PG . 28
AQHA FEATURE AQHA HIGHEST PLACED REGISTERED QUARTER HORSE
EQUAL WINNER HIGHWAY TO HELL Q-73584
AQHA OWNERS INCENTIVE - ALL STAR SYNDICATE
ARTICLE BY : LYN HOFFMANN © 2022 • PHOTOS BY : TYLER PALMER PHOTOGRAPHY
THE VERY SUCCESSFUL CUTTING HORSE , HIGHWAY TO HELL WAS BRED BY RAELENE HIGGINS OF AUTHENTIC QUARTER HORSES , AND WAS PURCHASED BY THE ALLSTAR SYNDICATE AT THE 2014 LANDMARK CLASSIC SALE .
The progeny of two legendary horses , his sire is Dual Rey , and he is out of one of the truly great Cutting mares , Quadruple Crown Winner , One Hellofa Spin Q-42160 , owned by Raelene Higgins . Highway To Hell recently began competing in the sport of Campdrafting and has taken to his new discipline like a pro .
Superbly ridden by Mark Buttsworth at only the stallion ’ s third start in the sport , Highway To Hell ran a 90 in the Graduate Campdraft , to finish in equal 4th place in the event , sharing that placing with Cuban Cigars , ridden by Bruce McNaughton .
The weekend held some additional excitement for the Allstar Syndicate , as they followed the bidding on the Highway To Hell gelding , High Voltage , Lot 70 in the Nutrien Masters Sale , until the auctioneer ’ s gavel slammed home the gelding ’ s sale price at $ 90,000 . It was an unexpected surprise that caused a massive surge of excitement through the Mat Oakley Cutting Horse camp , adding to Highway to Hell ’ s great success at the event .
Mat and Casey Oakley love Highway To Hell , with Casey agreeing with her husband that there ’ s a great market in the Campdraft industry for Quarter Horse sires like him .
‘ He ’ s a pretty special horse to us ,’ Casey Oakley says . He ’ s intelligent , a beautiful type of horse , and at 15.1hh , he ’ s a good size . He ’ s pretty much a do anything horse , whatever he does , he does it very well — Cutting , Drafting , throw the kids on him — it ’ s amazing how much he ’ ll come down , as he also does have a great temperament .’
The Allstar Syndicate were very pleased with Nutrien ’ s new all age Sale and Campdraft as it opens up some great opportunities for those all age horses . Highway to Hell ’ s road to Campdrafting seemed the sensible thing to do . After his great successes in Cutting , the syndicate had some great opportunities to take advantage of in the Campdrafting arenas .
With a background in Campdrafting , Mat Oakley , from Mat Oakley Cutting Horses , at Walcha , NSW , thought long and hard prior to making the final decision to send Highway To Hell Campdrafting .
Mat wanted to track some cows on the stallion himself , just to see how he ’ d go , as he wanted to make sure that the stallion could rate a cow , had the legs , and was athletic enough for high-level competition in the sport . What was revealed to Mat was the unreal extended talent , versatility and ability of Highway To Hell .
‘ We ’ d already decided that we weren ’ t going to send him drafting if he was just going to be average , but when we tried him out , and he was as good as what he was , we had no doubts that he was going to take to it all pretty well .’
Mat ’ s friend , Mark Buttsworth , agreed to campaign the stallion , after first giving him a run on a few cattle . Mat says that Highway To Hell is the type of outcross they ’ re probably looking for in the Campdrafting industry and is encouraged that , after Nutrien , the stallion is already attracting the attention of mare-owners wanting to breed camp horses . Matt has never once doubted the abilities of the stallion , whether it be in Cutting or , now , Campdrafting .
‘ There ’ s a lot of good , competitive Campdraft sires out there , but I think Highway To Hell has that bit extra and I ’ m confident that he will be a very good Campdrafter and campdraft horse sire . Presently , as a sire , he ’ s already passing some seriously superior traits onto his progeny , and with his unbelievable breeding , it ’ s not hard to understand why . In 2021 , Highway To Hell already had around 30 progeny on the ground , and these young horses are soft-minded , very trainable and very balanced individuals . What makes it more exciting is that they all seem to have that similar feel despite what mare they ’ re out of .’
The Allstar Syndicate is excited to see where Campdrafting will take Highway To Hell and look forward to his journey .
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