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“He stamps his progeny. Shaun Hubbard (grandson of R.D. Hubbard) and his grandfather have owned some of the best racehorses in the industry, and Shaun told me that A Revenant was the smartest horse they ever owned.” – Matt Dunn
Armed with a stallion’s pedigree top
and bottom and backed by a championship title in his only season at the racetrack, A Revenant proved popular with breeders from the start and bred full books of mares in 2018 and 2019. He had every reason to inspire confidence as a stallion, including a win-
early pedigree. His sire Mr Jess Perry was a Champion 2 Year Old and Champion 2-Year- Old Colt on the racetrack. The multiple Grade 1 winner and multiple track-record setter made an indelible mark on the breed as an influential stallion before passing away in 2017. The perennial leading sire is one of only three stallions in AQHA history to sire the winners
of more than $59 million and he is represented by 9 Champions from 23 crops to race.
A Revenant’s dam Thewayouwantmetoo has produced 13 foals and boasts 7 winners from 11 starters, including Grade 1-placed Belle Helene (by Valiant Hero), Luv Supreme (by Mr Jess Perry), and The Hiway (Mr Jess Perry)—the latter pair full siblings to A Revenant. As a racehorse, Thewayouwantmetoo was not as accommodating to her rivals as her name suggests. In winning the 2004 Rainbow Futurity-G1, she set a 400-yard track record at Ruidoso Downs, stopping the timer in a lively :19.209. The Texas-bred banked $327,953 in a career that saw her win four of 11 lifetime starts and place in two others.
After A Revenant succumbed to laminitis
in August of 2019, Matt and Bendi Dunn
of Dunn Ranch in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, acquired the stallion’s frozen semen and has offered it to breeders through ICSI breedings to the Champion and Champion sire.
“Seeing the horses that were training and talking to the trainers and seeing how everything was progressing so fast, it was an easy decision for me (to purchase the frozen semen),” said Matt Dunn. “It was just a matter of getting the semen bought. Everyone that I’ve ever talked to that has an A Revenant baby says that they are the smartest babies they have in training. They all have talent, and they are natural racehorses.
“One thing that I really liked about him was that he was a 440 horse. His babies are 440 horses. Almost every baby of his that I have seen has the size and the bone it takes to be that All American and 440-type horse that everybody is looking for. He just stood out in every way possible to me.” Matt Dunn
A Revenant winning his Rainbow Futurity trial.
© Ruidoso Downs
© Mark Herron/ TRACK Magazine
© Coady Photography
© Mark Herron/ TRACK Magazine
A Passion For Flashn Captain Force Eye Am King
30 SPEEDHORSE March 2022