Page 36 - Barrel Stallion Register 2017

SPEEDLINES
World on, Chilena, and Buckwood. They were all outstanding rodeo roping horses.”
“Anyway, I bred this mare to Speedywood and I got this colt that I cut,” Mel continued. The gelding that made Mel Potter a tried and true Driftwood believer was called “Charlie.” Charlie went on to be a good calf horse for Mel that was used for heading, heeling and as a pickup horse for Mel’s Rodeo Company. He later added barrel racing to his resume when he carried JoLynn in that event.
Mel has worked to carry on the legacy and influence of Driftwood. We see that through MP Thriftwood, or Winston as he is called. Winston had a short but very successful rodeo career with Cory Petska in the saddle. They started in October of 2005 with a first in the USTRC in Waco, Texas. They followed that
up with a third in the finals of the USTRC in Oklahoma City, also in October. They then went to the Dallas Tour Finals in November, winning $12,000. The big win for this team came as the winners of the average at the
NFR in December, plus the Reserve World Championship in heeling for 2005. They won $87,000 in the NFR that year. The October through December show record earned $110,000. Winston was retired to the breeding shed after this short rodeo career. When we look at the pedigree of Winston, we see a breeding patternof4X4X3X5X6toDriftwood.
1941, 1942 & 1943 AQHA racing World Champion Shue Fly is the dam of Royal Charge, the sire of Miss Meter Charge, the dam of Jet Royal Speed, aka Hawk. Hawk gave Sherry Cervi her first WPRA Barrel Racing World Championship in 1995, and they won their
s
l a
s
e
ec
cond
d i
in
19
9
9
99
9 as
s w
wel
Potter Ranch
Mel Potter aboard MP Thriftwood, aka Winston,
who had a short but successful rodeo career. In 2005, Winston won the USTRC in Waco, Texas,
and then went on to win the NFR average and the Reserve World Championship in heeling. Winston has a 4 X 4 X 3 X 5 X 6 breeding pattern to Driftwood.
THE BARREL RACING PROGRAM
Mel learned that when you have a good horse, it is a good idea to try and duplicate that success with a horse from the same bloodlines. So when Hawk and Troubles became Sherry’s good horses, he went looking for their bloodlines for a barrel racing breeding program.
We will start our look at the pedigrees of these two barrel horses with Mel telling us what he did. “Sherry was starting to go really good, and she got Troubles, by Lay A Patch,” he said.
So, I went and bought Lay A Patch. He was nearly sterile at that time. I only got two or three colts out of him. So, I went and bought about five of his daughters. They were all half to 7/8 sisters to Troubles.”
Lay A Patch was an ROM racehorse that was stakes placed in the 1977 Utah QHA Futurity. He was sired by Rillito Deck (by Top Deck TB and out of Doll Queen by Three Bars TB). The dam of Lay A Patch was Winken Atya, an AA/ROM mare by Winken Wayne by Spotted Bull. The dam of Winken Atya was Pix Beggar Wix by Hi Beggar.
The dam of Troubles was Miss Trouble Bars, an AA rated ROM runner by Double Hi Bars. Double Hi Bars was sired by
Double R Nothin (AAA) by Three Bars
TB and out of Rosie Jo Jane. The dam of Double Hi Bar was Little Hidie, a daughter of Hi Beggar. This makes Troubles double- bred Hi Beggar. Hi Beggar was sired by Hi Step by High Time.
The dam of Miss Trouble Bars was Miss Great Depth by Great Depth by Seco Bars by Copper Bars by Three Bars TB. The dam of Great Depth was Shine Mist by Leo Jr
by Leo.
The dam of Miss Great Depth was Holey Girl by Holey Sox. Holey Sox was by Leo and out of Osage Star Lady. Holey Sox was an NCHA Bronze Award winner that earned points in eight AQHA performance events. One of those events was barrel racing, where he won 13 of 15 barrel racing classes and earned 21 points. He was a full brother to Palleo Pete, the 1954 AQHA Champion Running Two-Year-Old Colt and the 1954 AQHA Champion Running Stallion.
Mel did the same with the pedigree of Hawk, but in a little different way as he was only able to get one mare. “Then, Sherry got Hawk and he turned into a great horse for her,” he explains. “She won the World with him, so I went hunting to find some sisters
34 SPEEDHORSE
l
as t
the
e N
N
FR
R a
av
v
er
r
a
ag
ge
e.
.