BREEDER FOUND GEM WITH DADDYSRUBY
Steve Reger and his wife, Debra, pose for a family photo with most of their 12 grandchildren
Montanan Steve Reger has made a career consulting for companies that drill for oil in the vast Bakken shale region of North Dakota. But the part-time horseman has discovered a gem of his own in California-bred Daddysruby, winner of the La Brea Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita.
As luck would have it, Reger, who has been in the oil business for nearly 50 years, didn’t have to dig very deep. Th is 3-year-old gray or roan daughter—fittingly by the Ontario-based sire named Frac Daddy—is out the very first horse he owned, a Washington-bred mare named Youtheprizeandi.
Reger, who breeds and races as Jethorse LLC, calls her “The Prize.” The 15-year-old daughter of You and I has provided the lifelong Billings resident with a number of other firsts. She was his first winner and later, his first broodmare. She produced Reger’s initial winner as a breeder as well, a stakes-placed California-bred colt by Scat Daddy named Daddysprize who earned $119,973 while winning four of 10 starts.
And finally, of course, there is the homebred Daddysruby, winner of five of six races and more than $350,000. In her initial try in stakes company for trainer Peter Miller, she became Reger’s first grade 1 starter and winner when she traveled gate-to-wire to win the seven-furlong La Brea by a nose under Juan Hernandez Dec. 26.
“First big race I’ve ever been in and I won it; ‘The Prize’ has been an incredible mare for me,” said Reger, 71.
Reger sold a half interest in Daddysruby to major horse owners Gary Barber and Adam Wachtel following her three-length debut maiden win for original trainer Tim McCanna at Golden Gate Fields in January 2023.
La Brea winner Daddysruby is out of the frst racehorse Reger ever owned
“Barber and Wachtel have been in this business a long time,” Reger said. “Their agent called me wanting to buy her and I turned them down. In fact, I turned them down three times. When you’ve owned horses as long as I have, you can kind of tell when you’ve got a good one. But Tim (McCanna), he mainly stays at Golden Gate, and I saw this as a way to get her into the bigger races. They, as you say, wore me down, and I decided to sell them a half share. That’s when we transferred her to Peter.”
Reger has come a long way in the racing business. He said he’s been an avid fan since he was 10 and saw his first race at the Montana state fair. When fair racing was on, he would hitchhike or take a bus to the track a few miles away on weekends and get an adult to place bets for him.
“My parents always wondered where I’d been going because my chores weren’t done,” he recalled.
Reger originally purchased Youtheprizeandi privately through a mutual friend.
“I got a call offering me a half share in her and I jumped at it,” he said. “We sent him to Tim McCanna in Yakima (Wash.). The guy later wanted out, and so I bought his share. Cost me $20,000.”
YoutheprizeandI began her racing career at Emerald Downs in 2011 and later moved to Northern California when McCanna transferred much of his stock. She won three of 11 starts, including a minor stakes in Washington. When her career ended in 2013, Reger decided to keep her in California and breed her to Scat Daddy, a stallion he had long admired.
“She didn’t always win, but she was just one of those horses that gave 150% every time,” he explained.
Youtheprizeandi boards at Arroyo Vista Farm in northern San Diego County. She is the dam of six named foals, five that started and four that have won. In addition to Daddysruby and Daddysprize, a 2018 Smiling Tiger horse named Murphys Tiger has earned $141,276 while winning six of 14 races so far at Golden Gate Fields. Sadly, her most recent foal, also by Smiling Tiger, died.
(Youtheprizeandi) didn’t always win, but she was just one of those horses that gave 150% every time.” —Steve Reger
Following the success of Daddysruby, Reger has sent Youtheprizeandi back to Canada to be bred once more to Frac Daddy.
“I’ve always been a big fan of Scat Daddy, but he died (in 2015), so I decided to ship her to Ontario to breed to his son,” he said. “That worked out pretty well, so let’s see if we can do it again.”
Reger is half-owner and president of Montana Oil Properties Inc. His company, formed in the early 2000s, was among the first to advocate hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to get at the rich oil reserves contained in the Bakken, which has made North Dakota one of the nation’s top crude producers. He said that one company he consulted for, now a major driller, went from producing seven barrels a day and nearly ready to shut down its wells, to more than 2,000 barrels a day thanks to the process.
Granddaughter Ruby is the namesake of Daddysruby
He and his wife, Debra, have been married for 46 years and have five children. They have a dozen grandkids as well, including 4-year-old Ruby, for whom Daddysruby is named.
Reger, who has a few other broodmares besides Youtheprizeandi, said he breeds them in California, where he also does almost all of his racing. He and McCanna have been together since the start. They have 10 horses in training, including a just-turned 3-year-old California-bred colt named Unbridled Vision that he’s especially high on.
By Maclean’s Music, the chestnut colt was bred by Liberty Road Stables. He is the second foal from the Bernardini mare Queen Bernardina, whose dam, Cherokee Queen, was a graded stakes winner and an earner of $628,312. Reger paid $240,000 for Unbridled Vision at the 2023 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company 2-year-old spring sale, the most he’s ever spent for a horse.
Unbridled Vision started the new year right Jan. 7. He broke his maiden in come-from-behind style as the odds-on choice in the second start of his career at Golden Gate.
“He’s a beautiful colt—I really think he’s really going to be a good one,” Reger said.