x Docalady,
and Smart Starlight, 1993, Smart Little Lena x Bunny
Starlight.
Deserved
rest for the ‘dearie’
Since the birth of My Angel of Blue in 1996, Elaine
Hall has made several attempts to prolong Royal Blue
Boon’s career as a broodmare.
Hall
said it’s OK that the efforts were unsuccessful, because
the grand old lady has done enough to achieve legendary
status.
A
Kelly Graham bronze of Royal Blue Boon, watching over
a special baby, Peptoboonsmal, stands outside the office
at Larry Hall Cutting Horses, which appropriately is
located just up the road from Silverado on the Brazos,
a facility that hosts the annual Brazos Bash and numerous
weekend cutting horse events.
Meanwhile,
Royal Blue Boon shares a small pasture with another
great mare, Docolady, which produced 12 performers with
earnings of $505,046.13, including One Act Play ($154,939.51)
and Some Kinda Playgirl ($80,108.74), dam of NCHA Futurity
Champion Some Kinda Memories.
“Those
two get the royal treatment around here,” Hall said.
“I hired an extra guy to groom and walk them by hand
every day so they they get plenty of exercise. Whenever
it is nice outside, they get a bath.
“I
watch what they eat. I can’t let her (Royal Blue Boon)
eat green grass, because she has a tendency to founder.
She is blanketed and tucked safely in the barn at night.
“She
has done everything you could expect her to do, and
more. She is enjoying life now, living out her lifre
as peacful as she can be. I enjoy having her here and
being able to look at her.”
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