If you think Reliance Ranches’ Big Lew is just a racing sire, think again.
The cloverleaf pattern is dotted with winners sired by a big brown stud named Big Lew, starting with Emily Mangione’s super 5-year-old Refuse Ta Lews, Molly Childers’ 6-year-old Blame It On Lew and Alona James’ former 6-year-old MH Sticky N Picky.
Arguably one of Reliance Ranches’ prettiest and best-minded stallions, Big Lew raked in $638,878, himself, on the racetrack. The stallion is by Hall-of-Fame racehorse sire Corona Cartel and out of Executive Looks, who ran out a speed index of 113. She is a granddaughter of both Chicks Beduino and Sticks An Stones.
Big Lew’s half-sibling by Corona Cartel is, of course, Alan Woodbury’s famous buckskin NFR mare Rosas Cantina CC. Mostly with Lisa Lockhart at the reins, Rosa has earned at least $677,168. It’s been said that offspring of Corona Cartel are so good-minded they learned how to gauge their track starts based on the sound of the pin moving in the starting gate.
Two of today’s winning barrel trainers have experience on some of Big Lew’s offspring by now. Refuse Ta Lews was bred by Danyelle Campbell and is out of her NFR mare Repete Fame.
“That filly was phenomenal,” said Campbell of Millsap, Texas. “She was super quick-footed and very willing. I loved her, and thought she had Repete’s great qualities, but with more speed and quicker feet.”
As for James, she placed MH Sticky N Picky in a go-round of the 2023 BFA Juvenile Futurity when the filly was 3.
“She’s a really cool mare, and we were one place out of making it to the finals at Fort Smith,” recalled James, of Ada, Okla. “She was just really good-minded and wanted to please. Very athletic and very quick. She tried hard to do everything correct; was just a really sweet mare.”
The horse was fairly big but wanted to turn like a little horse, she recalled of the mare that is now going to the Wisconsin high school rodeos with her new owner. James rode another daughter of Big Lew called SFS Taken Her Corona, and said she’s making a great open horse for her new owner, as well.
“They were real pleasers,” said James. “They wanted to get along and both were very athletic. I was actually around Big Lew when he raced and I liked him from the time I saw him in the sale as a yearling. He was always really good in the barn at the track, and he rode good when they broke him. You could just tell he was very smart.”
James bred her old mare to Big Lew twice, and said she’d like to get her hands on another son or daughter. And she has perspective, because she’s ridden a lot of horses off the track. In fact, James also raised one of Big Lew’s top racing get. Dashin Lewee, now 7, won about $82,000 racing, she said, but was put in a claiming race and claimed before she could start him on the barrels. Like the fillies, he was very kind, said James.