Arena Tracks by Penny Schlagel: Irish Luck

Lainee Shearer is a little bit Irish, or at least I’ve always wanted to believe she was. Born on St. Patrick’s Day, she also stands the stellar stallion, Irish Pay, which just reinforces my stereotype.

Lainee’s road to becoming Irish Pay’s person began with a tragedy. Just the phrase “Atlas Blizzard” makes my heart stop cold and I wasn’t affected as were my western South Dakota friends. During that infamous event, Lainee lost her stallion, Brays Moon Bug, just as his colts were ready to start. The loss of Brays Moon Bug and the possibilities she’d seen in him, left her a bit adrift. She began a search for a replacement stallion and a year later found one in her own backyard. Irish Pay was being offered at the 2013 Open Box Rafter Ranch sale. Lainee, a savvy horseman, did her background research; she went to John and Lis Hollmann’s to see the foals they had on the ground. Impressed, she went to meet Irish himself, and fell in love. His perfect pedigree and conformation were big plusses, but it was his soft eye and kind demeanor that sold Lainee on the stallion. Lainee bought him and began to create a program on which something positive could be built.

Irish Pay has spent the past 12 years fulfilling the dreams of stallion ownership. He’s produced outstanding barrel horses and placed a son in the head box of the NFR. He marks his offspring with a hardy bone and body structure as well as his trademark intelligent eye and steady as a rock constitution. Irish Pay offspring have surpassed $1,000,000 in earnings putting him in the elite rankings of performance sires nationwide.

However, as all good horses do, Irish is aging. Be assured, he shows no signs of slowing down as a sire, but Lainee is a realist and a forward thinker. For the past few years, she’s casually been looking for a junior sire to share the breeding barn with Irish Pay and cross on his outstanding daughters. However, nothing really caught her eye and made Lainee want to write a check. There are all kinds of stallions by Dash Ta Fame crossed on money winning mares. The Epic Leaders are rockstars and no one can argue the fact that The Goodbye Lane is producing stone cold winners. But those horses were pretty much BARREL horse sires. Lainee comes from ranch country growing up north of Wall, South Dakota and therefore knew the need for a versatile stallion with a solid foundation of cow breeding with an extra chaser of speed. She also has two sons who need horses they can rope and ranch on. What she needed or WANTED was Irish, only 20 years younger.

Shayne Porch is an old friend of Lainee’s, having pretty much grown up together in the Kadoka/Wall/Interior triangle. The fall of 2023, Shayne found a stallion prospect online and wanted Lainee’s opinion. The colt was a yearling off the Flag Ranch in Purcell, Oklahoma. He was by the hottest thing since jalapeno margaritas, Stevie Rey Von (Metallic Cat) and out of a stakes winning daughter of Tres Seis, Miss Perrys Tres. Miss Perrys Tres was a working girl, running out almost $60,000 as a two year old and winning, among others, her very first race, the Remington Park Oklahoma Bred Futurity Trial in 2018. Lainee looked over the colt named Perry Rey Von, didn’t see a single thing she could fault him for and told Shayne the same. Go for it. He’s a beaut.

Lainee liked that colt. Really LIKED that colt, but he was Shayne’s find and let it go as such. Then, in a moment of kismet, Shayne decided to pass on the colt. The Flag Ranch had him consigned to the Triangle Sale held in January 2024 at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds. He was Hip 228.

Just out of curiosity and to quiet her mind, Lainee reached out to Larry and Bobbie Rice, the owners of Flag Ranches, for some more pics and videos of the yearling. Bobbie trotted out to the barn, grabbed a halter and turned Perry Ray Von into the round pen, videoing as she went. After a gentle smooch and a wave of her hand the colt took off around the pen, slid to a stop, boiled back over his hocks and went zero to 60 in one stride. He then dropped anchor, butt kissing sand, licked his lips and walked back to Bobbie completely unconcerned. She rubbed his head, slid the halter into place and took him back to his stall. Lainee was hooked and therefore a little frantic. It was Tuesday and the sale was on Friday. She quickly made a plane reservation and, wanting an educated and sensible horseman to support her or hold her hand down during the bidding, called her dad. It didn’t hurt that her dad, Greg Shearer, was an experienced cowboy and horseman. Greg would fly into Oklahoma City from his winter home in Arizona. Lainee would meet him at the airport.

With her dad coming, Lainee decided she needed to rent a car to cut down on time waiting for Ubers or Lyfts. She logged onto the car rental site and reserved a Standard Prius for $68/day. Landing 90 minutes before Greg, Lainee headed to the car rental lot where she was supposed to scan her code and get her car. She meandered and meandered and looked at the instructions again and again unable to understand their system. She was getting a little anxious as Greg was landing, the sale would soon be starting, and Lot 228 was calling her name. She’d even dressed up for the event, looking full on cowgirl-glam in a black leather jacket accented with turquoise and silver jewelry. Finally, a young man covered in tattoos with gauge earrings and a nose piercing took pity on Lainee and offered assistance. When he looked at her ticket he said, “Standard Prius? You don’t look like a Standard Prius kinda lady to me. Let’s go find you a better car.” Taking her to the Luxury Row, Lainee had her pick of Escalades, Corvettes, Audis and Mercedes Benz. Then she stopped cold. In front of her was a Maserati: A MASERATI! Thinking to herself that she’d never have a chance like this again, she said, “I’ll take this one.” The kid tossed her the keys and after a brief hiccup getting it started (voice control didn’t work), she squealed out of the parking garage and met her dad at the luggage claim. “How did you pull THIS off?” Greg asked when he saw the car. Lainee replied, “I don’t know, but it cost me $68.” And off they zoom-zoomed to meet Hip 228.

Walking through the sale stalls, Lainee found the Flag Ranch consignments and there was Hip 228, Perry Ray Von. The three other yearling stallion prospects across from and next to him were squealing, rearing and pawing as they tried to impress one another or escape. Then there was Hip 228, hip cocked, head down.  Lainee had told her dad she wasn’t going to buy him unless she fell in love. Well, it was, as they say, love at first sight. She saw in that prospect the same things she’d seen in Irish Pay. The pedigree and conformation were flawless, but what she LOVED was the attitude and that big soft eye that conveyed an intelligence you just couldn’t deny. Lainee picked up her buyer’s number and settled down to buy her horse. Greg must have approved, because he never once stopped her hand from raising from her lap to bid. When the gavel dropped, Hip 228 was coming home to South Dakota.

While Perry Ray Von was a perfectly fine name, it wasn’t iconic and this colt deserved a name that would be recognized wherever he went. They floated some options over the next few months and then it came: The Maserati. The use of the car was such a gift and so was the ownership of this colt. The Maserati it would be. Barn name: Riff. The hashtags practically write themselves.

Since arriving in South Dakota, Riff has been steadily impressing the folks that come into his circle. Currently in training with Frank and Myles Kenzy, the seasoned pair can’t say enough good things about the now three year old. Myles and Riff will be entered in the Breakaway, Tie Down and Heeling futurities as he ages into those events. Lainee will enter him in the barrel futurities and then Lainee’s boys, Cooper and Kace, will likely rope and ranch on him as well. The Shearers value a horse that can be used in multiple events as well as earn a living. The Maserati certainly meets those criteria. Obviously, his pedigree and athleticism draw people in, but so does Lainee. It doesn’t hurt that she has the luck of the Irish on her side too.