NCHA News

Super Stakes History Spotlight

Foxie Merada, ridden by Terry Riddle.

The tougher the cattle the better, at least as far as Terry Riddle was concerned, when he showed Foxie Merada to win the 1990 NCHA Super Stakes. Foxie Merada, a Freckles Merada daughter owned by Chuck Drummond, Pawhuska, Okla., came through the Super Stakes go-rounds and semi-finals with respectable scores, then turned on the burners in the finals.

Working third in the second bunch, she handled her first cut with ease. Then Riddle drove out a cow he had marked as a stinger, when the cattle were being settled. “The second cow was a real testy kind of cow,” he noted. “That’s what I needed to cut this mare on, something that will really try her. She can handle a bad cow. She’s not going to do anything the cow doesn’t do, so the tougher it is, the better she shows.”

Foxie Merada scored 222.5 points for the Super Stakes win, and the Doc O’Lena son, Si Olena, shown by Kathy Daughn for Arrowhead Ranch, claimed the reserve championship with 222 points.

Drummond, who missed the finals while recovering from surgery, concurred with Riddle on Foxie Merada’s style. “This horse can move really quick,” said Drummond.  “On just a soft cow, she’s so quick, she can stop it before it moves. She’s got to have something that makes her go over there and do some hard stuff, for her to look pretty.”

Foxie Merada, out of Foxie Doc, by Doc Bar, was bred by Terry Riddle in partnership with Joe Ayres. When the partnership was dissolved, Riddle kept Foxie Merada, then sold her to Chuck Drummond, in December of her 2-year-old year.

“Terry had just started her on cattle when I bought her,” said Drummond, a third generation rancher, who became involved with the sport of cutting in 1983. “I went more on Terry’s recommendation than anything else, but I liked the way she was built and I liked the bloodline.”

Foxie Merada was a three-quarter sister to the Freckles Playboy gelding Playboy Bee Jay, trained by Terry Riddle and shown by Jim Milner to win the 1987 NCHA Non-Pro Super Stakes, among other limited age events, and to place fifth in the 1989 NCHA Non-Pro World standings, and earn $255,691. Riddle, who had campaigned and stood Freckles Playboy, and bred and showed Freckles Merada, out of 1975 NCHA Futurity champion Lenaette, had shown Freckles Merada’s full sister Shesa Playmate, the 1982 NCHA Derby champion owned by Riddle and Ayres, and saw many similarities between her and Foxie Merada.

“I could see she was a whole lot like Shesa Playmate,” said Riddle. “She always wants to be real tight on a cow, and that’s the way Shesa Playmate was.”

At the time of the 1990 Super Stakes, Drummond had high hopes for a full sister to Shesa Playmate. “We hope she’ll be a contender in the Futurity,” Drummond said of Playboys Mom, by Freckles Playboy out of Lenaette. “She might be better than Foxie, but she sure is going to be every bit as good.

Playboys Mom, also a full sister to Playboys Angela, reserve champion of the 1988 Super Stakes Classic, was never shown, but she left her mark as a broodmare. She produced earners of over $1 million, including Playin Stylish, champion of the 1999 Super Stakes under Kathy Daughn. Playboys Mom’s offspring were also champion producers, including Moms Stylish Babe, dam of 2017 NCHA Open Horse of the Year Moms Stylish Player LTE $410,692, winner of both the 2016 NCHA Super Stakes and the 2016 NCHA Derby.

In the spring of 1990, Chuck Drummond also began pasture breeding a young stallion he purchased on Riddle’s recommendation two years earlier, during the 1988 Super Stakes. Docs Stylish Oak, by Doc’s Oak out of Docs Stylish, would usher in a new era with Drummond-owned and bred mares, and would introduce “Style” into the cutting horse lexicon, as well. And that is a whole other story.

To read more from Sally Harrison, visit her blog at sallyharrison.com.