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In The Blood-Gun­na­trashya & the Influ­ence of King P‑234

Gun­na­trashya is one of today’s most influ­en­cial rein­ing sires, pos­si­bly even the most. None of that would be pos­si­ble with­out the influ­ence of foun­da­tion­al hors­es such as King P‑234 and cur­rent hors­es ties to him.

When Gun­na­trashya went to the are­na in 2009 with Nation­al Rein­ing Horse Asso­ci­a­tion (NRHA) Hall of Fame train­er Shawn Flar­i­da in the sad­dle, they secured wins in two of the most pres­ti­gious shows in rein­ing, the NRHA Open Futu­ri­ty and the All-Amer­i­can Quar­ter Hors­es Con­gress Open Rein­ing Futu­ri­ty. They won the 2010 NRHA Open Der­by and their show record reflect­ed earn­ing of $233,757.

Since his retire­ment from the are­na Gun­na­trashya has steadi­ly moved up the sire list and today he has off­spring earn­ings of $15 Mil­lion accord­ing to Equi­S­tat When we look at the Equi­S­tat rein­ing earn­ings for the last 5 Years we see that Gun­na­trashya is the num­ber one rein­ing horse sire with earn­ings of $8,515,562. He is the sire of hors­es like Gunnabebig­time the 2024 The Run For A Mil­lion Open Rein­ing Chal­lenge Cham­pi­on as well as the NRHA Open Futu­ri­ty Cham­pi­ons Andi­amoe (2022), Ten Thir­ty (2021) Super Mario (2019) and ARC Gunnabebig­time (2014). He has even crossed into the reined cow horse sir­ing Snap­drag­ons, the 2020 NRCHA Open Snaf­fle Bit Futu­ri­ty Co-Reserve Champion.

The Influ­ence Of King P‑234

Gun­na­trashya was bred by Kata­ri­na Dorminy and is owned by Arcese Quar­ter Hors­es USA, an Equi­S­tat $3 Mil­lion Own­er. His pedi­gree sto­ry has many ele­ments that include cross­es to Leo, Three Bars and King P‑234. But delve deep­er into his pedi­gree and you can see how he has been a genet­ic car­ri­er for the blood of the leg­end King P‑234.

The first look at the pedi­gree of Gun­na­trashya (Colonels Smok­ing Gun x Natrasha x Trashadeous) we ini­tial­ly see where his sire pow­er comes from. His pater­nal grand­sire Colonel Freck­les (Jew­els Leo Bar x Christy Jay x Rey Jay) is a promi­nent influ­ence on the mod­ern day rein­ing horse. His pater­nal grand­dam is Katie Gun (John Gun x Bueno Katie x Ale­do Bueno Bar) an out­stand­ing show mare with a Supe­ri­or in rein­ing. She is the dam of hors­es that have earned $686,926 in the are­na. She is a grand­daugh­ter of Mr Gun Smoke, anoth­er sig­nif­i­cant sire in the per­for­mance horse world.  Gunnatrashya’s brood­mare sire is Trashadeous, an NRHA Hall of Fame mem­ber who was out of Miss White Trash (by Mr Gun Smoke) giv­ing Gun­na­trashya a breed­ing pat­tern of 5 x 4 to Mr Gun Smoke. 

 But it is the blood of King P‑234 that forms the foun­da­tion of his pedi­gree. King P‑234 was adver­tised as a cor­ner­stone of the foun­da­tion of the Amer­i­can Quar­ter Horse and that is espe­cial­ly true in the mod­ern rein­ing horse. Here are a few exam­ples of King P‑234’s role in the rein­ing horse and its foun­da­tion. He is the sire of Con­ti­nen­tal King, the first horse induct­ed into the NRHA Hall of Fame. He was the brood­mare sire of Okie Leo, a top rein­ing horse before the NRHA got its start. His record shows that he won 50 of 55 rein­ing class­es earn­ing a Supe­ri­or in that event. He sired Brit­tons Princess, the 1972 NRHA Futu­ri­ty Reserve Cham­pi­on, late in his breed­ing career. Pocorochie Bo, the first NRHA Futu­ri­ty win­ner, car­ried a 3 x 4 breed­ing pat­tern to King P‑234 and Mr Poco Luis, the 1967 NRHA Futu­ri­ty Cham­pi­on, was a great grand­son of King P‑234. Then Joe Cody came along as the sire of many top rein­ing hors­es such as Top­sail Cody and Cas­san­dra Cody, both NRHA Open Futu­ri­ty Cham­pi­ons.  Joe Cody was a son of Bill Cody and he out of the mare Taboo by King P‑234.

Gun­na­trashya has fol­lowed in his sire’s hoof prints as a per­former and as a sire. Colonels Smok­ing Gun (Gun­ner) counts among his titles the 1996 NRHA Open Futu­ri­ty Reserve Cham­pi­onship, the 2001 USET Rein­ing Finals Cham­pi­onship and the APHA Open Rein­ing Futu­ri­ty Cham­pi­onship. He earned $177,386. Gun­ner has gone on to become the Equi­S­tat all-time lead­ing sire in rein­ing with earn­ings that have exceed­ed $15 mil­lion.  His top per­form­ers include the NRHA Open Futu­ri­ty Cham­pi­ons Gun­na­trashya (2009), Amer­i­c­as­next­gun­mod­el (2012) and All Bettss Are Off (2020).

 The pedi­gree for Gun­ner shows that he is sired by Colonelfourfreck­les by Colonel Freck­les (Jewel’s Leo Bar x Christy Jay x Rey Jay). When we delve into the pedi­gree of Gun­ner we see some cross­es to King P‑234. Christy Jay was out of Christy Car­ol by Leo Bob who is out of the mare 89’er, a daugh­ter of King P‑234. The dam of Colonelfourfreck­les is Miss Solano who is sired by Doc’s Solano who is out of Susie’s Bay by Poco Tiv­io by Poco Bueno by King P‑234.

The dam of Gun­ner is Katie Gun by John Gun by One Gun by Mr Gun Smoke. The dam of One Gun is Miss Sev­en­ty One by King Com­mand by King P‑234 and her dam was Bay Princess Kay by King P‑234. This is a 2 x 2 breed­ing pat­tern to King P‑234 that is termed close inbreed­ing. An added note the foun­da­tion sire Leo had a breed­ing pat­tern of 2 x 2 to Joe Reed P‑3 who was his pater­nal and mater­nal grand­sire. The dam of John Gun was Cee Bars Echols who was out of Dorel­lie who was out of Poco Rieta by Poco Bueno by King P‑234. The dam of Katie Gun was Bueno Katie by Ale­do Bueno Bar who was sired by Ale­do Bar who was out of Will­ful Miss by King P‑234. The dam of Ale­do Bueno Bar was Mui Bueno’s Sue by Mui Bueno by Poco Bueno by King P‑234. Bank Night Kate was out of King Kate by Gen­er­al Lee by King P‑234.

 When we look at the pedi­gree of Natrasha the dam of Gun­na­trashya we get some more cross­es to King P‑234. Natrasha was sired by Trashadeous (Be Aech Enter­prise x Miss White Trash x Mr Gun Smoke) and out of My Roy­al Enter­prise (Be Aech Enter­prise x Snap­py Roy­al x Snap’s Pablo). This gives Natrasha a breed­ing pat­tern of 2 x 2 to Be Aech Enter­prise. Be Aech Enter­prise was the 1979 NRHA Open Reserve World Cham­pi­on and a 1978 NRHA Futu­ri­ty final­ist on his way to earn­ing $20,699. He was the sec­ond stal­lion to become a mil­lion-dol­lar rein­ing horse sire with earn­ings of $1,347,709. He counts among his off­spring Sur­prise Enter­prise the 1990 NRHA Open World Cham­pi­on and BH Song And Dance the 1990 NRHA Open Der­by World Cham­pi­on. His brood­mare sire record shows that his grand­get earned $3,637,174. His foals in this group include 1989 NRHA Open Futu­ri­ty Cham­pi­on Bren­nas Kid ($115,862).

Be Aech Enterprise’s Influence

 Be Aech Enter­prise serves as an exam­ple of close inbreed­ing to King P‑234. His sire was Squaw Leo by Squaw King by King P‑234. Squaw King was out of Squaw H by King P‑234. This is close inbreed­ing to King P‑234 with a 1 x 2 breed­ing pat­tern. Enter­prise Lady was the dam of Be Aech Enter­prise and she was sired by Poco Enter­prise by Poco Bueno by King P‑234. The dam of Enter­prise Lady was Lady Chock 56 by LH Chock by King P‑234. The dam of Enter­prise Lady was Seco Lady by Seco King by King P‑234. This gives Enter­prise Lady a breed­ing pat­tern of 3 x 3 to King P‑234. Miss White Trash the dam of Trashadeous is out of Hank’s Two Sox by Wolf Hank by Hank H by King P‑234. My Roy­al Enter­prise was sired by Snap’s Pablo who was out of Lit­tle Gin­ger H a daugh­ter of Gin­ger H by King P‑234.  The dam of Snap­py Roy­al was Mary Clegg by Roy­al King by King P‑234. This gives Snap­py Roy­al a breed­ing pat­tern of 4 x 3 to King P‑234. Gun­na­trashya has a breed­ing pat­tern of 8 x 8 x 8 x 7 x 7 x 7 x 8 x 7 x 8 x 7 x 6 x 7 x 7 x 8 x 7 x 8 x 6 x 7 x 7 x 8 x 7 x 7 x 6 to King P‑234. The first thing you may think about when we see all these cross­es to King P‑234 is that they are all in the sixth gen­er­a­tion and beyond and some feel that King P‑234 has less influ­ence on the pedi­gree of Gun­na­trashya. But when we stop and think about line­breed­ing being the recy­cling of genes then we are recy­cling the genes of King P‑234 through a vari­ety of indi­vid­u­als that car­ry the blood of this great stal­lion. Well, that is where Be Aech Enter­prise comes into the pic­ture through his daugh­ter Natrasha. Natrasha has that intense close inbreed­ing pat­tern of 2 x 2 to Be Aech Enter­prise which gives her a high lev­el of King P‑234 genes. When inbred like this, the foal pro­duced gets a high num­ber of genes from the com­mon ances­tor and the­o­ret­i­cal­ly this makes them more homozy­gous for those genes. Thus, it is eas­i­er to pass those genes on to the next gen­er­a­tion. The King P‑234 genes in this case. Thus, the inbreed­ing in Be Aech Enter­prise moves the King P‑234 genes for­ward in the pedi­gree help­ing main­tain the influ­ence of the King P‑234 in the pedi­gree. King P‑234 died in 1958 and is still a part of the mod­ern rein­ing horse because of hors­es like Be Aech Enter­prise and his intense King P‑234 breed­ing pat­tern espe­cial­ly through Natrasha the dam of Gunnatrashya.

The first thing you may think about when we see all these cross­es to King P‑234 is that they are all in the sixth gen­er­a­tion and beyond and some feel that King P‑234 has less influ­ence on the pedi­gree of Gun­na­trashya. But when we stop and think about line­breed­ing being the recy­cling of genes then we are recy­cling the genes of King P‑234 through a vari­ety of indi­vid­u­als that car­ry the blood of this great stal­lion. Well, that is where Be Aech Enter­prise comes into the pic­ture through his daugh­ter Natrasha. Natrasha has that intense close inbreed­ing pat­tern of 2 x 2 to Be Aech Enter­prise which gives her a high lev­el of King P‑234 genes. When we inbreed like this the foal pro­duced gets a high num­ber of genes from the com­mon ances­tor and the­o­ret­i­cal­ly this makes them more homozy­gous for those genes. Thus, it is eas­i­er to pass those genes on to the next gen­er­a­tion. The King P‑234 genes in this case. Thus, the inbreed­ing in Be Aech Enter­prise moves the King P‑234 genes for­ward in the pedi­gree help­ing main­tain the influ­ence of the King P‑234 in the pedi­gree. King P‑234 died in 1958 and is still a part of the mod­ern rein­ing horse because of hors­es like Be Aech Enter­prise and his intense King P‑234 breed­ing pat­tern espe­cial­ly through Natrasha the dam of Gunnatrashya.

Post­ed on Feb­ru­ary 1, 2025 by Lar­ry Thorn­ton, quarterhorsenews.com