Geldings? As Rodney Dangerfield would say, “They don’t get no respect.”

At least they haven’t always in the the cutting world. Until recently.

The Mercuria NCHA World Series of Cutting, with its substantial purse money, and the Mercuria NCHA World Finals, held during the NCHA Futurity Festival in Fort Worth, have put the spotlight on geldings like never before.

There are also restricted incentive programs for young geldings – EE Ranches’ popular Futurity program, which has paid out $280,000 in three years, comes to mind. Many limited age events also include gelding divisions, and last week, the NCHA executive committee passed a resolution to incorporate open and non-pro gelding 4-year-old classes within the NCHA Summer Spectacular. These classes have been part of the NCHA Super Stakes slate since 1994, when 1993 NCHA Futurity champion Bobs Smokin Joe won the open division.

Even in the hallowed hall of NCHA Futurity open champions, geldings have held their ground, despite the fact that among NCHA Futurity entrants, colts have historically outnumbered geldings by a wide margin. The total of 48 NCHA Futurity open champions includes 20 stallions, 20 mares and eight geldings.

The first Futurity champion was the gelding Money’s Glo, shown by Buster Welch in 1962. Welch also rode the unregistered gelding Rey Jay’s Pete to win the event in 1966.

The next gelding to capture the Futurity title was The Gemnist, with Kathy Daughn in 1985. It was the beginning of a 12-year span that saw five geldings win the event: The Gemnist in 1985; Smart Little Senor in 1988; July Jazz in 1989; Bobs Smokin Joe in 1993; and Playboy McCrae in 1996.

It would be another 10 years before a gelding captured the win – Oh Cay Felix, who scored an unprecedented double victory in 2006, with Craig Thompson in the open and Patrick Collins in the amateur division.

Meanwhile, the top four all-time leading NCHA money earners listed in the 2009 NCHA Yearbook are geldings: Poco Quixote Rio, $1,091,734; Red White And Boon, $882,498; Sister CD, $729,177; and Dual Rey Me, $708,061. Dual Rey Me is the leading active money earner, with $812,406 as this is written.

Finally, it isn’t often that geldings are among the high-selling lots at a cutting horse auction. But Boony Playboy, a 7-year-old gelding sired by Peptoboonsmal, was the second-highest seller at $100,000 during the NCHA Summer Spectacular Sale on July 31, 2010.

Geldings? They’ve got my respect.