Lajollas Mr Big Stuff SI 100 Champion Running 2-Year-Old • Champion Running 2-Year-Old Gelding
2010 Sorrel Tobiano Gelding Royal Quick Flash x MCM Evelyn Lajolla by Streakin La Jolla (QH) Owner: Jane Cullum Breeder: Jane Cullum Trainer: Dee Keener Jockeys: G.R. Carter, James Flores, Ricky Ramirez, Jesus Salazar
erhaps no one had more fun with their racing Paint in 2012 than Jane Cullum of Muskogee, Oklahoma. Not only does she own Lajollas Mr Big Stuff, she also bred and raised him. Trained by Dee Keener, the leading Paint trainer of 2012, Lajollas Mr Big Stuff competed in six futurity trials, qualify- ing each time. He acquitted himself well in every final and won two of them. That not only gave Jane an entire season of excitement, it earned “Mr. Big” the titles of Champion 2-Year-Old and Champion 2-Year-Old Gelding. Jane bred Lajollas Mr Big Stuff from her mare MCM Eve- lyn Lajolla, a full sister to World Champion Linda Lajolla. Larry Steele suggested the cross with Royal Quick Flash, and that produced Mr. Big. “To make the finals of everything they put him in was just wonderful,” Jane said. “It’s a big deal. He’s a great horse.” To win those two futurities, Mr. Big had to overcome some serious obstacles. Several days before the trials of the PSBA American Paint Classic Futurity at Remington Park, the gelding wheeled and threw his rider, tearing open his shoul- der to such an extent that he required about 30 staples. He
P
recovered in time to win his trial and returned in the final for his first stakes victory.
For the final of the Speedhorse Paint and Appaloosa Futu- rity at Fair Meadows, Mr. Big had to deal with fire and rain. Fires near Tulsa filled the sky with smoke until just before the race, when rain pelted the area.
“A monsoon came up right before the race,” Jane said. “There was so much wind it was blowing the liners out of the garbage cans.” Mr. Big dealt with all of the commotion just fine, defeating favored Super Glide Harley by a half-length at odds of nearly 16-1.
“He’s real level-headed and saves his energy for when the gate opens,” Jane said.
Mr Big did get irritated with Jane at one point, however. Raising him herself while working in a hospital as a respira- tory therapist, Jane decided to geld him so that she wouldn’t have to deal with a stud colt.
“He would have nothing to do with me for a long time and wouldn’t even let me halter him,” Jane recalled. “And I’d hal- tered him from day one.”
Royal Quick Flash Lajollas Mr Big Stuff MCM Evelyn Lajolla