Page 40 - October 2023

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Sandstone Mountain was a scratch. This brings Cowboys Gun Z’s record to four starts with two wins and two seconds with earnings of $1,510,000.
The trip to the All American Futurity has been somewhat unusual for Cowboys Gun Z as he started life shortly after he was born in the sale ring at the 2021 Heritage Place Mixed Winter Sale. He and his dam were purchased by Jess Riley and his Slash Z Quarter Horses from the Running C Ranch. He was born on January 6, 2021, and sold on January 15, 2021.
The Slash Z Quarter Horses is somewhat new to the breeding business with the goal to breed racehorses. We let Jess Riley fill us in on his breeding program and how he got Cowboys Gun Z. “We live in Hico, Texas. It is my father-in-law and mother-in-law, Ron and Deedra Glass, that back us. I have been around horses all my life. My dad, Tommy Riley, manages Simmons Racing which owns Tempting Dash and Gold Heart Eagle V. My father-in-law wanted to get involved
so it has been about six years that we have been breeding and selling babies. If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have a breeding operation.”
Riley explained their business plan. “We rarely keep anything to run, maybe a few here and there. Usually, it is a filly I would like to try that I am going to put back into the breeding program or a colt that didn’t sell like I thought he should. Our goal is to breed and sell the foals.”
Riley and Glass are always on the lookout for broodmares, and they like to look around at the sales. He told the story this way about the day they found CF Smokin Gun, a Tres Seis daughter. “It was at the January Heritage Sale. Just about every sale I go to, I mosey around and see if there is anything I am interested in and anytime there is a Tres Seis mare or filly, it is worth looking at them. Those Tres Seis mares are pretty amazing as broodmares go.”
He continued about when they found her in the catalog. “She already had a baby that had made over $100,000 named Relentless Gun. My father-in-law got to stop by first and here she is with a baby. The catalog showed that she was carrying a Flying Cowboy 123 foal and that was his first crop. So, I was real interested in seeing what he looked like. He called me and said, ‘You need to come here and look at this colt. He
is the prettiest baby I have ever seen.’ I went to the stall and looked in and I thought holy smoke, he looked like a little painting. He was the prettiest colt I had ever seen.”
The question was could they afford her? “To be honest, a Tres Seis mare with a colt on her side that already looked that good, I thought there is no way she was going to be in our price range. I thought she was going to bring over $100,000. She was a pretty mare, and she had that baby and she had already had a stakes winner. I didn’t think we could afford her but thought we will see what she does. We hung out the rest of the day and it was time for her to go into the sale ring. So, we went up to see what she would bring. She got stuck at
I think around $40,000. We hit her once or twice and we got her. I think we got her for $50,000 or $52,000.”
He readily admits that the bottom side of her pedigree didn’t look very strong, but her being sired by Tres Seis was key. As he put it, “I am not interested so much in what is on the bottom because the stats on these Tres Seis mares is unreal as they have crossed well on a number of stallions like Apollitical Jess, Tempting Dash and Kiss My Hocks. So, I have been interested in Tres Seis mares since
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SPEEDLINES
My father-in-law wanted to get involved so it has been about six years that we have been breeding and selling babies. If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have a breeding operation.” - Jess Riley
Cowboys Gun Z’s broodmare sire is Tres Seis.
38 SPEEDHORSE October 2023
“I am not interested
so much in what is on
the bottom because the stats on these Tres Seis mares is unreal as they have crossed well on
a number of stallions
like Apollitical Jess, Tempting Dash and
Kiss My Hocks.”
- Jess Riley
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