TR Dual Rey • 1999–2026
TR Dual Rey died this morning, June 1, 2026. He was 27 years old. He suffered a heart attack shortly after his morning collection. He went quickly, and it was a tender mercy to have been there with him for his last breaths.
It is no exaggeration to say that TR Dual Rey changed my life and the life of my family. The vast majority of anyone who knows me today is because of that horse. I have made thousands of connections on six continents because of him. As my team huddled close around me — TR laying peacefully on the ground — I thanked him out loud. He laid the foundation that made everything possible.
Chico, our stallion manager who was by TR’s side every day for more than twenty years, walked over to me with tears in his eyes and told me how sorry he was. I hugged him and told him I loved him. He said the same. That moment right there is TR Dual Rey. That is what that horse gave me.
The Beginning
In 2003, my parents were rapidly expanding a world-class breeding and training facility in Farmington, Utah. The culmination of over thirty years in the horse business, they had navigated from racing quarter horses to thoroughbreds to western performance horses, trailblazers through every iteration. They set their sights on a brilliant four-year-old son of the young freshman sire Dual Rey to be the crown jewel of their new venture, Buffalo Ranch.
TR Dual Rey was making waves under the hand of the legendary Lloyd Cox. Lloyd is truly one of the greatest trainers and showmen to have ever sat in a western saddle, and at that time, he was just beginning his historic rise. The horse’s owners, Jim Holmes and Tim Rollins (the “TR” came from Tim Rollins, who started TR as a two-year-old), had an asking price that made my father wince: $1,000,000. Nothing in public auction was anywhere near that sum, and there was no budging them. None.
I remember being at my parents’ house, all of us watching the now-famous run with Lloyd and TR at the 2003 NCHA Summer Spectacular Open Derby. TR was crawling on his knees on his first cow, and the horse was electric. My father kept agonizing over the price. Too much. Just too much.
Then my mother spoke. She has always been my father’s steady help meet, and her quiet confidence has a way of settling things. She said, “Just do it, David. You know you want him, and he will work out in the end.” And so, with that reassurance, my father countered the sellers with the sum of $1,000,010. From that day forward, he could say with a straight face that he paid over a million dollars for the horse.
The Show Career
What an investment TR turned out to be. Through the rest of 2003, Lloyd and TR went on to be the leading money earners of that year. That is quite the feat considering his head-to-head competition with Chiquita Pistol, the last NCHA Triple Crown Champion. TR finished his show career as a seven-time Open Limited Age Event Champion or Reserve, with lifetime earnings of $353,174.
My parents made the decision to retire TR before he ever bred his first mare. We were racehorse people, and in racing you do not breed and show at the same time. Performance horses like TR are bred for brains, not single-use speed. Looking back, we sometimes wondered what TR and Lloyd might have accomplished in those classic five and six-year-old years. But what came next answered that question in its own way.
The Sire Record
His first year at stud, TR stood with Don Ham in Whitesboro, Texas, and bred over 200 mares at a first-year fee of $5,000. The investment paid off quickly and emphatically. My parents took the risk, and the reward followed.
When Jane and I purchased the business from my parents in 2008, TR came with it. He has been with us every year since, and the record he built is something I am genuinely proud of. As of this morning, TR Dual Rey’s sire record stands at 996 AQHA foals, 414 money-earners, and $5,641,220 in combined earnings across cutting, reined cow horse, reining, ranch, campdrafting, and more. Six AQHA Reserve World Champions carry his blood. Fifty ROM awards. Nine Superior awards. The cutting column alone reads $4,766,969.
His top money-earner is Austin Rey at $231,262, followed by Daratrcocoaspreview at $195,095, SDP Moms TR at $140,271, Intention Del Rey at $134,943, Boot Scootin TR at $127,803, Playin T Etta at $113,402, SDP Al Capoone at $109,985, Shes Playin Rey at $107,495, What a Rey at $104,860, and Lil Rey of Hope at $102,002. That is a top ten that reflects a sire who bred quality and consistency across every discipline.
Austin Rey and Tatum Rice
Shes Playin Rey deserves a special mention. Competing in the demanding world of reined cow horse, she became a two-time NRCHA World Champion, an AQHA World Champion, and an AQHA Reserve World Champion, competing and winning as recently as 2025. She is exactly the kind of horse that defines a sire’s legacy.
A Truly Global Reach
TR Dual Rey’s reach extended far beyond the United States. Vince and Sally Bonello of Australia came into our lives because of a horse named TR Dual Rey, not because of me personally. That relationship is now twenty years old, and I say without hesitation that the Plummers and the Bonellos are family. TR’s progeny have competed and won at the top of the Australian cutting world and across the campdraft pen. We have sold TR breedings and shipped his genetics to Australia, Brazil, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Six continents. That is the reach of this horse.
In Brazil, through Ricardo Villacia and others, his blood has taken root in that great cowboy culture. In Europe, his genetics found homes in France and beyond. I have had the privilege of showing TR’s progeny on multiple continents, and those memories will stay with me for the rest of my life.
What Comes Next
This is not the end of TR Dual Rey’s story. We were blessed to welcome a filly by TR this year, born out of one of our most special broodmares, Miss Meow. We will have more TR foals next year through sexed semen and IVF. Twenty-three years of history with this horse, and more still to come because of the miracle of frozen semen and assisted breeding technology. What an extraordinary time to be alive.
TR Dual Rey was laid to rest here on the ranch, buried next to his old friend Hydrive Cat. The two of them, side by side, at the place they called home for so long. It is exactly right. The two horses that built SDP Buffalo Ranch into what it is today, together as they always were.
Till We Meet Again
I have owned many horses. My horses are treated exceptionally well. They are a business to me, not family pets. But some horses become more than the business side of life. Some become part of you. TR is that horse. The one truly great one who changed my life and gave me opportunities I would never have had without him. Most people will never fully understand what I mean by that. That is okay. I know what it means to me.
I will miss him deeply. I will do everything in my power to preserve what he gave me personally, what he gave my family, and what he can still give through his future progeny. His legacy will be carried forward by whomever believes in him enough to raise that next great foal.
All horses go to heaven. He’s already enjoying the best paddock in the kingdom.
TR Dual Rey • 1999–2026
About the Author
Shane Plummer
The team at SDP Buffalo Ranch has spent decades developing one of the most elite American Buffalo genetics programs in the country. We specialize in stallion selection, breeding program consultation, and helping ranchers raise performance-proven buffalo.
Ready to talk genetics, breeding programs, or stallion selection?
Book a Consultation
