Gainesville, Texas, Aug. 21, 2024 — NCHA Hall of Fame stallion Meteles Cat is now owned by Solo Select Horses in a transaction brokered by Ty Smith and Jeremy Barwick, bringing the stud who’s earned more than $437,000 in the cutting pen to the industry-shaping Solo Select operation.
“We love the Meteles Cat colts,” said Melanie Smith. They have a lot of size, a significant amount of eye appeal and they move exceptionally pretty. I have always thought this horse was one of the prettiest headed and most correct Metallic Cat sons out there. We feel at a $2,000 early booking rate for a NCHA Hall of Fame stallion, this horse certainly brings incredible value to our customers breeding operations with a lot of upside potential. We know this horse will breed some of the great cutting and cowhorse mares for 2025 – but we are equally as excited to cross him on some of the race mares for the in-demand rope horse futurity prospects.”
“He was a one-in-a-million horse,” said Cody Hedlund, who, with his dad, Rock, and mom, Landy, owned Meteles Cat for his entire career. “He gave us a lot of success in the show pen, and he’s been a phenomenal breeding stallion. His dam’s side goes back to generations of horses my mom and dad raised. You have a horse, you breed it to another horse, and you dream one day it would be a champion—and he was that champion.”
In his illustrious career, Meteles Cat made 48 finals, winning 14 championships, eight reserve titles and over $437,000. He’s a two-time AQHA World Champion.
“Everything in the industry is growing at an amazing rate,” Hedlund said. “His babies have been excelling in all facets of the Western industry. They’re good minded, they want to cut, and they will do whatever job you ask of them.”
Meteles Cat will stand at Solo Select in 2025 for an early booking fee of $2,000. You can find information about breeding contracts here.
The Hedlunds retired the stallion sound, and he stood under the supervision of Jeremy Barwick at Brazos Valley Stallion Station. He’s sired foals that have earned more than $2 million, with relatively limited foal crop sizes over his career. Fancy Meteles is Meteles Cat’s leading money earner, out of the Peptoboonsmal mare Playin N Fancy, winning $175,645.
Solo Select will add him to the Royal Crown Roping, NCHA Super Stakes, Breeder’s Incentive, PCCHA Stakes, the NRCHA Cow Horse Incentive and the newly formed Solo Select Stallion Incentive, with details on that coming soon.
“He was such a great performer,” Solo Select CEO Ty Smith said. “We followed his career in the show pen and in the breeding barn, and we have always liked the Meteles Cat colts. We feel confident this horse will be a great fit for the Solo Select program.”
