In 1960 we saw a black mare we really wanted a foal from. She had a sorrel colt by her side sired by an average horse. We thought that if she were to be bred to Scoot McCoy's stud, Hawkeye, she should raise an outstanding foal. The black mare, Baby Doll, was owned by Arthur Gimlin and later sold to our friend, Clifford Cobb. We offered to buy the colt by her side, pay the stud fee to Hawkeye and buy the resulting foal for the same money. The deal was completed and we soon owned a black colt we named Hawkeye's Black Sambo. The mare, Baby Doll, was double bred to Old Fox, one of the most influential breeding horses in the breed. Old Fox was close up in Golden Governor's pedigree too. And, Hawkeye was a double grandson of Merry Boy who sired many good gaited horses; many of which wanted to foxtrot.

This decision to purchase the black colt was the beginning of a 50 year quest to breed for a line of using and show horses second to none. "Sambo" was a big strong tough horse. He was natural in his gaits, with exceptional stride and smoothness of ride. He was used as a ranch horse on the Angus ranch that I managed, showing excellent cow sense and was very athletic. He developed into a very exceptional show horse in the performance arena. He was the 3yr. Old champion stallion at the Ava Celebration as well as the 5yr. Old champion. Sally won every ladies class but one at the Celebration for several years on him. Sambo was never beat in the Trail Class at the local stock horse shows and was very successful in the stock horse reining class showing against Quarter Horses. He was so good that the stock horse show management finally disallowed Foxtrotters from showing claiming they were not "stock horses". He produced many great foals who were winners in Halter, Performance & Versatility; the following are just a few: Samatha won the Ladies Stake and Youth Stake also at Ava and many many others at large shows; Sambo's Saddling Sal was a consistent winner and Sambo's Fashion Cat still has the best 2 yr. old show record in the breed. She was shown 36 times that year and won 33 firsts and 3 seconds, including the 2yr. Old Mid America Futurity with 142 entries that showed in the futurity. There were no amateur classes at that time. There were 70+ 2 yr. olds in the Mare Class and 70+ in the Studs & Gelding Class – Sambo's Fashion Cat was declared the winner.

We castrated almost all of our colts leaving one intact every year and if we got a better one the next year, we castrated the other one. Sambo died when he was 12, the same year as Zane Grey. He was injured by a mare and had some swelling on his hip. The veterinarian treated him and he reacted to the medications and only lived 11 more days.

We had kept Sambo's Magic Marker as Sambo's replacement. Marker was not shown much, but he beat Black Rex and Missouri Traveler a time or two and of course they also placed over him as well. Marker lived to be 32 years. He was a full brother to Fashion Cat and she died the next year at 32. I bred Fashion Cat to Marker and produced our best broodmare, Cat's Meow, the mother of Thrill a Minute who Sally is showing now. His daughter Cat Walk won many Performance classes and excelled in Versatility winning the High Point Versatility award in 1997, 1998 and 1999.  Marker produced many Halter and Performance winners, including Strawberry Surprise who won the Ladies Stake class for Ann Pickering. He produced many other Halter and Performance winners including Markers Cracker Jack and World Champion youth winners. .

We used the same system on Sambo's Magic Marker that we did with Hawkeye's Black Sambo; that is, gelding the colts and keeping the best one as a breeding horse. The one we selected in the course of 32 years is a black colt we named ONE OF A KIND and he truly is "one of a kind". He is not related to Zane Grey, Black Cloud, Mr. President or Yankee and this has made him an excellent out-cross for those bloodlines which have become intensely line bred. One of a Kind's mother, Lad's Sweetheart, was arguably the greatest daughter of Walkers Merry Lad, who was a very good sire in his own right.

Lad's Sweetheart was an excellent show horse; many people thought she might be the best mare in the breed. She produced Cloud's Brigadoon, Amateur World Grand Champion, for Keith Johnson. Brigadoon was later exported to stand in Austria. She foaled One Of A Kind when she was 25 and produced one more foal when she was 26, but died shortly after of kidney failure. This colt was raised on the bucket and now owned by Dr. Paul Elwood of Bondurant, Wy.

One of a Kind is the most athletic fox trotter we have ever owned; surpassing both his sire and grand-sire. His conformation is such that horse people of all breeds like him. He, and his get, have the ability to show in the Performance arena and the Versatility arena. He is, as the say, "eat up with cow sense". We enjoy riding his get as they do not have to be "tinkered with" to perform. We believe One of A Kind is today's proof of the success of our 50 year breeding program.

Duane & Sally Scott

Rogersville, Missouri

November 2010