Ladybugs are often considered a sign of good fortune, and ladybug luck has been very good to Jason Martin and Charlie Cole’s Highpoint Performance Horses in Pilot Point, Texas.
The decorated showmen started their successful barrel racing venture with offspring of Ladybugs Move, a 1983 daughter of Lady Bug’s Moon out of a Pacific Bailey mare.
Her son, FQH A Sharp Move (“Boomer”), a gelding by Sharp Rodney, introduced the horsemen to the world of pro rodeo. Boomer’s full sister Rods Last Ladybug (“Boomette”) took that a step further, becoming a cornerstone broodmare in their program and one of the world’s all-time leading producers of barrel horses.
Boom
To escape the rigors of training some of the most decorated show horses, Cole started dabbling in the speed events in the late 1990s. After “piddling” with his sister’s barrel horse, Cole set out to find his first great barrel horse.
Fellow AQHA speed event competitor and pole bending legend Ross Carnahan recommended that Cole take a look at Boomer, a 1995 gelding raised by Delmar Fletcher and trained by his son Del “Gene” in Creal Springs, Illinois.
“He was more of a pole horse, when I bought him,” said Cole, “and he did the barrels, at least that was my interpretation of it. What I really tried him on was the pole bending.”
But Boomer quickly proved that he was more than just a pole horse that did barrels.
“When I competed on him at a (AQHA) show in Kentucky, Gene and his wife were like, ‘Wow! He really is making a good barrel horse!’” recalled Cole.
Cole was eager to see just how good Boomer was, so he called Kristin Weaver-Brown, a former Western performance competitor who had turned her focus to making the National Finals Rodeo in barrel racing.
“We had known each other forever,” Cole said of Weaver-Brown. “I said, ‘Hey, I think you should try my horse. He’s pretty nice.’ I think that was on a Thursday, and he won his first pro rodeo that weekend, the first time she ever ran him.”
In 2000, Cole had offered to lease Boomer to Weaver-Brown for the summer run of pro rodeos, but it was her hauling partner World Champion Charmayne James, who needed a second mount to spell Cruisin On Six (“Cruiser”) who had gotten sick earlier that year.
Boomer carried James to a win at Williams Lake, Alberta and second at Ponoka, Alberta, and Lewiston, Idaho. He also won her first Cheyenne Frontier Days Barrel Racing Championship. Between Cruiser and Boomer, James had a shot to win her 11th World title that year, but both horses were battling ailments at the National Finals Rodeo, and she finished reserve to Kappy Allen.
Right between Boomer’s Cheyenne heroics and the NFR, Cole purchased Boomette sight-unseen from the Fletchers. Her price, he said, was insanely low.
Rods Last Ladybug- Boomette
Boomette, a 1999 mare, started her training with Dave Stinson in Aubrey, Texas.
“Dave Stinson was my barrel racing guru,” said Cole. “That’s who I learned from. He broke a lot of horses for us and still does to this day.
“He broke Boomette and patterned her. He had her for her entire 2- and 3-year-old year. The next year, I hauled her with my finished horse and just exhibitioned her everywhere. Toward the end of that year, I sent her to Kristin Weaver (Brown).”
As a 5-year-old futurity horse, Boomette won several futurity sidepots at American West races and was a finalist at the Silver Cup, Gold Cup, Ardmore and BFA World Championship futurities, among others.
“She did very well,” recalled Weaver Brown, a 2000 NFR qualifier. “There wasn’t a futurity every single month back then like there is now when you almost have to pick and choose.”
Their crowning achievement was winning the 2005 AQHA World Championship in Junior Barrel Racing.
“She was the horse that I finally got to win the World on,” said Weaver-Brown. “I had a lot of reserve world titles in the reining and reined cow horse. She broke the second place curse for me. It was a special moment.”
Weaver-Brown also lightly introduced Boomette to rodeos as a 5-year-old.
“She did place at some rodeos right off the bat,” she said. “We did pick and choose. We didn’t just throw her to the wolves. But she did show that she could run right there with them and fit in that rodeo lifestyle.”
Weaver-Brown said Boomette was a stoutly made, aggressively turning mare.
“She always had a ton of turn,” she said, “even a little more than her brother. Her brother was a little freer (running) than her. He was built a little taller, a little slimmer than her. She was just this little tank but could still really run. She had a really serious personality. She didn’t need you to coddle her. She was very confident and good minded.”
At the end of her futurity year, Highpoint sent Boomette to Kim Thomas Burnette to sell. Whitney (Baker) Davison, who was riding with Burnette at the time, fell in love with the mare.
“I was just a kid, and I had gone to ride with Kim just to learn,” recalled Davison. “I rode (Boomette) during those two months, and I called my dad and said, ‘I have to have this horse.’ He said, ‘Absolutely not!’ I begged him! I went to a jackpot, and I won it. He said, ‘I guess you’re buying this horse.’ I said, ‘Yes, I am!’”
In their first year together, Davison placed at the BFA World Championship Derby and tied for Mary Burger and Rare Fred for the 2005 AQHA World Championship in Senior Barrel Racing.
“She was so fun,” said Davison. “She was gritty and had lots of personality. She was just a great mare.”
After placing well at the Josey Jr World in the spring, Davison filled her WPRA permit on Boomette. Unfortunately, a freak accident following their run in the short go at the Dodge City Round in Kansas ended Boomette’s pro rodeo career.
“I had just got done running and had got off her,” Davison recalled. “She spooked and hit the stretcher that was sticking out of the ambulance. She flipped over and hurt her pelvis. It was such a freak deal.”
Boomette was out for nearly a year and half. She came back to run in the 1D, but she wasn’t the same horse that made Davison think that the NFR was a possibility.
A greater career, though, awaited the mare.
The beginning, not the end- Baby Boom
Boomette’s breeding career had already started prior to Davison’s purchase. As a 4-year-old, Highpoint bred Boomette to leading sire Dash Ta Fame, and Rockette Ta Fame hit the ground in 2005.
Davison was fortunate enough to rodeo on Rockette, who won the 2011 AQHA World Championship in Senior Barrel Racing with P.J. Burger.
“I qualified her for the world show in Fort Worth, but I was pregnant and had to quit riding right after that,” she explained. “P.J. Burger took her to Rodeo Houston and did well at a lot of pro rodeos. (Rockette) was a good tone too.”
In 2007, Davison had two embryo transfer foals out of Boomette hit the ground—Agirlgonewild, an Azyoucansee daughter that became a broodmare for Emma Charleston, and Lady Bugs Specialty, a filly by Frenchmans Specialty that is one of Davison’s current broodmares.
Boomette gave birth to her first and only foal, BR Don’t Bug That Guy, by Frenchmans Guy, in 2010.
In 2012, Davison sold Boomette back to Highpoint.
“Charlie contacted me about buying her back,” Davison recalled. “I really wasn’t in the breeding world at the time. I felt the best place in the world for her to be was with them. As part of the deal, I got an embryo out of her every year until the very end.”
Gold Mine
Although her pedigree wasn’t flashy, Boomette’s lineage carried the power of Lady Bug’s Moon, a leading maternal sire of barrel horses, and Pacific Bailey, a noted barrel horse broodmare sire as well. Through her sire, Sharp Rodey, she added a maternal dose of Leo.
“When I bought her, Dave Stinson and a few other people said to me that those Lady Bug’s Moon mares were good producers and that there weren’t that many left. The people that knew that knew how special she was.”
In a way, Boomette was a great genetic buy like Highpoint’s leading sire Slick By Design, an outcross for anyone without On The Money Red in their mares.
“She’s like the female opposite of Slick,” Cole said. “Those genetics are older. They were really popular in Illinois, Kentucky and Indiana, but they weren’t popular everywhere. You could cross her on so many genetics because they weren’t in her line. She really was a rare find.”
Every cross with Boomette produced winners even if they weren’t barrel horses. A few of Davison’s were stolen by her husband Cole for rope horses, like BR Frenchmans Effort, a 2013 gelding by Frenchmans Specialty, a son of Special Effort out of a Frenchmans Guy daughter.
“No one knows that’s a Rods Lady Ladybug,” chuckled Davison. “(Two-time World Champion Header) Kaleb Driggers bought him from us, and he now belongs to (NFR Champion Header) Cody Snow. He’s never been to the NFR, but he’s definitely helped them get there.”
Davison is still running and winning on ConfederatesLastLady, her Confederate Leader out of Boomette, and she has two other daughters in her broodmare band, Lady Bug Specialty and BR Cake By The Ocean, a futurity money earner by A Streak Of Fling.
The “it” cross, Davison noted, was with Dash Ta Fame, a cross that Highpoint has proven over and over again.
“She’s produced a lot by many different studs, but she just crossed so well with Dash Ta Fame,” noted Cole.
Boomette’s richest money earner is HP Feel The Fame, a mare by the Dash Ta Fame son Feel The Sting, with more than $400,000 won. Recently Royal Crown Buckeye Derby Champion Chrome Plated Fame, a mare by Dash Ta Fame, is rapidly approaching $300,000. Highpoint’s promising stallion HP Hotrod, by Dash Ta Fame, is closing in on $200,000 just five months into his barrel racing career with an OKC Rookie Futurity Championship, Kinder Cup Slot Futurity Championship and reserve finishes at the OKC Slot Futurity and Select Stallion Stakes Futurity.
“Hotrod is the one we’re most excited about,” said Cole. “I think he’s so special. Obviously, he’s special talent wise. He’s also pretty special to look at and structurally so well built. I think he’ll do really big things.”
Although Highpoint sold some of their earlier Dash Ta Fame, Boomette offspring, like former Brazilian record holder Rollin In The Fame and her sister Boom Goes The Fame, they’re holding tight to their last two Dash Ta Fame fillies, who head to the colt starter soon.
“Boomette passed last year,” said Cole. “We have some frozen embryos but there is an end in sight.”
Her legacy, however, will endure for generations to come.
Rods Last Ladybug Progeny
Look up Rods Last Ladybug’s full QData producer report here.
Rods Last Ladybug has cemented her place among the elite producing mares in the barrel racing world. With over $1.4 million in progeny earnings, her influence stretches across generations and includes futurity champions, major pro rodeo earners, and producers of champions themselves.
Her standout offspring include:
- HP Feel The Fame (2018M, by Feel The Sting) – $402,007
A multiple aged event champion and top pro rodeo earner of 2025. - Chrome Plated Fame (2018M, by Dash Ta Fame) – $212,213
Aged event winner and consistent pro rodeo competitor. - HP Hotrod (2021S, by Dash Ta Fame) – $150,529
A rising futurity force with multiple 2025 wins. - Makana (2015M, by Slick By Design) – $136,359
A rodeo standout with strong open credentials. - BR Frenchmans Effort (2012S, by Frenchmans Specialty) – $80,814
Versatile gelding earning in heading at pro rodeos.
- BR Misterious is a grandget of Rods Last Ladybug:
• BR Misterious (2021S) is by RR Mistakelly and out of Confederateslastlady
• Confederateslastlady is a daughter of Rods Last Ladybug - Slicks Lil Amigo is also a grandget:
• Slicks Lil Amigo (2014G) is by Slick By Design and out of Bough Chicka Wowwow
• Bough Chicka Wowwow is a daughter of Rods Last Ladybug - Boom Slicka Boom is a grandget as well:
• Boom Slicka Boom (2016G) is by Slick By Design and out of Boom Goes The Fame
• Boom Goes The Fame is a daughter of Rods Last Ladybug
