THOROUGHBREDS COME TO ARIZONA

To most people, horse talk in Arizona evokes images of Indian mustangs, cowboy ponies or western Quarter Horses. Thoroughbreds are seldom associated with the deserts and mountains of the Baby State. Yet more and more Thoroughbreds-and good ones, too-are coming to Arizona. These horses have been responsible for the great improvement in Arizona-bred equines of all types in the past couple of decades. Prior to this, Thoroughbred horses were scarce in Arizona. But in the 1920s and 1930s, a few farsighted ranchers and horsemen started importing stallions from the bluegrass country of Kentucky to improve their cow horse stock and to speed up their running stock.Among these pioneer breeders were Tal Pendleton, Nogales, who shipped in a carload of Thoroughbred mares and two stallions; Melville H. Haskell, Tucson, who purchased Bayard II, an Irish stallion by Actoi by Santoi out of Lakshmi, from Col. E. R. Bradley of Kentucky; Jim Kennedy, Willcox, who raised Quarter Horses (called Steeldust in those days) and Thoroughbreds; C. W. (Doc) Pardee, Phoenix, who first came to the capital city from Oklahoma and later had a Thoroughbred named Wrattler by Wrack out of Clare Booth by Fair Play; the late Lon Harmon, who owned and operated the Yolo Ranch northwest of Prescott and improved his ranch's horseflesh by cross-breeding Thoroughbreds on cold-blooded mares; and Col. Fred Hamilton, Tucson, who brought eight good U. S. Government Remount stallions to Arizona to give the Thoroughbred industry "a shot in the arm."

The efforts of these men and a few others like Neil McCarthy, Phoenix; Ed Courtright, Tucson; John Thompson, Prescott; Kelly Moeur, Young; and Lewis Douglas, Sonoita, have made a lasting impression on Arizona's horse population. For instance, Haskell's Bayard II was bought in 1934 to up-grade the cow horses used on the Rincon Ranch, a cattle spread east of Tucson in the Rincon Mountains. The big bay stood 16 hands high and weighed 1,250 pounds. Haskell's idea in cross-breeding Bayard II on native Arizona ranch mares was to improve their offsprings' conformation, increase their ruggedness,and give them more stamina. This was accomplished, and today the blood of this stallion (now dead) is still leaving its mark, mainly through Bayard II's daughters, on colts raised by the Rincon Stock Farm (Haskell bought this irrigated farm, a few miles northeast of Tucson, in 1936 to raise running horses).

In the years following the purchase of the Rincon Stock Farm, Haskell became very interested, through his cross-breeding program, in producing speed for the short track. His studies of bloodlines, in both short and distance racing history in this country, revealed to him what many other breeders of western Quarter Horses didn't know or didn't care about: he learned that it had been the rule rather than the exception to cross Thoroughbreds on Quarter Horses. And, he discovered, this had been occurring ever since Thoroughbreds were first imported to America from England in the middle 1700s.

When the frontier moved westward, he learned, so did the hardy, well-muscled, short distance race horses, called in the early stud books of this country "American Quarter Running Horses." In the settling of the West, the ancestors of the early day Quarter Horses were used to work cattle rather than to race. As a breed of Quartermile race horses, they all but disappeared.

In 1945, the American Quarter Racing Association was established by a group of Tucson horsemen-Haskell foremost among them, and including Rukin Jelks, Bob Locke and A. M. (Jake) Meyer-in an effort to organize the sport of Quarter Horse racing on a national basis. Actually Arizona can be called the home of formal Quarter Horse racing (with pari-mutuel wagering), and Mel Haskell can be called the father of the sport as it is known today.

We mention this brief history of Quarter Horses to some extent because most of Arizona's fast Quarter Horses -some of the fastest in the world-have been produced by a few of this state's most celebrated Thoroughbred sires. The Thoroughbred breeding program in Arizona is four-fold: polo horses, hunters or jumpers, straight Thor-oughbreds for long distance racing, or cross-bred animals for short distance racing.

Up until a few years ago by far the most general of these activities, with excellent results, was the crossing of Thoroughbred sires on Quarter Horse dams for the pro-duction of short speed on the straightaway tracks. Oddly enough, however, there are more races written for Thor-oughbreds on Arizona's tracks than for Quarter Horsesand the purses for these races are higher. So the interest in raising straight Thoroughbreds is increasing. Nevertheless, cross-bred interest is still high. These cross-bred animals, produced by a few Thoroughbred stallions, have focused the attention of out-of-state breeders on Arizona in a big way. One of the first such Thoroughbred sires to make a name for himself was Piggin String by Ariel out of Wiggle by Pennant. Eleven years ago, Rukin Jelks visited the famous Keeneland yearling sale at Lexington, Kentucky, where in the past many track hopefuls of top bloodlines have changed hands for fabulous prices. It was not Jelks' intention to buy a horse solely for the track. What he wanted was a stallion that would get swift short distance running horses when crossed on superior Quarter-type mares. He wanted a sire, not a track star. But he hoped to find a horse which would be a producer of track stars. In the bay colt, Piggin String, he found exactly that. In selecting Piggin String (then unnamed) out of the 400 yearlings in the sale, Jelks had a job on his hands. At first he didn't want to be influenced by pedigree, so he put the sale catalog in his pocket without looking at it, and then inspected the conformation of each and every colt. His eye was taken by the bay colt.

"Finally," says Rukin, "I went back to my hotel and checked bloodlines in the catalog. I was delighted. Piggin String had been bredby Lexington's Mereworth Farm, an outfit that's bred many fine horses. And, ofcourse, Ariel was a fine sire himself. He was by Eternal by Sweep, once one of the leading brood mare sires in the country."

After Jelks bought the colt, Piggin String was shipped to Jelks' Tucson farm, where Frankie Figueroa, Jelks' cowboy, trainer and jockey, had an easy time gentling and breaking the blue-blooded youngster.

Piggin String's own racing career was inconsistent and erratic, but a few times he showed real ability. During the racing season of 1945-46, he won the Quarter Horse stallion racing championship, an honor awarded by the American Quarter Racing Association. The next year he was so badly crippled that Jelks had to retire him from the track. He currently stands at stud service at the Rincon Stock Farm, and many mare owners have bred their best stock to Piggin String. His Quarter Horse colts are running all over the West. Some of his best Thoroughbred get include Heno Sissy, Miss Sissy, Hard and Fast and Wide Loop.

Two years after Piggin String made his debut on the Arizona desert, Three Bars, another Thoroughbred stallion of like caliber, appeared under the ownership of Sid Vail of Douglas. A beautiful chestnut by Percentage out of Myrtle Dee by Luke McLuke, Vail purchased the horse from the racing partnership of Haggard and Snedigar, who at that time made Safford their headquarters. Three Bars is 14 years old. Like Piggin String, he has made a terrific name for himself by being able to throw short speed in his progeny.

As a youngster, Three Bars badly stifled himself (the movable bone forming the anterior part of the stifle joint was displaced) and for a while he was considered useless.

It has been said that he was once sold for $400, and another time given away. Haggard and Snedigar got him by claiming him in a race.

Even though crippled most of his life, Three Bars was very fast. At Hot Springs, Arkansas, when he was a three-year-old, he fell coming out of the gate, bursting one knee open and loosening a few teeth. Making a remarkable recovery, he got back on his feet and was able to beat three horses in a 12-horse field. In 1946 at the Phoenix Fairgrounds, Three Bars ran the fastest five furlongs that had been run in 36 years-:57.3.

Many Arizona horsemen consider Three Bars the finest sire in the country to breed to sprinting Quarter mares. His colts and fillies, especially the latter, are real speedsters. Bardella, bred by the Lightning A Ranch of Tucson, was sold for $20,000 into California, after she won the 1952 Southwestern Futurity at Tucson. Another fast three-year-old mare, Josie's Bar, owned by Oscar Cox of Lawton, Oklahoma, recently won the $15,000 derby at Frank Vessels' all-Quarter Horse meet at Los Alamitos, California. The time: 440 yards in 22.1 seconds, a new track record and a new three-year-old record.

The latest Thoroughbred sire to come upon the Tuc-son scene is the stallion Spotted Bull, by Bull Dog out of Spotted Beauty by Man O' War. Bred by Kentucky's Cold Stream Stud Farm, he sold as a yearling through the Keeneland sale for $45,000. He broke down for distance racing as a two-year-old, but was raced as a three-, fourand five-year-old at the shorter Thoroughbred distances, six furlongs being about his limit. While he was racing he was the fastest early speed horse on the tracks. In 18 starts he was beaten to the quarter-mile pole only once. In 1950 he was purchased for $18,000 by 18 Arizona horsemen, who formed what is known as the "Spotted Bull Syndicate." He stands at service at the Rincon Stock Farm, with Haskell acting as agent for the syndicate. One of these is Bella St. Mary, owned by C. T. Guse-man of Hereford, Texas. Another is Dog Fish, owned by H. G. Wells of Tucson. Dog Fish, a straight Thor-oughbred, is a big, brown, well-muscled two-year-old whose dam was Sea Nymph by the immortal Sea Biscuit.

Still another promising Spotted Bull two-year-old is the filly, Spotted Lady, out of Ariel Lady by Little Joe, Jr. Owned by the Rincon Stock Farm and trained by the farm's manager, Charlie Hall, this young lady romped to two important wins last winter at Tucson's Rillito Park. She won the Southwestern Futurity, covering the 330-yard distance in 17.4 seconds, and she won the Baby Stakes, a 440-yard event, a few weeks later, in 22.8 sec-onds. Men who know their business when it comes to horseflesh are keeping an eye open for Spotted Bull's second colt crop, which will make its appearance on Arizona tracks during the split season of 1954-1955.

In the Phoenix area, where the greatest amount of interest is being shown in breeding clean-bred Thoroughbreds, there are a good many horsemen who cater to the longer track distances. Among them are Frank Brophy, D. W. Waddell, Bill Thompson, Walter Clure, Ralph B. Feffer, Sr., Frank Colcord, George Hazelton, Phil Taber of Chandler, and the famous Ellsworth brothers of Arizona.

The stallion in this area who seems destined for a great career in Arizona stands for stud service at Doc Pardee's farm at Glendale. He is Be Sure Now, another syndicate-owned horse by War Admiral out of Boys I'm It by North Star III. His first foals went to the races this year. Flibinite, a three-year-old filly, won a three-quarter-mile race at Bay Meadows, San Mateo, California, by five open lengths. Quite recently, two other Be Sure Now two-year-old fillies, Now Dear and Bid Now, coupled as an entry, won a $5,000 Hollywood Park allowance race. Now Dear galloped home the winner in 59.3 seconds for the five furlongs, and her half-sister was lapped on her by only a neck for the place position. Thoroughbred saddle horses, hunters and jumpers, and polo mounts enjoy a limited popularity in Arizona, especially around Phoenix. Mr. and Mrs. Colin Campbell of Scottsdale have some show horses. Two top performers In this string are Texas Reef and Desert Fox, who was the 1953 show season California-bred champion hunter on the Southwestern circuit. Dr. Si Bloomhardt of Phoenix is, and has been for many years, an avid polo player. He and Mrs. Bloomhardt have always had a dandy string of Thor-oughbred polo ponies. The Horse Lovers Club of Arizona is helping the children around Phoenix to follow in their parents' footsteps when it comes to the fundamentals of fine horsemanship. Quite a few of Arizona's ranch and rodeo cowboys are riding cow horses with infusions of Thoroughbred blood. Vail has an excellent rope horse, Kid Bars, by Three Bars out of a Quarter-type mare. The Figueroa brothers rope off a stallion called Field Judge, a son of Jelks' Piggin String. Thoroughbred breeding, both straight and cross, is forging ahead in Arizona. Arizonans like to race horses; they like to race good horses. And for this reason they are getting better breeding stock. Quite naturally, it follows, they are producing better and faster horses.