In exceptionally early spring of 2021, we lost our herdsire Zodiac. There was a frantic scramble to come up with a 'Plan B' for the season. We had been casually discussing the possibility of adding a jr. horse to the program to use on the Zodiac daughters we expected to choose from as keepers. But with Zodiac being just 9 the year of his death, we hadn't put a lot of work into the idea and we hadn't kept many daughters to carry on with, either. Thankfully in April of 2021, with the final Zodiac foal ever to be born, we had the beginnings of the solution to one of these problems! Lauricia Black Bess foaled a long-necked, big footed colt with a wide white stripe on his face who eventually would be named 'Benchmark'. ​

Benny has had a limited show career thus far - he was shown in the fall of 2023 at the Topeka Halter Classic where he was first in his class, reserve junior champion stallion and eventually was crowned the Reserve Champion Percheron stallion. His most important job though, is as a future breeding stallion. We feel he has a number of qualities that we find important in both a sire and as a potential performance horse. 

His first crop of foals arrived spring of 2024; among them were 2025 reserve All-American yearlings, Tradewinds Miss Disco and Tradewinds Fletcher. Tradewinds Miss Disco is also the Jr Champion mare at the World Percheron Congress 2026.