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VS Phantom Code

VS Phantom Code Races to the $1 Million Mark

By May 2, 2022No Comments

VS Phantom Code entered this year as the leading freshman Western performance sire thanks to the efforts of his first foal crop. Four months into the year, his first bunch of youngsters made their father an EquiStat Elite $1 Million Sire.

 

The red roan stallion owned by Thomas and Lisa Guinn, of Philadelphia, Mississippi, put an exclamation point on the title when two sons from his freshman crop – stallions Reybels Cause and Third Edge – each marked a huge 229 to share the Open Championship at the NCHA Super Stakes.

 

Sixty-six of his offspring won a collective $1,071,545 recorded in the EquiStat database as of April 29, making VS Phantom Code the first son of his father, EquiStat Elite $51 Million Sire Metallic Cat, to become an EquiStat Elite $1 Million Sire.

 

Royal Family Tree

Bred by Fults Ranch Ltd, of Amarillo, Texas, VS Phantom Code is out of EquiStat Elite $2 Million Dam Sweet Abra (by Abrakadabracre). He was bought by the Guinns prior to beginning his competition career, after catching Thomas Guinn’s eye in the practice pen – a story that is part of an upcoming feature on VS Phantom Code in Horse of The West.

 

VS Phantom Code was extremely successful as a show horse, entering the breeding shed after winning more than $437,965 during his show years. While in the cutting pen, he was the 2017 National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Open Horse of the Year and earned membership into the NCHA Horse Hall of Fame.

 

He got off to a strong start in the breeding shed with 162 registered American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) born in 2018. They reached futurity-age last year, and midway through their derby year have earned a collective $1,071,545 recorded in the EquiStat database as of April 29.

 

That puts VS Phantom Code at $1 million about a month faster than his sire, Metallic Cat, whose first crop earned him the distinction in June of their 4-year-old year after the Pacific Coast Cutting Horse Association (PCCHA) Derby show.

 

VS Phantom Code reached the all-important benchmark mostly through his progeny’s cutting earnings, which comprised $971,579 of his total offspring earnings in EquiStat as of April 29. However, his sons and daughters also earned more than $99,000 in reined cow horse earnings so far.

 

“Across disciplines he is now a million dollar sire [and] he is also just shy of becoming a million dollar sire in cutting money alone,” Roberts said. “And, with the Breeders Invitational coming up, will he cross that mark in May?”

 

The leading earners sired by VS Phantom Code, according to EquiStat:

  • NCHA Super Stakes Open Co-Champion Third Edge ($132,663, out of Lil Rattler x Dual Rey)
  • NCHA Super Stakes Open Co-Champion Reybels Cause ($$80,777, out of Twice As Reycy x Dual Rey)
  • Ferrocious ($74,430, out of Ferrarey x Dual Rey)

The Future

As excited as VS Phantom Code‘s connections are for his progeny’s success in cutting and reined cow horse, they’re also pleased to see his offspring have the diversity to succeed in other disciplines. While the stallion’s emphasize in the breeding shed will remain on cutting, he’s already sired some winning rope horses in his first crop, including Firstt Rebel, who won the Roping Futurities of America High Stakes Heading in February.

 

With the many incentives up for grabs in disciplines of barrel racing and roping, Roberts said being able to sire offspring with the ability to compete in the wider performance horse landscape is an opportunity for today’s stallion.

 

Horses from elite Western performance horse backgrounds are competing in other disciplines and, in some cases, are being specifically sought out by breeders. Some Western performance horse breeders also have reached across disciplines more in the past few years – an example being the handful of finalists at the 2021 National Reining Horse Association (NRHA) Futurity that were sired by cutting stallions or out of mares by cutting sires.

 

“The opportunity for performance horse sires now is is bigger, better and greater than ever before,” Roberts said.

 

Quarter Horse News
by Molly Montag
View article on QHN