Page 42 - 17 February 2012

Dr. Gene White, with good friend and classmate Dr. Bud Smith, leaving the winner’s circle after Lethal Volt won a trial to the All American Futurity-G1.
who won $237,095, and the $405,333 earner Snow Big Deal by This Snow Is Royal and out of the Bully Bullion mare Fastasaspeedn Bullet. Snow Big Deal won the 2003 All American Derby-G1, setting a track record in the process.
Dr. White’s knowledge of anatomy, form and function are solid assets in choosing part- nership prospects. “He understands conforma- tion,” said Heydenreich. “He lives with horses day and night and has a tremendous amount of knowledge.”
Partner Jerry Cate of Haslet, Texas, who became a client when Dr. White treated Cate’s daughter’s barrel horse, agrees. “With his background, he sees things someone else might miss,” Cate said.
selection strategy
When selecting new prospects at the Heritage Place or Ruidoso sales, the mix of partners, who also includes Wayne Metcalf of Ruidoso, New Mexico; Mike Briscoe of Eagle Mountain, Texas; Dan Adams of Decatur, Texas; and P.K. Thomas of Aledo, Texas, sets their sights on outstanding and correct young- sters that have unproven sires with big names farther down in their pedigrees.
“We can’t afford the First Down Dashes, Corona Cartels and Mr Jess Perrys,” said Dr. White. “We try to stay in that next best level of sires, and we also try to pick a stallion that we think is going to be a good sire and buy some- thing out of his first foal crop. If you get a good bloodline and a good individual that’s correct and straight, you have a shot.”
stiff comPetition
The partnership’s limited budget is their greatest challenge. “It’s tough to compete with the numbers and superior breeding of the horses involved,” Dr. White says. “When you make payments on your futurity and derby horses and look at the list of all the horses that made that payment, we’re sitting there with one or two babies and several others will have 18 to 25 head. Breeding-wise, they wouldn’t trade any one
of theirs for one of mine—they’re First Down Dashes, Mr Jess Perrys and Corona Cartels— and there we are with a two-year-old by a son or a grandson of one of those great sires.”
Yet by choosing good bloodlines and great conformation, along with top trainers, they’ve managed to garner some solid wins.
Dr. White starts most of his babies with Springtown, Texas, trainer Marvin Hayes— also a former jockey and successful cowboy cartoonist. “He puts a good foundation on them before we send them to the track,” Dr. White said. “That’s a very important part of their futures, failure or success.”
Two of the White partnership’s latest
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SPEEDHORSE, February 17, 2012