Hitting The Books -
Einstein chalks up his first major victory as a sire.
For a young sire, Great Resolve is off to a good start. His is a trend that seems to be playing a starring role in recent reining events.
At the NRHA Futurity last year, Conquistador Whiz (by Topsail Whiz out of Sugarita Chex by Bueno Chex) proved himself a sire when a first-crop colt won the Open Championship. KR Lil Conquistador (out of Smart Little Prize by Smart And Trouble) won the Futurity after scoring 225 points.
Now, it was a first-crop colt by Great Resolve
that patterned his way into winning NRBC history. Known as Einstein, Great Resolve sired Einsteins Resolve, the 4-year-old stallion that performed to 232 points and the 2006 NRBC Championship.
So, where did he get that name – Einstein? It all goes back to a legendary reining sire named Great Pine, and that stallion’s owner, Larry Rose. To this day, Great Pine is the leading maternal grandsire of reining horses. Going by last year’s figures, Great Pine’s daughters had produced offspring that earned more than $2 million in the pen.
As a paternal grandsire, however, Great Pine is also pretty darn impressive. By the middle of 2005, his grandsons had won just over $1 million reining dollars. Most of that – $147,377 worth – was thanks to Einstein and his show success with Tim McQuay. Second on that list was Miss Tinseltown, a mare McQuay rode to $113,747. Both of those horses are by Great Red Pine, a Great Pine stallion that has sired foals that have amassed over a half million in earnings.
Einstein is out of Silversnow Pinestep, by
Greyhound Step. Rose bred and started the horse and in August of the stallion’s 3-year-old year, sold Einstein to Pontisso Enterprises from Italy. From Rose’s perspective, Great Resolve was smart and deserving of a special nickname.
“He was the greatest horse I ever rode,” Rose
said, not long after selling the horse. “Einstein was the first horse I broke in 20 years and I was the only person who rode him. I can remember that Great Pine was almost as good, but training has changed a lot since then.”
From the sounds of things, Einstein’s early training went quite well. The colt’s movements reminded Rose of what he felt with Great Pine.
“He just trotted around and the first time I said
‘whoa’ and picked up, I could just feel that same feeling—he just hit that ground with his hocks,” Rose said. McQuay, who had already had a great deal of experience and success with Great Pine get and grandget, recognized commonalities among those reiners. |
|
Great Resolve, better known as "Einstein" |
First, there was the low headedness and the tolerant attitudes. Then, there were the stops.
“The really good Great Pines, they would use their back to stop — just curl their back and stop real strong,” McQuay said. “That was something that definitely got passed along in the good ones. You can’t teach a horse to stop like that. They have to want to stop like that – and I love it!”
With McQuay at the reins, Einstein performed to the Open Championship at the 2000 Congress Reining Futurity and then finished third at the NRHA Futurity. As a 4-year-old, Einstein made the finals at both the NRBC and NRHA Derby with McQuay riding. In 2002, Duane Latimer rode Einstein to 14th place at the NRBC and eighth place at the NRHA Derby (Latimer rode the horse because McQuay was ill at the time and was not able to show Einstein).
When it was all said and done, Einstein showed
just seven times and won $147,377. He was retired in 2002, the same year his first crop of 19 foals arrived. In total (not counting his 2006 arrivals), Einstein has sired 75 registered Quarter Horse foals.
In January 2005, Einstein was sold to Bridgette
Lanham, Eastover, S.C. He currently stands at the Vandorp Ranch in Pilot Point, Texas. For more information about the stallion, visit www.einsteininfo.net or call Paige Olsen, Vandorp Ranch’s breeding manager, at 214-243-9947.
|
