Next came ‘design,’ that all important step taken at sales, at private training barns, at breeding barns. Purchases made with an eye toward style and substance. These were the early prospects that led to the first wins for the Arcese ‘brand’ of quality. Quality, never quantity, would be a byword for the Arcese family as they went on in the ‘development’ of their breeding program.
To develop an outstanding breeding program– it starts with the highest quality broodmares. Arcese Quarter Horses, always with this vision fully in place, shopped the world market and has a set of broodmares that equal any in the performance horse business. Their focus, of course, has been on the reining world so the majority of the mares carry the pedigrees of the top-of-the-line horses in that world. But with an eye on cutting all along, Leonardo and his father have made a number of surveys of the NCHA standings and frequent visits to Fort Worth for the NCHA Futurity, and have bought a set of spectacular mares from that side of the performance fence. With mares to brag on and a selection of the best stallions in the business, the development of the Arcese brand was well on its way.
The development of good young talent runs a parallel to the thousands of hours those Ferrari test cars spent on their own tracks. In the case of the Arcese brand, the hours were spent with young horses in the hands of trainers with talent and discrimination. This level of the program brought an outstanding number of wins, NRHA Futurity titles and aged event titles in every reining venue. The Arcese icon was born.