2018 Hall of Fame Inductees
Bold Venture
Bold Venture
If there was ever a horse that had to overcome long odds and a longer run of plain bad luck on the way to becoming a champion, it would have to be Bold Venture.
Foaled in Kentucky in 1933, he won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness in 1936, and by 1939 had found a home at Robert Kleberg’s King Ranch here in Texas. Even without those big wins, his place in history would be secure as he remains the first and so far only Kentucky Derby winner to sire two Kentucky Derby winners. But it was a rough and rocky road getting there.
In the hands of trainer Max Hirsch, Bold Venture seemed to be haunted by a string of plain old bad luck for all of his juvenile campaign. At Arlington Park to prep the Arlington Futurity, the colt tripped over the outer rail on his way to the post in an allowance race. He suffered several deep cuts but was allowed to compete anyway, and ran fourth. The Futurity itself proved even worse, when the start was delayed for 10 minutes after Bold Venture bolted out of the gate, tossed his rider, and ran for a nearly mile before he was finally caught. He was still allowed to run, but finished 30 lengths back. Shipped to Saratoga to prepare for the Hopeful Stakes, Bold Venture was raced three times in an eight-day span, winning two of them in a field that included a little horse named Seabiscuit. In the Hopeful, he found tough going and little luck in the congested field, and finished ninth in the field of 17.
Then while being shipped to Belmont Park, the rail car in which he was being transported caught fire. A groom managed to hold the horse’s head out an open door and avoided suffocation that claimed two other of Hirsch’s horses in the same car. Then a virus soon knocked Bold Venture out of all of the other lucrative fall events, and Hirsch decided to call it a year. It had been a rough one.
But on opening day of the 1936 New York racing season Bold Venture was back, under l8-year-old apprentice Ira “Babe” Hanford. He coasted to a four-length victory in the season opener, and with the Kentucky Derby just 16 days away, Hirsch soon decided to head straight to Churchill Downs.[insert film clip]The track was fast, but the break was a mess. Jockey Hanford said it looked like a bowling ball hitting pins. As soon as the gates opened, the favorite Brevity was knocked to his knees, the third favorite Granville stumbled and threw his rider, Indian Broom was trapped in a scrum of racing horses. Bold Venture was bumped on both sides. As the mess began sorting itself out, Hanford kept Bold Venture to the outside and out of trouble, reached the front of the field with three furlongs left and held off a challenge by the heavy favorite to win his first stakes race by a head.
But while owner Morton Schwartz collected the $37,700 prize money, jockey Hanford was one the three riders who collected 15-day suspensions for rough riding. The suspension meant Hanford had to sit out the Preakness two weeks later. His replacement aboard Bold Venture was George “The Iceman” Woolf, who rode Bold Venture to a photo-finish win by a nose after yet another bad bumpy start. Then the hard luck gremlin struck again. Following a workout at Belmont Park, Bold Venture was found to be lame. Attempts to return him to racing proved unsuccessful, so owner Morton Schwartz took the horse back to Kentucky to stand at stud. In 1939, King Ranch owner Robert Kleberg brought Bold Venture here to Texas where he sired a pair of top-class racehorses: Assault, the 1946 U,S. Triple Crown champion, and Middleground, winner of the 1950 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. Both were King Ranch homebreds trained by Max Hirsch. Bold Venture died in 1958 at age twenty five. A rough and bumpy road indeed, but sometimes that’s how legends are made.
Corey Johnsen
Corey Johnsen
As president and part-owner, Johnsen led Lone Star Park when it attracted and staged the 2004 Breeders’ Cup. But he gained entry into the sport at its very core: as a $2 bettor in high school and stable employee during summers while in college. Now he’s one of the most innovative and game-changing executives in horse racing.
Johnsen, who retains extensive roots in Texas racing, doesn’t just get a paycheck from heading a track, which today is as president and part-owner of Kentucky Downs. He possesses the ultimate skin in the game as a breeder, owner and modest bettor — always working to promote the sport.
Johnsen oversaw the construction and launching of Lone Star Park, leading the track into the national limelight with not only the Breeders’ Cup but with the high-profile All-Star Jockey competition that received national publicity and acclaim. He has been active in Quarter Horse racing, including as a member of the AQHA Racing Council during the development of the MBNA Challenge Championships, the Quarter Horse equivalent of the Breeders’ Cup. The Challenge Championships was a fixture at Lone Star during Johnsen’s reign.
After Lone Star’s sale, Johnsen took his skills to Kentucky Downs, a struggling track he purchased with Ray Reid and other partners in 2011, heading the management team that has taken the all-grass track on the Tennessee border from novelty to industry leader while offering some of the most lucrative purses in America during its five-date meet. Johnsen understands problems and sees solutions, including gambling on Historical Horse Racing, a pari-mutuel game based on past races but that gives a Vegas flavor to a track.
Johnsen, a long-time resident of Grapevine, appreciates the importance of all horse breeds, continuing to own Thoroughbreds running in Texas (including recent maiden special-weight winner Alpha Bravo, owned in partnership, at Sam Houston) and as an owner and breeder of Quarter Horses.
He has been a horse owner since 1979, when he began putting claiming partnerships together, progressing to campaigning stakes winners such as Honey Rose and Colonel Samsen. Johnsen shot up the management ranks through the publicity and marketing departments at Turf Paradise, Arlington Park, Louisiana Downs, Remington Park and Lone Star Park. He also has been involved in the opening or re-opening of four tracks in the Americas, including in Mexico City and Uruguay. Johnsen helped build Louisiana Downs’ Super Derby into one of the country’s top 3-year-old races at the time and was a key player in getting slots machines at Oklahoma horse tracks, bringing the Breeders’ Cup to Lone Star Park in 2004 and Historical Horse Racing to Kentucky. At every track stop, he has been immersed in the local market’s civic and charitable works and tourism.
Johnsen was founder and president of the Lone Star Park Charitable Foundation for 2001-2009. He also was co-chairman of the committee raising $3 million for a new YMCA in Grand Prairie. Johnsen, a member of the Lone Star Park Hall of Fame, was a Group Vice President of Magna Entertainment Corporation from 2003 to 2006, responsible for Lone Star Park, Remington Park, Gulfstream Park and Latin American activities.
Today Johnsen is president of Magellan Gaming and Racing, working with the Wyoming racing industry on historical horse racing and live racing. His CJ Thoroughbreds produces JockeyTalk360.com, the go-to website for all things relating to riders, and published the book “Ride to Win: An Inside Look at the Jockeys’ Craft,” co-authored by Texas turf-writing stalwart Gary West. Johnsen is chairman of the Kentucky Equine Education Project, which promotes horses of all breeds and disciplines, and on the board of the directors of Old Friends, the racehorse retirement project that specializes in providing homes when stallion careers are over and which has a satellite operation at Kentucky Downs.
He is a coveted speaker at industry symposiums, most recently being the keynote speaker at the National Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association convention in early March 2018.
Tom Durant
Tom Durant
It was to a far greater degree a combination of good-natured sibling rivalry, honesty beyond reproach and a fierce competitiveness that belies Tom’s laidback personality. Some know Tom Durant as a man with a keen sense of vision, others simply know Tom as man who has a knack of making the right decisions at the right time, and sticking with them. Above all, Tom Durant is a devout family man, married to wife Susan since 1978. Tom and Susan have four children, Hagen, Bently, Garner and Stormy; and six grandchildren; two boys and four girls. Family is by far the most important thing to Tom and his wife Susan, who encourage all of their children and grandchildren to be the best at everything they do, and pursue their dreams and passions in life. An uncompromising work ethic was passed on to Tom from his parents, who started the family business, a wrecking yard behind the family home. From that wrecking yard, Tom’s father, Julian Durant, a man with a third grade education founded the Durant Automobile Business. Tom purchased his first dealership from his father in 1972 after graduating from Texas Tech. Tom admits that he got into the car business to outrun his brother Jerry, who also owned a dealership. Tom Durant’s success in the car business has been nothing short of remarkable. Classic Chevrolet has been the #1 Volume Chevrolet dealership in the nation for the better part of a decade and Tom Durant now owns 21 dealerships, and has recently been named Chairman of the Texas Auto Dealer Association.
Tom’s passion for the car business is equally matched by his passion for horse racing. Tom and his brother Jerry have been around horses all of their lives. And while Jerry was heavily involved in cutting horses, Tom decided to get into the racing part of the horse business. When Jerry started competing in cutting, Tom went to a few of the competitions, “but it was just too slow for me,” he says. He told Jerry “I would rather stand at the finish line to watch which horse would win than wait for a judge to tell me.” Tom’s foray into horse racing began when a customer enticed him to purchase a thoroughbred mare that was bred to a quarter horse for $100,000. “The mare had a filly by her side out of Pie in the Sky. Six months later, “I sold that filly for $125,000. I thought this horse business was too easy.”
Tom soon discovered that the horse racing business wasn’t easy, but quickly made a name for himself in the quarter horse racing society. After 10 years of success on the quarter horse side, Tom was ready for a new challenge. He moved to thoroughbred racing in 1997 and owns Classic Racing Stables just outside of Granbury. Tom set the record for number of wins at Lone Star Park and holds the title as the All-Time Leading Owner at Lone Star Park as well. In addition to running at Lone Star Tom competes extensively at Churchill Downs and Keeneland Park in Kentucky. Everyone who knows Tom, from either the car business or the horse racing side, describes Tom as “in it to win it”. He knows what good horses are and he knows how to give them everything they need to put them in a position to win. He understands the animals, the athletes and the ingredients it takes – talent, the mind, the heart, and the desire. A hands-on owner, Tom knows how to evaluate a horse and get them to the spot they need to be. He’s patient, and he’s confident. He knows exactly what stage each horse is in and allows them to develop into a potential champion, but he’s also realistic. He knows a having a champion happens few and far between. His biggest asset is that he strives to go higher and instills that desire in to push yourself to the next level in everyone who works for him. He also gives his people the tools they need to do their job and doesn’t micro manage, but he expects results. Since 2000 Tom Durant, a multiple graded stakes winning owner has had 2368 starts with 503 firsts, 371 seconds and 321 thirds for a combined earnings of $11,143,954. But Tom is not in this business not for the financial investment opportunity, as some owners are. He’s passionate about horses and he’s in it for the competitiveness. Tom’s vision for his personal life, his automobile business and horse racing is simple…
“Be the best at everything you do.”
Julianna Hawn Holt
Julianna Hawn Holt
Julianna was educated in her hometown’s public school system and graduated from W.B. Ray High School. After attending Bennett College in upstate New York, she graduated from Texas Tech University. Julianna then moved to her family ranch in the rich, rolling country east of Gonzales, Texas, where she continued a practical education in agriculture with great cattlemen, horsemen, cowboys and of course, cowgirls.
Thirteen years later, Julianna moved back to Corpus Christi in order to follow her father and her Uncle George Hawn into the family businesses that they had carried on from their father, Richard Hugh Hawn, a pioneer oilman from Casper, Wyoming. She remains involved in all areas of their interests and is a partner in American Bank, Hawn Brothers Production, Hewit & Dougherty, Hawn Holt Interests, Hawn Holt Cross Triangle Ranch, Prade Ranch, HOLT CAT and the San Antonio Spurs.
While in Corpus Christi, in February of 1982, Julianna met an old friend from high school, Peter M. Holt. By November they were married and were fortunately blessed with two extraordinary children, Corinna Holt Richter and Peter John Holt, who live in San Antonio with their families and have now taken over operations and ownership of the HOLT CAT dealership.
From Corpus Christi, the family moved to San Antonio in 1988. Julianna sold the Gonzales Ranch and purchased a beautiful place in the Texas Hill Country along the Little Blanco River, where she and Peter raised their children. The Cross Triangle Ranch is home to Julianna’s small commercial cattle operation and a small, but thriving, quarter horse breeding operation. Julianna is the breeder of 2017 All American Futurity winner, Fly Baby Fly, as well as breeder of 2016 Rainbow Futurity winner and AQHA Champion, A Revenant. She had the honor of owning Corona Chick, whose offspring, King Corona, started her on a path to great success. Due to mares like Corona Chick, Higher Fire and Heartswideopen, she has been able to top the sale several times with her yearlings at the Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale.
Ranching continues to be the life and the work Julianna loves most. Her deepest desire is that Cross Triangle Ranch is known for their good horses and standard of excellence. She attributes the reason for her ranch success is God and her longtime partner, friend, and top hand, Bennie Greathouse, who manages the ranch. As well as individuals who have shared wisdom, expertise throughout the years. In addition, realizing how fortunate and blessed her life has been, Julianna is committed to supporting organizations that help children, education, both academic and vocational, the arts, the State of Texas and its way of life.
Todd Pletcher
Todd Pletcher
Along the way, he has not only succeeded in becoming Thoroughbred racing’s all-time leading trainer in purses earned at $354 million and counting, he’s earned the respect of the entire racing industry with his superior horsemanship and the classy manner with which he handles himself.
In just over 20 years, Pletcher has already produced a resume that may never be topped. And he’s still going strong. His statistics are astonishing: a record seven Eclipse Awards in the past 13 years as the nation’s Outstanding Trainer; 10 Eclipse-Award winning horses, including 2007 Belmont Stakes winner Rags to Riches – the first filly to take the final leg of the Triple Crown in more than 100 years; and five Triple Crown race victories, two in the Kentucky Derby with Super Saver in 2010 and Always Dreaming on May 6, 2017; and three in the Belmont with the aforementioned Rags to Riches, Palace Malice in 2013 and Tapwrit in 2017, with his other entry, a one-eyed horse named Patch, finishing third.
For history buffs, it should be noted that Pletcher became the first trainer to win two Triple Crown races with two different horses in the same year since 1996, when his mentor, Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas did it with Grindstone (Derby) and Editor’s Note (Belmont).
Pletcher does much more than train horses. He has a handle on all aspects of the industry, from buying, selling, breeding, safety and, of course, racing at the highest levels of the game. Whether he’s in jeans and a sports shirt at one of his meticulous stables or sporting a tailored suit at the races, he’s hands-on all the time. He’s knowledgeable about every aspect of the sport and insightful to the point of knowing every detail about the status of every one of the 175 horses he has in training.
The son of accomplished trainer J.J. Pletcher, 50-year-old Todd Pletcher not only is a positive spokesman for Thoroughbred racing, but for Corporate America as well.
Victories by his horses in nearly every major race in North America over the years have made Pletcher a recognizable face and household name. And corporations have taken notice of his vast knowledge of the industry and his business and marketing savvy, seeking him out for branding partnerships for top racing events.
His multiple corporate partners include Grey Goose (Vodka) and Ram Trucks. After Always Dreaming won the Derby, Pletcher was presented with a One-of-a-kind special Kentucky Derby Edition Ram 2500 limited truck. Shortly thereafter he announced that he would keep the truck but donate its value to two Thoroughbred aftercare organizations he’s supported throughout the years.
Pletcher’s racing team and Always Dreaming were featured in a nationally-televised Ram Trucks commercial during the NBC Sports telecast of the 2017 Preakness Stakes.
Always Dreaming won the Derby by 2 ¾ lengths in a 20-horse field to win “the greatest two minutes in sports” for his fourth consecutive win. He was beaten in the Preakness and skipped the Belmont Stakes. He was an Eclipse Award finalist for Three-Year-Old Male. Tapwrit won the Belmont by two lengths over favorite Irish War Cry.
With his home base at Belmont Park in New York, Pletcher has stables in California, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, setting a standard of excellence in following the footsteps of Lukas.
Pletcher was born in Dallas, and first began working with horses at the age of seven. He was a hot walker for his dad, at Ruidoso Downs, graduated from the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program in 1989, went to work for Lukas and helped him develop champions Thunder Gulch, Serena’s Song and Flanders. He also spent a summer in Hollywood Park working as a groom for Hall of Famer Charlie Whittingham.
He went out on his own in 1995, starting with six horses, and saddled his first winner, Majestic Number, in February 1996 at Gulfstream Park. From there, he was off to the races.
The big breakthrough came in 2004 – two Eclipse Award-winning horses and a first Eclipse as Outstanding Trainer. Ashado won the Kentucky Oaks (considered the Kentucky Derby for fillies), followed by the Breeders’ Cup Distaff and was voted the Eclipse as the top 3-year-old filly (A year later, Ashado won another Eclipse as the top older female). Speightstown gave Pletcher another Breeders’ Cup win in ’04 when he took the Sprint and won the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top sprinter. Pletcher was voted the top trainer after leading the earnings list with $17,481,923.
In 2005, he set a single-season purse earnings record with $20,867,842 and won a second Eclipse Award as the nation’s Outstanding Trainer. Among his big wins were the Travers with Flower Alley and the Blue Grass with Bandini.
A year later, he shattered his own earnings record with $27,670,243 and brought home his third consecutive Eclipse Award. On the day he broke the mark, he won the with Fleet Indian, the Flower Bowl Invitational with Honey Ryder, the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational with English Channel and the Fitz Dixon Cotillion Breeders’ Cup Handicap at Philadelphia Park with India. He also set a record for stakes wins in a year with 100 and graded stakes wins (57) – the previous mark of 92 was set by Lukas in 1987. He also won the Haskell Invitational with Bluegrass Cat and picked up Eclipse Awards for Wait A While (champion 3-year-old filly) and Fleet Indian (champion older female).
In 2007, Pletcher won his first Triple Crown race, and did it in historic fashion when Rags to Riches won the Belmont. He led trainers in earnings for the fourth consecutive year with $28,116,097 and brought home his fourth consecutive Eclipse Award.
Three years, and many more Grade 1 wins and training titles later, Pletcher reached the ultimate winner’s circle for the first time – winning the 2010 Derby with Super Saver, an 8-1 betting choice with Calvin Borel aboard. Later in the year, he won three Breeders’ Cup races – the Juvenile with Uncle Mo, the Juvenile Filly Turf with More Than Real and the Juvenile Turf with Pluck. Once again, he topped the earnings leader board with $23,157,098 and took home another Eclipse Award for outstanding trainer.
In 2011, it was the year of Uncle Mo and Stay Thirsty. Considered a Triple Crown threat after an Eclipse-Award winning 2-year-old campaign, Uncle Mo won the Kelso and the Timely Writer before losing in the Wood Memorial. He was then sidelined by a life-threatening illness, but came back and was beaten at the wire in the King’s Bishop after a courageous effort. Meanwhile, stable mate Stay Thirsty had picked up the mantle, coming through with wins in the Jim Dandy and the Travers. Among his other stars in ’11 were Ogden Phipps winner Awesome Maria, Prioress winner Her Smile, Ballerina winner Hilda’s Passion and multiple stakes winners including Caixa Eletronica and Calibrachoa.
Pletcher led all trainers in earnings in 2012 for the third consecutive year with over $20 million. He won 42 graded stakes races, including 10 Grade 1’s, topped by two each by Shanghai Bobby and Love and Pride. Among his big wins were the CashCall Futurity with Violence, the United Nations Stakes with Turbo Compressor, the Cigar Mile with Stay Thirsty, the Hopeful, Champagne and BC Juvenile with Shanghai Bobby, the Remsen and Futurity with Overanalyze and the Wood Memorial with Gemologist. Shanghai Bobby was crowned the 2013 Champion 2-Year-Old Colt.
Palace Malice gave Pletcher his third Triple Crown race win in the 2013 Belmont, winning by 3 ¼ lengths in a 14 horse field that included Preakness winner Oxbow and Derby winner Orb. The colt went on to win the Jim Dandy at Saratoga. Another highly acclaimed colt from the Pletcher barn, Verrazano, blew away the field by an astonishing 9 ¾ lengths in the $1 million Haskell Invitational. He finished the year atop the earnings list again. He had 224 wins from 946 starts for an astounding 24 per cent win clip and his horses finished in the money 57 per cent of the time.
Once again, Pletcher lead the nation in earnings in 2014 with $22,476,736, and was honored with a seventh Eclipse Award as the nation’s top trainer. Among his 240 wins were 62 stakes races (40 of them graded). The nation’s top conditioner reached a major career milestone in May when he passed Lukas for the No. 1 spot on the all-time leading trainers by earnings. He continued to campaign 2013 Belmont winner Palace Malice, adding four more graded stakes wins to the colt’s resume, including the Metropolitan Handicap. His numerous stakes wins included victories with Constitution in the Florida Derby and Danza in the Arkansas Derby. Danza went on and finished third in the Kentucky Derby. Three-year-old filly Stopchargingmaria brought home graded stakes wins in the Black-Eyed Susan, the Coaching Club American Oaks and the Alabama.
The hits kept coming in 2015. Again, Pletcher was the leading money earner with $26,278,647. His horses won 269 races, including 47 graded stakes wins. Stopchargingmaria and Liam’s Map gave Pletcher two wins at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships when Stopchargingmaria crossed the finish line first in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff and Liam’s Map prevailed in the Las Vegas Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.
In 2016, Pletcher won 274 races from 1,213 starters for purse earnings of $21,177,262, good for second place on the purse earnings list. Among his stakes winners were Outwork in the Wood Memorial, Destin in the Tampa Bay Derby, Stanford in the Charles Town Classic, Mshawish in the Donn Handicap, Ectot in the Joe Hirsch Invitational, Off the Tracks in the Mother Goose, Sweet Loretta in the Spinaway and Curalina in the La Troienne.
Pletcher closed out 2017 with another record-breaking year. He became the first trainer to win two Triple Crown races, with two different horses, in the same year since 1996, when his mentor, Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas did so with Grindstone (Derby) and Editor’s Note (Belmont). Saddling both the KY Derby winning horse, Always Dreaming and the Belmont Stakes winner, Tapwrit, he finished the year with $22,444,161 in earnings, with 253 wins from 1,053 starts, placing him second best in earnings on the All-American leader board for the year.
Jim Helzer
Jim Helzer
As a teenager living alone in a mountain ranch line camp, Jim Helzer liked his horses big and fast. He still does. Serving in 2009-10 as the 59th president of the AQHA, Helzer is one of the most successful horsemen to ever breed, own, and race the fastest horses on earth.
Born in Loveland, Colorada, Helzer grew up in northeastern Colorado, where the family raised cattle and used teams of horses to farm. His father later managed a ranch at Carbondale, where they ran cattle and sheep on Forest Service permits. After high school, Helzer married his childhood sweetheart, Marilyn, and studied for two years at Colorado State University. He went to work in finance and then the defense industry. The couple moved to Texas, where in 1979 Helzer became a roofing contractor, building a business that grew to encompass 33 locations in nine states.
In 1962, Jim and Marilyn bought their first racehorse. They spent most of the next two decades running good average horses. But things changed at the 1980 Ruidoso yearling sale. They paid $8,000 for Hempens Jet, who became a stakes-winning earner of more than $270,000 before they sold him for $100,000. It was not long before Helzer was one of the best-known and most highly regarded horsemen in the industry. Helzer bred his first Quarter Horse in 1985 and since then has bred the earners of more than $1.54 million. In 1990, Helzer bought Refrigerator who won that year’s All-American Futurity, became a two-time world champion and the only horse to win three runnings of the Champion of Champions. In 1994, Helzer established his first JEH Stallion Station which now stands leading Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred stallions on its Oklahoma division at Purcell and its Texas division in Whitesboro, where in 2010 he also opened the JEH Equine Reproduction Specialists and Hospital.
Jim Helzer is a past president of the Texas Quarter Horse Association, a past director of the Texas Thoroughbred Association, served on the board and as president of the Texas Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, and was on the management committee of the Texas Horsemen’s Partnership.
“Being on the Executive Committee for four years, and being the president, that is both
an honor and a privilege I can’t think of anything more that would climax a horseman’s career. But l’m not saying it’s the end of my career.” he declared. “I’m still looking for that next winner.”
Jim Helzer was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2015.
One Famous Eagle
One Famous Eagle
But he was a slow starter. As a 2 year old, he ran well in his first few races but couldn’t quite find the winner’s circle. Trainer John Bassett said he wasn’t worried…
But once he found his way to the winners circle, he liked it there. He won the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity (G1) in 2007, the Los Alamitos Super Derby (G1) and Golden State Derby (G1). With five wins from six starts in his 3-year-old season, he was honored as 2008 AQHA Racing Champion 3 year-old Colt. As a 3 year-old, he was the first horse to record 3 winning times at 19.32 or faster at 400 yards at Los Alamitos Racecourse.
One Famous Eagle finished 2016 as the top-ranked Quarter Horse stallion in North America. His offspring were quite simply winning machines, earning $5.9 million that year. His top performers include All American Futurity champions One Dashing Eagle in 2012, Imperial Eagle in 2016, and 2017 winner Fly Baby Fly; other stakes winners included Getting Even, the Remington Park Distaff champion; One Proud Eagle, winner of the Kindergarten Futurity at Los Alamitos; Graceful Eagle, winner of the Texas Classic Juvenile at Lone Star Park and Stinkin Rich, who won the Bob Woodward Memorial at Indiana Grand…Texas Classic Derby winner Bodacious Eagle and graded stakes winners Hes Relentless and Moonin the Eagle…to mention just a few.
The son of Mr Jess Perry stands at 6666 Ranch in Guthrie, Texas. One Famous Eagle set records as a first crop sire, and continues with exceptional runners each year.