Page 137 - March 2017

Once A cOwbOy
Ray Graves has made a lasting impact on Paint racing for more than 50 years
by Jessica Hein, APHA
As a teenager, Ray Graves decided he
wanted to be a cowboy, and he never looked back. Though he first roped aboard Quarter Horses,
it wasn’t long before Ray bought his first Paint Horse, a mare named Waheni for his wife, Delois.
The 1954 black tobiano mare by Chico Mc- Cue (QH) and out of Beauty, an unregistered mare, was registered with the fledgling Ameri- can Paint Horse Association as a 10 year old
in 1964. Soon, though, Ray decided to breed Waheni to the Quarter Horse sprinter Leo Van; the result was a pretty bay tobiano filly born in 1965 named Phantom Rose.
“I knew enough about horses to know that for a Paint, she was pretty nice,” Ray said in a June 2005 Paint Horse Journal article. “So I bought Lois a pair of red show britches and we joined the Oklahoma Paint Horse Club.”
Showing their young filly throughout Okla- homa, the Graves’ found immediate success, as Phantom Rose picked up blue ribbon after blue ribbon—the filly even claimed two APHA na- tional championships at halter in 1965 and 1966.
“I thought, well, there might be something to this thing,” Ray said. “From then on, we were Paint people.”
The racehorse bug bit hard, and Ray soon decided to hit the track with Phantom Rose. Keeping his eyes and ears open, Ray became a quick study at the track, soaking up knowl-
edge and finding himself in the winner’s circle there, too.
In 1968, Ray purchased his first stallion, Sky Top Bar, in 1968—there was just some- thing special about the yearling bay tobiano. When Ray drove up to Paul Harber’s barn to look at a pair of young stallion prospects, he knew Sky Top Bar was the one—and he wasn’t wrong about that.
Sky Top Bar’s steep $5,000 price tag proved money well spent; the royally bred colt, who was by the AAA-rated Top Bracket (QH) and out of Sky Bar, another APHA Hall of Famer. Following two second-place efforts in his maiden year, “Sky” racked up two victories in 1970, including a win in the Oklahoma Paint Horse Maturity.
But it was in the breeding shed that Sky tru- ly made an impact. The sire of 189 foals, about half of Sky’s offspring hit the track or show
ring with equal success. As racehorses, his foals earned $194,498—his top runners include Sky Jet, Sky Diver, Nordik Prince and Canadian Moon. In the arena, Sky’s foals have also earned 11 championship titles at the APHA National and World Shows—one of his most notable progeny is Sky Bug Bingo, who earned Supreme Champion No. 27 in 1977. Sky was euthanized in December 1993 at age 26, and inducted into the APHA Hall of Fame in 2013.
A longtime member of the APHA Board of Directors, Ray is well known for his Paint rac- ing achievements. Founder of the Paint Stallion Breeders Association, Ray has served on the Racing Committee since 1968 years and was an Executive Committee member in 1979.
With a training record of 144 wins, 129 seconds and 114 thirds, Ray ranks sixth on APHA’s Lifetime Leading Trainers list by races won and 24th by money earned; horses he’s trained include World Champion Run- ning Horse Fair Look, Sky Top Bar and Last Date. Ray has also bred more than 100 Paints, including World Champion Running Horse Sky Jet and Champion titleholders Fever and Unchained. Ray counts Fair Look’s APHA national championship win at Centennial Racetrack in Denver, Colorado, among his fondest Paint racing memories.
In 2011, Ray received the Paul Harber Rac- ing Distinguished Service award. Ray remains active in APHA and still serves on the Racing Committee.
Paint racing is special, he says, because of
the individuality of each colored horse parading down the track—the excitement of the crowd trying to pick the “spotted” runner they like is palatable and contagious. That’s what’s kept him going strong for 53 years, and there’s still no end in sight for the dedicated horseman.
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