Last December, Beau Galyean, Marietta, OK, put his truck up as collateral, in order to borrow money from the bank to purchase a High Brow Cat son that he saw advertised on the Internet.

Yesterday, Galyean claimed cutting’s most coveted title, the NCHA Futurity Open Championship, with a 222-point win on that horse, Metallic Cat. The triumph earned $250,000 for Metallic Cat’s current owner, Alvin Fults, a non-pro competitor and commodities broker from Amarillo, TX.

With the victory, Galyean, 28 (in center of photo, flanked by Wes and Jody), became the third member of his immediate family to win the NCHA Futurity. His younger brother, Wes, captured the 2004 NCHA Open Futurity on Spots Hot, and his father, Jody, won the event in 1986 on Royal Silver King. Jody’s father Kenneth Galyean, is an AQHA Hall of Fame trainer, as well.

Beau had veered away from horses in school, where he earned a golf scholarship, but became hooked on cutting, when Wes, now a professional, won the Open Futurity as a non-pro rider. This past summer, Beau forfeited his non-pro status, in order to train horses.

“It sounds like a Cinderella story now, but at that time it was difficult,” said Beau. “We didn’t really have any money. For the past few years we were just trying to survive. One of my better horses last year got hurt and he was out for the rest of the year, so I had no income.

“Ashley, my wife, was extremely nervous at taking such a gamble on a horse. She was scared to death. But when I brought him home and worked him that first week, she told me it was a good buy and that she felt a lot better.

“She said he was going to change our lives, but I never dreamed how that would turn out to be. Ashley believed in him the whole time. There are so many people to thank, but I couldn’t do this without my wife.”

Metallic Cat, who Galyean purchased from Laura Teague, Fort Morgan, CO, became the fifth horse sired by High Brow Cat to win the NCHA Futurity in the past six years. The flashy roan stallion, out of Chers Shadow, by Peptoboonsmal, attracted Galyean’s attention because of his athletic ability and the stylish way he worked a cow. But when Galyean started working the colt, he also found Metallic Cat to be exceptionally smart and easy to train.

“He doesn’t take hardly any work,” Galyean noted. “He’s pretty laid back and very well-behaved.

“He is our boy. He’s like part of the family. Any time you eat, sleep and breathe these horses, you’re going to get pretty emotionally attached to them.””

Metallic Cat’s next show, according to Galyean, will probably be the Abilene Spectacular.