THOROUGHBRED TIMES January 14, 2012 11

BY JOE NEVILLS

WHEN GOOD REASONSA put a nose in front atthe wire to win the

$750,000 Champion of Championson December 10 at Los AlamitosRace Course, the colt further bol-stered the résumé of his late sire,1997 Horse of the Year Favorite Trick.

Unlike many of his contempo-raries, Favorite Trick’s reputationas a sire has been built largely throughhis Quarter Horse progeny. Thor-oughbred stallions are used to in-troduce new outcrosses to the QuarterHorse breeding industry and pro-vide stamina to the sprinting breed.

More than 80 Thoroughbred stal-lions are advertised to breed racingQuarter Horses,based mostly in theSouthwest. Because they present somany unknown variables in regardsto their pedigree and output,breedersmay be slow to experiment with aThoroughbred stallion until they areproven,but the owner of a successfulone could reap the benefits.

“There haven’t been very manyof them that worked,” said AndrewGardiner, general manager of Jimand Marilyn Helzer’s JEH StallionStation operations in Texas, Okla-homa, and New Mexico. “There’sa lot of horses that seemed to havetremendous potential that simplywere unable to be Quarter Horsesires. A lot of the intrigue is the sim-ple fact that if a guy can come upwith one of them, they’re going tohave a corner on the market.”

Favorite Trick was brilliant in hischampionship two-year-old season,winning all eight of his starts andhighlighting his campaign with winsin the Breeders’Cup Juvenile (G1)and Hopeful Stakes (G1). He re-tired after his three-year-old seasonwith 12 wins in 16 starts for earn-ings of $1,726,793.

The son of Phone Trick was a de-cent sire of Thoroughbreds after hisretirement from the racetrack in1998, siring 276 winners from eightcrops, with 27 stakes winners, ledby Grade 3 winners Datrick andTrick’s Pic. After stints in Kentuckyand Florida, he moved to JEH Stal-lion Station in Hondo, New Mex-ico.

JEH stands several sires that per-form double duty as sires of Quar-ter Horses. Favorite Trick took wellto his new assignment, siring cham-pion Prankster CF and Quarter HorseGrade 1 winners Favorite Cartel andGood Reason SA.

“The thing that caught everybody’seye with that horse was his look,”Gardiner said, commenting on Fa-vorite Trick’s compact frame andpowerful hip. “He had the look aQuarter Horse guy was looking for.”

Unfortunately, Favorite Trick’spromising new endeavor was cutshort when he perished in a 2006barn fire that also claimed the lifeof stallion Saratoga Six.

In the Thoroughbred breedingindustry, a setback like the death

of a stallion brings hisbreeding to a halt. How-ever, because artificial in-semination is allowed inQuarter Horse breeding,breeders may store frozensemen to be used as longas there is a supply andregardless of whether thestallion is alive or dead.

Through intracytoplas-mic sperm injection (ICSI),breeders are able to isolatea single sperm cell and in-ject it into an egg with-drawn from a mare,magnifying the potentialability of a stallion severalhundredfold.

“The downside to thatis it’s very expensive,”Gardiner said. “The pro-cedure itself costs an ad-ditional $9,000 on top ofthe stud fee, which takesa lot of people out of thegame when you’re look-ing to spend that amountof money to breed a mare.”

Through January 5,Favorite Trickhas sired 39 winners from 96 foalsage three and older. He is availablefor the 2012 breeding season fromJEH Equine Reproductive Special-ists for $3,000.

“I would venture to say that theywill be available for that horse forseveral years, partly because of thefact that he’s not breeding a hugenumber of mares every year,” Gar-diner said about Favorite Trick’s re-maining supply of frozen semen.

Appendix horsesThe American Quarter Horse As-

sociation created a special registryand numbering system for QuarterHorse-Thoroughbred crosses andrefers to them as “Appendix”horses.The AQHA has registered more than600,000 Appendix horses to date.

Appendix horses are eligible tocompete in all AQHA competitions,including racing, without restric-tion, but they can only be bred backto a permanent,or regular numbered,

Quarter Horse. An Appendix horsecannot be bred to a Thoroughbredor another Appendix horse and stillbe registered with the AQHA.

However, if an Appendix horseproves itself worthy, it can earn ad-vancement, loosening its breedingrestrictions. Advancement may beobtained by earning a speed index of80 or higher on the racetrack or earn-ing a Register of Merit in the opendivision at an AQHA-approved show.

Once obtained, any foals by an

advanced stallion or mare arealso eligible for advancementthrough the above criteria,and future foals will auto-matically be registered by theAQHA. If an advanced Ap-pendix horse is bred back toanother Appendix or Thor-oughbred, the foal reverts toAppendix status.

Stallion qualitiesThe stallions being adver-

tised for Quarter Horse breed-ings run the gamut fromEclipse Award winners tospeedy hard-knockers. How-ever, the common factor be-tween most of them is apredisposition to early speedthrough breeding and per-formance and having “thelook.”

“Quarter Horse peoplewant one that’s built like aQuarter Horse,” said FredAlexander, owner of A & A Ranch in Anthony,New Mexico. “They’re not

looking for the tall, lanky Thor-oughbred type, even if they werefast.”

Thoroughbreds bring two key fac-tors to the table as prospects forQuarter Horse breeding—outcrosspotential and stamina.

Though artificial inseminationhas prolonged the careers of manysires, it also has severely dimin-

Double dutyThoroughbred sires make their mark in Quarter Horse racing and breeding

THOROUGHBREDS IN QUARTER HORSE INDUSTRY NEWSFEATURE

The late Favorite Trick, Horse of the Year in 1997 after an undefeated juvenilecampaign, is sire of 39 Quarter Horse winners and is still available to breeders in thatbreed through artificial insemination

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LatestStallion Sire Farm State QH feeAbajo Robyn Dancer Double L L Farm N.M. $2,000Admiral Indy A.P. Indy Rutland Ranch Ks. 1,500Afleet Bob Northern Afleet Dominion Racing Co. 3,000Afrashad Smoke Glacken Lazy E Ranch Ok. 1,000Apollo Falstaff Joneson Ranch Ok. 1,000Attila’s Storm Forest Wildcat A & A Ranch N.M. 1,500Baptistry Deputy Minister Sprintland Training Center Mi. 500Blazonry Hennessy Running Horse Equine

Training Center Ca. 1,500Bold Anthony Bold Ruckus Pendergraft Farm Ok. 1,000Boone’s Mill Carson City Southwest Stallion Station Tx. 1,000C’mon Tiger Storm Cat JEH Stallion Station Oklahoma Ok. 1,000Carnacks Choice Carson City Hoosier Stables In. 750Category Five Storm Cat Triple S Farm Mn. 1,000Cats and Dogs Storm Cat Holden Thoroughbred and

Running Quarter Horse Farm In. 500Chestertown Slew Seattle Slew Fanlew Farms La. 1,000Commitment Relaunch Dominion Racing Co. 2,500Dance Master Gone West JEH Stallion Station Oklahoma Ok. 1,500Derby Drive Two Punch Bosen Land & Livestock Id. 950Desert God Fappiano A & A Ranch N.M. PrivateDesert Warrior Deputy Minister Midwest Equine & Vet. Hospital In. 750Devon Lane Storm Cat TNL Farm N.M. 2,500Diabolical Artax A & A Ranch N.M. 3,500Diligent Prospect Diligence McCallum View Farm N.M. 1,200Dome Storm Cat Double L L Farm N.M. 2,000Ellerton Silver Deputy Sunlight Farm Ok. 700Embrace the Storm Storm Cat McCallum View Farm N.M. 1,200Euroears Langfuhr JEH Stallion Station Oklahoma Ok. 2,500Favorite Trick Phone Trick JEH Equine Reproduction

Specialists Tx. 3,000Firejack Dixieland Band Mountain States Equine N.M. PrivateGemma’s Star End Sweep Fanlew Farms La. 1,000Ghost Mountain Silver Ghost Wells Farm N.M. 2,000Ginny’s Sunshine Fusaichi Pegasus Pulse Ranches & Racing Stable Wa. 1,000Gold Case Forty Niner Mesa Vista Stud N.M. 5,000Golden Shine Touch Gold Mesa Vista Stud N.M. 2,000Honor Glide Honor Grades Fanlew Farms La. 2,500Hooper Forestry Anderson Race Horses Ok. 500Jagerman Fusaichi Pegasus Fanlew Farms La. 1,000Justa Red Bird Just a Cat Cheval Farms La. 1,000King of the Roxy Littleexpectations McCallum View Farm N.M. 3,000Lazzeri Grand Slam Domino Acres Farm Id. 1,000Source: www.stallionesearch.com and THOROUGHBRED TIMES research

LatestStallion Sire Farm State QH feeLookinforthesecret Cimarron Secret Reliance Ranches Tx. $1,000Max’s Pal Marquetry Lambholm South Fl. 750Minister’s Gold Deputy Minister Browning Ranch La. 1,000Momentum Nureyev Vessels Stallion Farm Ca. 2,500Monster Winner Lite the Fuse Bulldog Speedhorse Farm Ga. 500Montbretia Meadowlake Shining Mountain Thoroughbreds Mt. 1,000Monti’s Lad Montbrook Equine Veterinary Hospital of

Northern Indiana In. PrivateMr. Nightlinger Indian Charlie JEH Stallion Station Oklahoma Ok. 1,500Night Ceremony Danzig Big Dreams Ranch Ok. 1,000Not Phone (Arg) Speakerphone Fanlew Farms La. 1,000Orderly Pulpit Salt Whistle Ranch Tx. 500Peek a Bootrando Bertrando Pulse Ranches & Racing Stable Wa. 1,000Preachinatthebar Silver Charm Pulse Ranches & Racing Stable Wa. 1,000Precocity Aferd Mesa Vista Stud N.M. 4,000Premeditation Afternoon Deelites A & A Ranch N.M. 2,500Quick Action Carson City TNL Farm N.M. 1,500Quiet Enjoyment Ogygian Dar’s Barn Inc. Mi. 1,500Quietly Delayed Delayer Morales Ranch Tx. 1,500Red Siyah Kalem Jill Lane Quarter Horses Mt. 1,000Reuben Rubiano TNL Farm N.M. 1,200Riverside Irish River (Fr) Pendergraft Farm Ok. 1,000Roll Hennessy Roll Hennessy A & A Ranch N.M. 2,500Salt Lake Deputy Minister Golden Eagle Farm Ca. 3,000Schramsberg Storm Cat James Ranch Ok. 2,500Sheikhs Buddy Sheikh Adel Bulldog Speedhorse Farm Ga. 500Snowbound Meadowlake Rolling A Ranch Ca. PrivateSo Long Birdie Pioneering Buena Suerte Equine N.M. 2,000Southern Africa Cape Town Running Horse Equine

Training Center Ca. 1,500Southwestern Heat Gone West A & A Ranch N.M. 2,500Square Eddie Smart Strike Vessels Stallion Farm Ca. 5,000Stolen Gold Conquistador Cielo Pulse Ranches & Racing Stable Wa. PrivateStormin Fever Storm Cat Golden Eagle Farm Ca. 3,000Stormin’ Lyon Storm Boot Famous Lane Farm N.M. 1,500Strong Hope Grand Slam Midwest Equine & Vet. Hospital In. 2,500Swissle Stick Swiss Yodeler MJ Farms N.M. 1,000Tales Not Told Tale of the Cat Legend Farms Ok. 1,000Tin Can Sailor Military Double L L Farm N.M. 1,000Uptown Miami Hennessy Dominion Racing Co. 10,000Weather Warning Storm Cat Double LL Farm N.M. 3,000Western Gambler Storm Cat South Plains Stallion Station Tx. 500Wynn in Command Northern Afleet Carrier Thoroughbreds La. 1,000Zayzoom Meadowlake Pulse Ranches & Racing Stable Wa. 1,000

Second careersThoroughbred stallions advertised for Quarter Horse breedings

continued on page 12

12 THOROUGHBRED TIMES January 14, 2012

ished the diversity of the QuarterHorse stallion market. If a breedercan introduce a new bloodline intothe gene pool, that operation couldhave a valuable commodity.

“With the Quarter Horses, wehave kind of backed ourselves intoa little bit of a corner pedigree-wisebecause of the fact that unlike theThoroughbred business, there’s vir-tually no limit to what you can breeda stallion to as far as number ofmares,” Gardiner said. “Basically,instead of having 100 nice sires outthere, the Quarter Horse businesshas eight or ten top sires that breeda tremendous amount of mares, andif you do that year after year, it nar-rows your gene pool.”

Breeding to a Thoroughbred sirealso can help add stamina to a pedi-gree that might need the extra dis-tance.

“A lot of Quarter Horses are ex-tremely fast at 300 or 350 yards, butthey have a hard time stretching out

to 440, which is what the All-American Futurity is,” Alexandersaid. “So if you have a Quarter Horsemare that just couldn’t get the 440yards, that’s when they want to cross

to a Thoroughbred and see if theycan stretch them out a little bit.”

Three Bars’ influenceArguably no Thoroughbred sire

has had more influence on the rac-ing Quarter Horse breed than ThreeBars.

Named after the winning arrange-ment of symbols on a slot machine,Three Bars,by Percentage out of theLuke McLuke mare Myrtle Dee,turned a promising,if injury-plagued,racing career into a respectable re-tirement as a Thoroughbred sire. Hisstallion career took off, though, inthe late 1940s and 1950s in the Quar-ter Horse realm, siring five worldchampions and an astounding 316winners (77% winners from starters)from 497 foals of that breed.

Three Bars’ success continuedthroughout the generations, as hebecame one of the breed’s all-timegreat broodmare sires and sire ofsires. From 1940 to 1988,287 Quar-

ter Horses were awarded the titleof running champion. Of those awardwinners, 55 were sired by ThreeBars, his sons, or grandsons.

Three Bars further cemented hislegacy as the paternal great-grandsireof major commercial stallion DashFor Cash.

The stallion’s storied career alsoincluded an incident in the late 1950swhere he was stolen out of his barnduring the night to breed mares. Heeventually found his way back homewith a broken nose after apparentlybeing clubbed by his rustlers. De-spite the injury, Three Bars contin-ued his breeding career until hisdeath in 1968 at age 27.

Three Bars was enshrined in theAmerican Quarter Horse Hall ofFame in its inaugural class of 1989,the first of only three Thorough-bred members. The other two,Rocket Bar and Lena’s Bar, weresired by Three Bars.

Storm Cat’s ‘comeback’Arguably the highest-profile in-

stance of a Thoroughbred stalliontesting the Quarter Horse market inrecent years is Storm Cat, who wasoffered by Overbrook Farm in Lex-ington for artificial insemination in2009.

True to his reputation as a sire ofsires in the Thoroughbred world,Storm Cat has many sons with Quar-ter Horse progeny, including Hen-nessy, who sired Grade 1 winnersfrom both breeds prior to his deathin 2007. Storm Cat has at least ninesons currently advertised for Quar-ter Horse breedings.

“In the Thoroughbred commu-nity, he was known for precocity inhis foals and speed,”said Overbrookconsultant Ric Waldman,who man-aged Storm Cat’s career. “He has alot of speed on his female side.[Storm Cat’s dam] Terlingua wasextremely fast.”

The influential sire had been pen-sioned from live cover duty in 2008due to declining fertility, but therewas an attempt to extend his studcareer with the help of a special fer-tility procedure developed at TexasA&M University. Seasons to StormCat were offered for a fee of $20,000.

Storm Cat sired only one QuarterHorse foal, a colt named Stray Cat.He debuted in 2011 and his best fin-ish to date is a second on January7 at Los Alamitos.

Waldman said one horse was nota large enough sample to make ajudgment about Storm Cat’s via-bility as a sire of Quarter Horses.

“Had he been able to breed a largenumber of some of the top QuarterHorse mares—and there were in-dications from some of the breedersthat showed interest in him that theywere willing to use some of theirbest mares—I think a larger num-ber of those might have come upwith different conclusions,”he said.

“We were probably late off themark realizing the potential. Hadwe realized the potential earlier, wewould have collected his semenwhen it was more lively and wouldhave been more successful in im-pregnating Quarter Horse mares.”

Joe Nevills is a THOROUGHBRED TIMES staff

writer.

Thoroughbred Three Bars left alasting impression on theQuarter Horse breed during hiscareer in the 1940s and 1950sand is the paternal grandsire oflegendary stallion Dash For Cash

NEWSFEATUREQUARTER HORSE from page 11

Sunday, Jan. 15th 1-4pmFood & Refreshments

Raffle / Drawing for SeasonsFrom I-75 in Ocala, go west on State Rd.

40 to Nelson Jones Training Center on left,follow signs to Stallion Complex.

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www.northweststud.com

Won / Placed in 10 Stakes (6 Graded)A winner at 2, 3 and 4, GONE ASTRAY won the PennsylvaniaDerby-G2 by 9 1/2 lengths, Ohio Derby-G2 by 2 1/2 lengths and the Salvator Mile-G3 by five lengths (5-5-4 in 21 starts, $1,125,162).

Immediate Family of ChampionsFirst dam is half-sister to Champion 3-year-old filly SMUGGLER.

Second dam is Champion Older Mare INSIDE INFORMATION,winner of six Grade I events, earner of $1.6 million and is a half-sister to Grade I winner and millionaire EDUCATED RISK.