12/22/2024
ᴅʏɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀ ᴅʀɪꜰᴛᴡᴏᴏᴅꜱ
The union of a Quarter Horse-Thoroughbred Joe Hancock granddaughter with Driftwood (“Speedy”) changed rodeo forever. He’d gotten the nickname as a match-racing winner before he became three-time world champion team roper Asbury Schell’s rope horse.
Both Speedy and his most famous son, Driftwood Ike, won money in several different events when he was just 3 years old. Back when Mel Potter was making the NFR, literally 50% of ropers in Arizona and California were riding Speedy’s get.
“𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘐 𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩-𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨,” 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥. “𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘋𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘳𝘶𝘯.”
Ropers began clamoring for get of full brothers Speedywood and Driftwood Ike, along with Poker Chip Peake—described by Potter as the “greatest calf horse to ever walk.” Potter actually rode all three Driftwood sons, and mentions another son, Nifty Wood.
“𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥,” 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳. “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘮.”
Potter recalls Hall-of-Famers like Phil Lyne and Walt Arnold saying that it only takes a drop of Driftwood blood to make a horse great.
“Those guys were so high on them, and I remember thinking, yeah, the horses are great, but they had great cowboys training and riding them,” Potter said.
That was until he bred his own good mare to Speedywood. The resulting c**t learned so fast that, at 3 years old, he was out-working Potter’s good calf horse. Potter was sold. So he bought one of the last four Driftwood Ike stud c**ts. Lone Drifter was out of a granddaughter of Top Deck (TB), and was sent with some mares to Pat Cowan years ago in exchange for some of the c**t crop. Team ropers are still reaping the benefits—including NFR header Bubba Buckaloo, who rode a Driftwood stud he called Prowler, trained by Logan Olson.
𝙁𝙪𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙢𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙨: http://bit.ly/RumorsBehindPopularBloodlines
