Page 34 - March_2022

On The Wagon Paint My Pilot Patriotic Games
© Coady Photography
© Dustin Oroana
© Coady Photography
A Revenant’s top earner in 2021 was 2-time winner Sippin Hayden, who amassed earnings of $276,530 and finished third in the All American Futurity-G1. A homebred for Ray Willis of Rafter W Stables, Sippin Hayden was bred in New Mexico.
In addition to the success of his runners
on the racetrack, A Revenant was also well- represented in the sale ring last year, suggesting that the pipeline is full of promising runners.
At the Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale, A Revenant was represented by 12 yearlings that averaged $70,538. Among the horses sold was a $160,000 yearling colt named Fantsy Revenant Man bought by Shaun Hubbard, La Feliz Montana Ranch LLC, and Ray Willis.
“He stamps his progeny,” Dunn said of
A Revenant. “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. To hear that, and later after we started training our babies, we saw that in them. His babies are so smart. They get it. Each one of them knows what their job is. They are there to race and they know it.”
According to Dunn, the ranch has enough of A Revenant’s frozen semen for the horse’s influence to be felt for years to come.
“That’s the great thing about the ICSI process,” Dunn related. “We have enough to last a lifetime, but I am a little picky on who we deal with. I could shut his book right now for the year and be happy with breeding season, but I want to protect the investment of the breeders breeding to him and keep the value of these horses high.
We’re never going to breed him to 150 mares or anything, but we’ve had a ton of interest.
“We’ve bred to a lot of the top mares in the country with the best breeders in the country showing interest in him since we acquired the semen,” Dunn continued. “When you look at
his numbers, he’s the hottest sire in our industry hands down. No disrespect to any other sires, but he is the hottest sire around. It’s an honor to be affiliated with a horse like A Revenant. I’ve been able to breed all my good mares to him and mares for clients as well. It’s special to be able to help carry on his legacy. I’m glad we’re able to do this.”
As for the future, Dunn says, “I see winners. With what we have and what I’m hearing from other people, I boldly say that A Revenant will have a better year this year than he did last
year. I am hearing so many good things and there is a lot of excitement over this horse. I
am eager to see what his runners do. The other thing that I think people are going to see is that his 3 year olds are sound and are the type of horses you can keep on with. I believe they will be even better as 3 year olds. I’m very excited about the future.”
© Jake Rogers, Ruidoso Downs
© Dustin Oroana
A Revenant’s 2021 Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Revenant Moon, shown in the Oklahoma Futurity-G2 trials.
A Revenant’s
top earner
Sippin Hayden,
shown in the All American Futurity-G1 trials.
“I see winners. With what we have and what I’m hearing from other people, I boldly say that A Revenant will have a better year this year than he did last year...I’m very excited about the future.” – Matt Dunn
32 SPEEDHORSE March 2022