Michael Phelps had to win eight gold medals to earn a $1 million bonus during the 2008 Beijiing Olympics.

Thanks to the McDavid family of Fort Worth the champion of this year’s NCHA Futurity can earn a $1 million dollar bonus in one stroke. The only requisite is that the champ be sired by Hes A Peptospoonful, the McDavids’ popular young sire.

The “Spoonful Million Dollar Bonus” is actually one of five $1 million bonuses that will be awarded to any Hes A Peptospoonful-sired winner of the NCHA Futurity from the 2009 event through the 2013 event.

“This is out of gratitude to all of the people who have supported “Spoonful” and have helped put him on the leading sire’s list so quickly,” said Tony Langdon, spokesman for David and Stacie McDavid, and their daughter, Sterling. “They want to give everyone an opportunity to compete for more money and to hopefully make their foals more valuable.”

All Hes A Peptospoonful offspring entered in the NCHA Futurity are eligible for the bonus with no obligation to their owners. The $1 million is unrelated to the Futurity purse and will be paid to the winner by the McDavids.

In addition, the McDavids will match the official NCHA payout to any Hes A Peptospoonful-sired or Widows Freckles-sired offspring that win the non-pro, limited non-pro and amateur divisions of the NCHA Futurity, NCHA Super Stakes and NCHA Derby from the 2009 NCHA Futurity through the 2014 NCHA Derby. This will make foals of mares bred this year to the two stallions eligible, as well as 2008 weanlings, yearlings, 2-year-olds and 3-year-olds.

“They get a shot as 3-year-olds in the Futurity and as 4-year-olds in the Super Stakes and Derby,” Langdon explained. “For instance, a few years ago, Phillip Layne won the NCHA Futurity Amateur and Limited Non-Pro championships. He probably won over $50,000. This year he would have gotten double that amount, if he had been riding a Spoonful or a Widows Freckles. And he could have come back in the Super Stakes and Derby and if he’d won, he would have gotten paid double again.”

The McDavids, who are non-pro competitors (David is a former auto dealership owner with multiple business interests), purchased Hes A Peptospoonful at the 2001 NCHA Futurity, where he had captured headlines by becoming the first horse in 30 years to win both go-rounds and the semi-finals. The red roan stallion was in the news again during the 2006 NCHA Futurity, where his first foals made an impressive showing in the finals.

In 2008, Hes A Peptospoonful, who stands at Joe Landers, Weatherford, TX, ranked #8 on Equi-Stat’s list of leading sires.