EquiStat 2023 Top Freshman Sires

The race for the Top Freshman Sire title isn’t a fast one. It is won in the years the sire is shown, then through advertising in the year it’s announced he’ll go to the breeding shed, then in the nurturing of broodmares and the birthing of foals, later yet it’s in the marketing of yearlings and the training of two-year-olds and finally those horses will have their futurity show season. That’s what has gone into making the 2023 EquiStat Top Western Performance Horse Freshman Sire, CR Gotcha Covered.

In 2023, it was the foals born in 2020 that took the cutting, reining and reined cow horse futurities by storm, and decided the freshman sire standings for their fathers.

The final major futurity in the historic campaign was the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Championship Futurity, and even after the other major futurities it was a tight race for freshman sire with CR Gotcha Covered pushing ahead as well as Dual Reyish and Rollz Royce close on his heels. In the end, it was CR Gotcha Covered that came out on top in two categories. He is the EquiStat 2023 Western Performance Horse Top Freshman Sire and EquiStat 2023 Reined Cow Horse Top Freshman Sire. Rollz Royce took the cake in cutting as the EquiStat 2023 Cutting Top Freshman Sire and Ruf Lil Magnum captured EquiStat 2023 Reining Top Freshman Sire.

Top Stallion

Owners of CR Gotcha Covered, Joel and Jayne Colgrove made major decisions with the help of EquiStat Elite $3 Million Rider Tarin Rice and his wife Katie. The Rice’s spent days on the road with the stallion and managed his busy schedule on a day to day basis.

“We (Tarin and Joel & Jayne Colgrove) had this goal in mind when we set out to breed Gotcha,” said Rice. “We wanted to give him the best chance at some of the industry’s top mares, in order to give him the very best opportunity of having a couple of foals ‘hit’ in the show pen that first year.”

Rice rode “Gotcha” to $301,106 in the show pen and won the 2019 NCHA Open World Championship on the horse as a 7-year-old.

“That was one of the biggest deciding factors when we chose to show Gotcha his 7-year-old year, after retiring from aged events. We felt like we had a horse that we could potentially win the Open World Championship on, and have a lot of enjoyment doing it,” Rice said. “We also knew we hadn’t been able to show everyone outside of a couple of states, what kind of horse we thought Gotcha really was, and could be. We believed that hauling Gotcha would not only end up leading us to the World Finals, but also allow us to showcase him to people who had never seen or heard of him.”

The campaign paid off, and the stallion developed a fan base far and wide while breeding about 80 mares. Unlike some stallion owners, they waited out his aged-event career before really focusing on his stallion career.

“They wanted to have a big enough book of mares that first year to really give Gotcha the very best chance at becoming a champion sire. Having been around previous stallions, Joel and I both knew how important that first foal crop would be,” Rice explained. “It’s easy to look back now and feel like the smartest person in the room, when in reality, none of us know how it will turn out until it does, we were fortunate that both of Joel and I’s plan came to fruition.” 

“We were able to capture the 2019 NCHA Open World Championship for CR Gotcha Covered, all the while breeding him for the first time that year, and having that foal crop, which was born in 2020, go above and beyond to have Gotcha recognized as the EquiStat Western Performance Horse Top Freshman Sire and EquiStat Reined Cow Horse Top Freshman Sire.”

About The Stats

Earnings from closed incentives not open to all horses or riders are excluded, and money won by clones or offspring of clones may be attributed to the clone’s donor. This statistical review contains information that was compiled, researched and tabulated by EquiStat, a division of Morris Equine Group. The Top Freshman Sire statistics rank sires based on earnings from Jan. 1, 2023 through Dec. 31, 2023. The sires in these statistics sired their first foal crops in 2020.

Disclaimer: This list was compiled using information contained in EquiStat statistics and other industry publications. AQHA records were used to determine eligibility as a freshman sire; therefore, stallions with offspring in other countries or associations — including those born prior to 2020 or those born later in 2020 due to different breeding seasons in other parts of the world — may be included. Although we have made every effort to compile a complete and accurate list, stallions not regularly advertised or those whose offspring have not been registered with AQHA may not be included.

EquiStat 2023 Western Performance Horse Top Freshman Sires

Stallion/Progeny Earnings/# of Performers/Avg. Earnings

1CR Gotcha Covered (Dualin Boon x The Catattac x High Brow Cat)$417,01115$27,8012Rollz Royce (Dual Smart Rey x Show Biz Kitty x High Brow Cat)$355,66335$10,1613Dual Reyish (Hottish x A Little Reylena x Dual Rey)$192,21012$16,0184Scooter Kat (Kit Kat Sugar x Scooters Daisy Dukes x Dual Smart Rey)$72,1683$24,0565Cool N Hot (Hottish x Donas Cool Cat x High Brow Cat)$41,42510$4,1436Spots Heff (Spots Hot x Stylin Playgirl x Docs Stylish Oak)$37,7202$18,8607Ruf Lil Magnum (Magnum Chic Dream x Dunit A Lil Ruf x Lil Ruf Peppy)$27,3466$4,558
8One Shiney Metallic (Metallic Cat x One Shiney Rey x Dual Rey)$24,0653$8,0229Bet Hes Black (Bet Hesa Cat x Soula Jule Forever x Soula Jule Star)$22,9441$22,94410The Animal (Cat Ichi x My Little Abra x Abrakadabracre)$22,7322$11,36611No Rey Jose (Dual Rey x Redneck Style x Docs Stylish Oak)$18,4401$18,44012SF Hottish Lumi Cat (Hottish x Ima Phat Cat x High Brow Cat)$15,9781$15,97813Gringo Love (CD Diamond x Whiz N Spark x Topsail Whiz)$12,2001$12,20014Visionarey (Dual Rey x Dances In The Sand x SR Instant Choice)$11,9311$11,93115Prettyboys Sprat (Pretty Boy Cat x Sprats Dualin Jewel x Lenas Jewel Bars)$7,1831$7,18316Chic Dreamin (Magnum Chic Dream x Skeets Red Dun It x Skeets Peppy)$6,9376$1,15617Gunna Stop (Gunnatrashya x Stop Little Sister x Magnum Chic Dream)$5,3131$5,31318Metallics MVP (Metallic Cat x My Lizzy Babe x Lizzys Gotta Player)
$5,2291
$5,22919Modern Gun (Gunners Special Nite x Taris Modern Design x Mr Boomerjac)$4,4915$89820Very Black Magic (Very Smart Remedy x Magical Lena x Little Lenas Legend)$4,0501$4,050 EquiStat Cutting Top Freshman Sire Sire Rollz Royce * Photo by Debbie Roberts EquiStat 2023 Cutting Top Freshman Sires

Stallion/Progeny Earnings/# of Performers/Avg. Earnings

1Rollz Royce$334,01330$11,1342CR Gotcha Covered$277,14512$23,0953Dual Reyish$191,70911$17,4284Spots Heff$37,7202$18,8605The Animal$22,7322$11,3666Cool N Hot$21,8148$2,7277 Prettyboys Sprat$7,1831$7,1838Metallics MVP$5,2291$5,2299One Shiney Metallic$4,3791$4,37910O Lucky Man$1,4671$1,467 EquiStat Reining Top Freshman Sire Ruf Lil Magnum ridden by Thiago Boechat in 2017. * Photo by Waltenberry EquiStat 2023 Reining Top Freshman Sires

Stallion/Progeny Earnings/# of Performers/Avg. Earnings

1Ruf Lil Magnum$26,0665$5,2132Chic Dreamin$6,9376$1,1563Gunna Stop$5,3131$5,3134Modern Gun$4,4915$8985Purley Smart Boon 16$2,6331$2,6336Dream Big Blue Eyes$2,1571$2,1577Chicowhiz$1,7732$8868Custom Ryan $7651$7659Gotta Chex Your Gun$7281$72810ARC Lone Pine Dun It$5391$539 EquiStat Reined Cow Horse Top Freshman Sire CR Gotcha Covered being ridden by Tarin Rice during the 2017 Super Stakes. * QHN File Photo EquiStat 2023 Reined Cow Horse Top Freshman Sires

Stallion/Progeny Earnings/# of Performers/Avg. Earnings

1CR Gotcha Covered$139,8663$46,6222Scooter Kat$72,1683$24,0563Bet Hes Black$22,9431$22,9434Rollz Royce$21,6505$4,3305One Shiney Metallic$19,6862$9,8436Cool N Hot$19,6122$9,8067No Rey Jose$18,4401$18,4408SF Hottish Lumi Cat$15,9781$15,9789Gringo Love$12,2001$12,20010Visionarey$11,9311$11,931