As Don Miller, of Western Grove, Arkansas, would drive around the area near his home, he'd see a grey stallion named
Grey Boy's St. Pat W., who had been sired by Grey Boy. Impressed by the stallion's carriage and gait, Miller searched for one of his offspring.
Mary Ellen Frantz, of Washington, Missouri, bought Grey Boy’s Dixie Chick, on the advice of her trainer,
Clifton Matlock. Frantz so liked the mare that she decided to find the mare’s sire, Grey Boy.
Who is this Grey Boy who has sired progeny so appealing that people want more “like that”? You won’t find
him in the registry under the name “Grey Boy,” although 39 of his registered 97 offspring have “Grey Boy” somewhere in their
names. Grey Boy’s registered name is Miss America’s Master Piece. He is by Sensation’s Fireman M. and out of Missouri’s
Miss America M., a Two-Year-Old Open World Grand Champion. Bred by Patricia Lafferty of Lebanon, Missouri, Grey Boy has Merry Boy
Sensation bloodlines on the top, with Missouri Traveler E. breeding on the bottom.
“Danny and Sharon Starnes bought him,” said Clifton Matlock, trainer at Queen Bee Stables, owned by Mary Ellen
and Richard Frantz. Showing for the Starneses, Matlock rode Grey Boy to win the 1995 Three-Year-Old Futurity Open Stallions and Geldings
Championship, the 1995 Three-Year-Old Open Stallion Championship, and the 1996 Four-Year-Old Open World Grand Championship.
“Grey Boy had a real fancy, big stroke,” said Matlock. “He was a bigger-going horse with a high tail, nice
carriage, and a big front end. He’s an outstanding horse.”
But, even an outstanding horse with a very promising future has no control over the vagaries of life, and when
the Starneses divorced, Grey Boy was sold at a horse sale. Grey Boy endured more than one set of divorcing owners, more than one horse
sale, and was moved from Missouri to Arkansas and back again. The former World Grand Champion more or less disappeared.
Throughout these unsettled years, Grey Boy was still siring good Fox Trotting Horses. Don Miller found a son of
Grey Boy’s St. Pat W., a red sabino named Grey Boy’s Sugar Foot. “Rooster” has become the steady mount that Miller needs when he trains gun dogs.
Mary Ellen Frantz has built an enviable show career with Grey Boy’s Dixie Chick, winning, among others, the
Ladies Amateur Specialty Five-Year-Old Mares class at the 2007 Spring Show. “Dixie” has also done extremely well in FOSH shows.
In 2010 she was the FOSH Region 2 Hi-Point Champion.
“I love Dixie Chick,” said Frantz. “She is my equine partner, and she is one big powerhouse. Of all the horses
he’s sired, she is the most like Grey Boy.”
Frantz’s search for Grey Boy paid off when, in 2006, a call came that he was for sale again. Frantz brought the
stallion home to Queen Bee Stables, in Lebanon, Missouri. “He was skin and bones and his hooves were grown out. He was a pitiful
sight,” said Frantz.
Under the expert care of Queen Bee Stables, Grey Boy is once again a healthy, breeding stallion. “ He doesn’t
show his age, and we’ve gotten some nice colts out of him. He’s good-natured and easy to handle. He crosses real well with Missouri
Traveler mares,” said Matlock.
“Grey Boy has passed on a lot of his traits, like the tail and neck carriage, gorgeous canter, and the big
shoulders, to Dixie, and you can see it in both of their offspring,” said Frantz. “They are not big, but they are powerful. They have a
natural way of moving that they pass on.”
So, don’t expect this travelin’ grey stallion to go anywhere soon. “He has a home here forever,” said Frantz.
