Show Stoppers: Traditional Paints

It’s no secret by now that my collection heavily favors Stock molds. I’ve rotated quite a few models in and out of my show string over the years, trying to spread the love, mostly between my Lady Phases ... and trying to figure out what judges like in stock molds, with only moderate success.

Here are six models I’ve shown in the Paint class over the years.

 

 

This Lady Phase, #1214 Palomino Pinto, was part of the 2006 treasure hunt. I took a drive out to a closing Breyer dealer in Blairsville, PA (Horse & Rider Etc.) in May 2011 when they were liquidating their inventory and mentioned having a bunch of her for sale. I think she was $15.

She only brought home a single 6th place ribbon in her first half dozen times out in the show ring, so I retired her. Her show name was Fashionably Late.

 

 

This Lady Phase from the #1446 Overo Paint Mare & Foal set has been one of my most successful stock horses. She’s placed in some massive classes and has about a 50% success rate in getting a ribbon. Of the 21 times she’s been on the table, she has 10 ribbons, 2 breed NAN cards, and a section reserve champ. I hand-picked her from my friend Bonnie’s Breyer dealership (Breyers By Mail) in February 2012. Her markings are some of the cleanest I’ve ever seen despite the intricacy of her pattern, which might be part of why she does so well in the ring. Her show name is Alice.

 

 

#711161 CC Shuffle Surprise was a BreyerFest special run in 2013. This gal, the blue roan pinto, was the rarest matte color. She’s now retired due to some slight yellowing, but got a couple breed ribbons and a couple collectibility NAN cards in her show career. Her show name was Sheza Lil Loopy, which you can read more about back in my Nov 2025 Show Stoppers post where I talked about goofy names.

 

 

#90174 Bobby Jo is one of my favorite Premier Club releases. I think the sculpt is conformationally excellent and she looks good in a lot of colors. I wasn’t in the Premier Club that year, so I bought her secondhand from my friend Kelly W. in May 2016.

She’s been on the table 15 times so far, placing in breed six times, earning 4 breed NAN cards, and cleaning up at the 2024 NY Breeders Show in Region 10 with a section champ and overall division champ.

 

 

I first talked about #90122 Hope N Glory in my February 2026 Special Effects post, where I discussed the few Connoisseurs in my collection. She has a cool acquisition story; you can read about it back on the other post. Her show name is Phrenology. She gets into the show ring quite a lot because she’s both a good breed horse and a contender in collectibility. She does okay; as I mentioned in my February post, there’s another Hope N Glory in my region that she’s often up against, and that one is a little nicer.

 

 

This #711400 Seven Arts Surprise in glossy bay maximum sabino was a run of 325 pieces at BreyerFest 2019. He was just featured on my blog back in July when I talked about glossy surprise models. He’s been on the show table 7 times and has four ribbons and a section reserve champ so far.

I like naming my horses something analogous to their issue names, so it was a no-brainer to assign him as Bob Ross. I grew up in awe of the real Bob Ross and regularly watched The Joy of Painting on WQLN (our local PBS station in Erie) as a kid. I couldn’t (and still can’t) believe what that man could do with a canvas and oil paint in just 30 minutes.

Don't Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth: Misty & Stormy

Since time is of the essence and I’ve mentioned my sister a whole bunch lately, today I will share the last two Breyers she gifted me when she decided to stop collecting. I’ve already talked about her #839 dapple gray PAS and her #859 Family Appaloosa Stallion on Stud Spider. 

 

 

These last two are pretty iconic. This is #20 Misty of Chincoteague (or just Misty, or Marguerite Henry’s Misty, or Misty by Marguerite Henry, or Marguerite Henry’s Misty of Chincoteague, depending on the year and catalog) and her foal, #19 Marguerite Henry’s Stormy. I don’t think there’s a run in the history of the company that has been produced as long as these two have.

Misty has been in the lineup in some form or other since the mold was introduced in 1972. That’ll be 55 years next year! She’s come with books and camping gear, by herself and in sets with Stormy, in various boxes, and has had some pattern changes, especially early in her production. There’s a three-eyed Misty and a four-eyed Misty (depending on whether or not there’s a white circle around her left eye). Despite her lengthy run, people who really know Misty can look at any Misty model and tell by the color and pattern roughly what decade it was produced in.

Stormy wasn’t introduced until 1977, but she has also faithfully been in the lineup every year since then, alone or in sets with Misty.

I believe my sister got both of these in 1992. They would have been sold separately then, not as a set.

A Misty and Stormy connoisseur I am not, and a Misty and Stormy mold fan I am not (my only other Misty is Sari, and Stormy is a singleton), but it would feel a little weird to have over 1500 Breyers and NOT have the set that’s been popular enough to be faithfully produced every year since before I was born.

I’m really happy my sister decided to get them and then passed them along to me.

Full Spectrum: Glossy Charcoal

Let’s talk shark holes.

Back in the day, an adventurous YouTuber made an animated video of a Breyer newbie wandering the confusing layout of the Holiday Inn North and looking for room 890 (which doesn’t exist), where a glossy charcoal Running Stallion had been advertised for sale on a flyer. The animation was computer-narrated, and every time the animated shopper stopped to ask another animated shopper how to get to room 890 because they were looking for a charcoal Running Stallion, the computer pronounced charcoal as “shark hole.”

Thus the legend of the famous Room 890 Glossy Shark Hole Running Stallion was born. 

The legend is alive and well today. There’s usually at least one poster hanging on the CHIN walls every year that references it. On a Blab thread this past July about the upcoming proposed changes to the CHIN, someone asked how to get to the pool, and a fellow hobbyist replied, “You really don't want to go to the pool anyways, that's where all the shark hole stallions are.” Someone else asked, “What are shark hole stallions?” Cue the retelling.

Unfortunately, the YouTube link to the video is long defunct, or I’d share it here. It was a riot.

I first fell in love with glossy shark holes when I got limited edition #854 Memphis Storm as a kid. I just talked about Memphis Storm last month in my On a Regular Basis post, so this seemed like a good time to visit the other glossy shark holes in my collection.

 

This G1 Draft, #502901 Silver Cup Series (1st Collection) from 2002, got his first featurette on the blog in December 2025’s Special Effects post. You can read more about him there.

 

 

#701709 Cream and Cocoa were a Just About Horses special run in 2009. There were 1200 made. They must not have sold out, because Breyer put a whole bunch in the store at BreyerFest in 2011 for a discount ($50, compared to their original issue price of $80). Being the Grazing Mare & Foal fan that I am and also being a person unable to resist a great deal, I snagged a set.

You’ll have to forgive the inclusion of Cream in today’s post; she’s a glossy smoke, not a shark hole, but it didn’t make sense to leave her out when I was already talking about the set.

 

 

#712014 Amigo, a run of 500, was the third release in the 2014 Vintage Club, in July (like a week before BreyerFest, so the timing was … less than awesome). I was a member that year, so I got him direct from Breyer. You can't see how awesome and rich his color and shading are here because of my crap light setup, but he’s easily in my top 3 favorite Vintage Club releases of all time.

 

 

#711283 Claude was the optional model for the 2019 Vintage Club, released in October 2019. I was a member of the Vintage Club that year as well, so I got him direct from Breyer. They made 470 glossy and 30 matte. Though I’m sure I could have made bank on a matte if I’d gotten one, shark hole does nothing for me in matte, so I was happy to get the glossy.

 

 

My Big Ben conga gained another member in March 2020 thanks to my friend Beth E., who was having a small collection selloff. #1456 Gathering Storm was the Collector’s Choice model for the first half of 2011. Collector’s Choice models were color/pattern/mold combos suggested to Breyer by collectors. I would have preferred a solid shark hole instead of a loudly patterned one, but my Big Ben conga excludes no one.

 

 

Beth E. is also responsible for this little dude, the miniaturized version of the traditional Fighting Stallion. He was released in the regular run blind bag set #6051 70th Anniversary Mystery Horse Surprise. The Fighting Stallion is one of the most popular Breyer molds of all time, and like many hobbyists, I was thrilled when they produced him as a mini-me. Beth had bought an entire box of the blind bags and was selling her extras in July 2020, so I bought one of her Fighters.

As far as shark holes I’d like to add to my collection someday, Storm from the 2016 Vintage Club is the only one currently on the list. That being said, if a minty mint glossy vintage Fighting Stallion or Mustang came my way at the right price, I wouldn’t turn it down.