Marvine Ranch serves a double
Marvine Ranch, Meeker, CO, scored a double in Abilene Spectacular open competition, when Quintan Blue and Roger Wagner (pictured) won today’s 5 & 6-Year-Old Classic with 228 points. Copaspepto had won the Abilene Spectacular 4-Year-Old division for Marvine Ranch under Tag Rice, on Sunday.
Dual Smart Rey, ridden by Phil Rapp for Strawn Valley Ranch, set today’s bar with a winning 226-point performance as the first horse in the second set of the Classic. But Quintan Blue and Wagner, who had topped the go-rounds with 439 points, drew twelfth to work and left no doubt that they were out to beat Dual Smart Rey’s score.
With the $21,000 win, Quintan Blue, the NCHA earner of $476,236, now ranks sixth among all-time leading cutting mares, behind Meradas Little Sue ($670,098), Little Badger Dulce ($657,276), Chiquita Pistol ($524,243), Miss Silver Pistol ($504,286), and Little Pepto Gal ($480,965).
“I’ve never ridden one as smart as she is,” said Wagner of the Mecom Blue daughter. “I Sho Spensive was a great mare. She was a hell of an athlete and fast and quick to the stop. But this mare is on her own as far as I’m concerned as to how she thinks about a cow.”
I Sho Spensive, previously owned by Jim Vangilder, Jackson, MO, and shown by Wagner, was purchased by Jon Winkelreid, co-president of Goldman Sachs investment banks and owner of Marvine Ranch, in 2005 from Peter and Nora Stent, who had acquired the mare from Vangilder.
Last summer, Winkelreid purchased Quintan Blue from Vangilder, who had ridden her as champion of the 2006 NCHA Super Stakes Non-Pro Classic and the 2005 NCHA Non-Pro Derby. Wagner had also ridden the mare as reserve champion of the 2004 NCHA Futurity.
“It was a hard decision,” said Wagner, Vangilder’s resident trainer and adviser, referring to the sale of Quintan Blue. “We had people interested in her, of course. But Jon came with a pretty stout offer. It was a lot of money to turn down.”
You can listen to announcer’s Tom Holt’s observations on the Abilene Spectacular on Cutting Edge News through www.nchacutting.com
