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SUGAR BARS
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Sugar Bars ...
"One cannot remember when this stallion did not have a full book."
An excerpt from the book,
"Speed and the Quarter Horse: a Payload of Sprinters"
(1973) by Nelson C. Nye
The daddy of 259 starters the last time we looked, Sugar Bars is a familiar name to connoisseurs of the leading sires lists. He was bred by George E. Wood and foaled at El Paso, Texas, in 1951. Sired by Three Bars (TB), Sugar Bars is out of Frontera Sugar by Rey, a good son of the well remembered Captains Courageous (TB), sire also of the celebrated Miss Bank. The dam of Frontera Sugar was the Dun Mare by Ben Hur.
While standing in the ownership of Bud Warren this stallion got such speed merchants as Barface (AAAT), Bar Moore Miss (AAAT), Connie Reb (AAAT), Gofar Bar (AAAT), Johnny Bars (AAAT), Pacific Bars (AAT), Sugar Band (AAAT), Sugar Comb (AAAT), Sugar Rondo (AAAT), Vanna Bar (AAAT) and others too numerous to set down here. His racing get have earned in excess of $350,000 and he had, at last count, twelve AAAT, fourty-five AAA and fifty-six AA offspring to his credit. Additionally, he is the father of 641 registered foals and stands eighth among leading sires of Register of Merit qualifiers having fifty-seven or more such get (actually 113), and eighth in the list of those with seven or more AAAT get. He is the leading living maternal grandsire of ROM get (1945 through 1969). He has gotten more registered foals than any other sire of Register of Merit qualifiers, an unquestionable testimonial to his long-time popularity with mare owners.
In addition to the Sugar Bars get which have gone to the races, many others have gone the show ring route and some, like Sugaree Bars, have toured both circuits. She, as it happens, was his first foal to be rated AAA AQHA Champion.
In his straightaway days Sugar Bars was himself a AAA sprinter, one of the first twenty Three Bars' get to go into the then-highest rating. The others were Bardella, Barjo, Barred, Cee Bars, Deep Water, De Witt Bar, Gold Bar, Ipana Bar, Josie's Bar, Lightning Bar, Make's Bar, Miss Myrna Bar, Miss Wonder Bar, Nug Bar, Rocket Bar, Third Reader, Tonto Bars Gill, War Bar and War Chant. Certainly their success on the tracks conspicuously contributed to their sire's popularity in the stud. In 1954 Three Bars (TB) led the all time list of leading sires with twenty AAA, six AA and seven A. Leo was next with sixteen AAA, twenty-two AA and twenty-one A. Third on that list was Depth Charge (TB) with ten, seven and eleven. Piggin String (TB) was fourth with ten, seventeen and sixteen. Texas Dandy stood fifth with eight, nine and twelve. Sixth was Hard Twist with six, seventeen and six. Joe Reed II was seventh with six, twenty-one and twenty. Eighth was Top Deck (TB) with six, eight and two. Vandy was ninth with five, five and one. And the tenth on that list was War Bam (TB) with five, one and one.
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JOE HANCOCK
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Joe Hancock
AQHA # 0000455
Brown Stallion
15.3
1923 ~ 1943
AQHA Hall of Fame ~ 1992
Breeder: John Jackson Hancock
Perryton, Texas
Owner: Joe David Hancock
Nocona, Texas
Joe Hancock, the match racing sensation from Texas, was purchased by Tom Burnett for $2,000 in the midst of the Great Depression. Burnett stated Joe Hancock was one of the best looking horses he'd ever seen. Already a legend on bush tracks in Texas and Oklahoma, Joe Hancock became a legendary sire of roping horses that were big, stout and tough. Occasionally, a runner was produced, like War Chief, who outran Clabber, but Hancock horses were most associated with ranch work and rodeo arenas across the Southwest. In 1943, Joe Hancock was put down on the Four Sixes Ranch at Guthrie due to complications from a pasture accident.
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DRIFTWOOD
Driftwood
AQHA # 0002833
Bay Stallion
1932 ~ 1960
AQHA Hall Of Fame ~ 2006
Breeder: Mr. Childress Silverton, Texas
Owner: Catherine & Channing Peake
Lompoc, California
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The legend of "Driftwood" lives on. Driftwood was a bay stallion foaled in 1932. His sire was "Miller Boy" by "Hobart Horse" who was thought to be sired by "John Wilkins" by "Peter McCue". "Miller Boy" was out of "Wilie", a daughter of "Texas Chief" by "Traveler". "Driftwood's" dam was "The Comer Mare" by "Barlow" by "Lock's Rondo". The combination of early speed sent the young stallion to the race track where he was successfully matched at distances from 220 yards to 3/8's of a mile. In the late 1930's he ended up in the hands of the Nichols' family in Gilbert, Arizona. While he was with the Nichols' he was matched against, and outran, the legendary "Clabber", a World's Champion Quarter Running Horse. Buck Nichols introduced "Driftwood" to the roping arena. In 1941 Asbury Schell obtained Driftwood and nicknamed him "Speedy" because of the way he could catch cattle over a long roping score.
As a nine year old "Driftwood" became a fixture at the big rodeos around the country. In 1943 Katy & Channing Peake bought Driftwood from Schell for $1,500 and moved him to Rancho Jabali where they registered him with the AQHA and he was retired to stud. Driftwood consistently sired speed, quickness, performance agility, the mental attitude to retain training, functional conformation and physical stamina that would stand up under hard use. Many stallions are outstanding performers themselves but are not able to pass that same talent down through the generations. Driftwood did and is what made Driftwood unique among stallions. During the following seventeen years, Driftwood sired an entire arena full of top performers in the show ring, the race track, and the rodeo arena. For over a half a century this bay stallion passed down his own tremendous performance ability and, in the process, gave horsemen something that they were proud to ride. An old rodeo adage is, "A man has to be well mounted to win" and with a "Driftwood" he was. Today, sixty plus years after he was foaled, his blood is still sought after by anyone seeking real performance ability. "
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BLUE VALENTINE
Blue Valentine. "Old Blue" at the Hyde Merritt Ranch at Tie Siding, WY Old Blue was 23 years old when this photo was taken by Jim Jennings of the Quarter Horse Journal (November 1982 WH Magazine)
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Blue Valentine was Red Man's most prolific son.
Blue Valentine passed on his sire's legacy of usability and functional conformation to the Merritt Horses of Wyoming. Hyde Merritt horses were popular with ropers for 25 years and the breeding is still found in many remudas in Texas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Nebraska.
Blue Valentine's sire Red Man was a well-known sire of top ranch mounts throughout the Arizona cattle country. During the 1940's and 50's, the majority of usin' horse men were more interested in what an individual animal could do under saddle. The Red Man foals could do the job, out on the ranch, in the rodeo arena, and stayed sound while doing it.
Red Man's foals earned 80 race wins, 18 stakes winners, earning a total of $28,848 back in the days when purses were low. He sired 15 Race ROM earners.
Red Man had a long hip, was tremendously deep through the heart girth, had withers that would hold a saddle and lots of bone. As a sire he passed that size and bone, athletic ability, roan color and good black feet on to most of his line. He was quick out of the box, could really "blow up on one" and after the catch was made and the slack rope pitched away, stop and get back. Red Man took to the event like a "duck takes to water", carrying on the tradition of the Hancocks as rope horses.
Red Man was sired by the legendary Joe Hancock. Joe Hancock showed speed at a young age and before his racing career was over, Joe Hancock was open to the world at any distance from the starting line to three-eighths of a mile. He won his races by being so fast away from the line that the other horse couldn't catch him. There finally came a time when Joe Hancock simply ran out of competition. He stood pat at three-eighths of a mile, but no one wanted to take on the brown stallion.
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