Page 68 - January_2023

SPEEDLINES
66 SPEEDHORSE January 2023
Joe Blair, sire of Vandy’s dam Jean Ann Blair.
nicks of the 1950’s and 1960’s. It is a nick that has a very interesting pedigree pattern. Let’s look at this nick and the key factor that genetically contributed to the success of this cross.
Vandy will be our starting point. He was foaled in 1943 and the AQHA shows that he was bred by C. L. Brown of Cloudcroft, New Mexico, but he was actually bred by Dave Ware of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. As the story goes in The American Quarter Horse Journal article “Vandy” by Richard Chamberlain,
he was started at two by Ware in an open futurity with just 18 days training. Ware, disappointed in his third-place finish, sold the colt and his dam to Tom Gray, who turned the colt over to C. L. Brown.
Brown raced him against all comers in official races and match races. His official record shows five starts with three wins and one second earning an AA rating, which was the highest rating a runner could earn at that time. That AA rating shows up today as an 85 speed index. He was fourth in his other start in the New Mexico State Fair Championship. This is an interesting race as he ran against the best including Miss Bank the winner, Squaw H in second and Tonta Gal in third. Shue Fly, the great World Champion, was fifth. When we
look at these runners and their influence
on the racing Quarter Horse, we see that Miss Bank became the granddam of the Champion Rebel Cause; Tonta Gal was the dam of Champion Tonto Bars Gill and the granddam of Champion Tonto Bars Hank; and Squaw H is the seventh dam in the tail female line of the leading sire Apollitical Jess. The unofficial record for Vandy shows 22 starts, 19 wins, two seconds and a fourth place. He ran his final race at Eagle Pass at 330 yards and he broke down at the start, but won the race. He was a noted hard breaker and, on several occasions, broke his girth strap because of his powerful start.
As the Quarter Horse historian Nelson Nye often wrote, “Vandy was a Thoroughbred with a Quarter Horse number.” He was
never registered as a Thoroughbred, but his pedigree was all Thoroughbred. He raced in the American Quarter Racing Association, which was founded in 1945. This association was open to all horses that could run fast
and that meant Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses, registered or not, could run in this association’s races. Vandy was registered
in the National Quarter Horse Breeders Association. This shows that he was bred by Dave Ware and this time owned by C. L. Brown. He was reportedly given to Brown by
Gray when his racing career ended. When the AQHA, AQRA and NQHBA merged, Vandy was given an AQHA number and later his permanent number of AQHA #43628.
Vandy was sired by Going Light, and his dam was Jean Ann Blair by Joe Blair. It is the mating of Going Light with Jean Ann Blair that gives us the history of how these two came together. It is reported that Going Light, who has no official race record, was fast but he trained so hard that he got sore when he worked and so he was retired. It was at this point Claude Hart, the owner
of Going Light, asked Ware if he would breed Jean Ann Blair to Going Light and
this is how Vandy came to be. Vandy is the only Quarter Horse registered foal sired by Going Light, and he is the only registered foal out of Jean Ann Blair. The Equineonline. com internet information on Going Light shows that he sired only three registered Thoroughbred foals with three starters and three winners.
Sweeping Light was the sire of Going Light. This horse had 75 starts with 21 wins, 11 seconds and 9 thirds earning $39,205. He was a multiple stakes winner of races
like the Champagne Stakes, which was
run at 6 3/4 furlongs in 1931, and the San Diego Handicap where he set a New Track Record for one mile in a time of 1:36 3/5 at Santa Anita. His breeder was the legendary Leslie Combs II, the founder of the great Spendthrift Farms where Raise A Native, the sire of Raise Your Glass, who is the sire of
Triple Crown winner Special Effort, stood. The sire record for Sweeping Light shows
that he sired 147 Thoroughbred foals that earned $1,588,015 from 127 starters with 107 winners and three stakes horses. His stakes horses include Cotton Joe, winner of the Hot Springs Stakes at 6 furlongs.
Manna was the sire of Sweeping Light. He was the winner of four of his nine starts, including the Epsom Derby by 8-lengths and the 2,000 Guineas, a race run at one mile. He was the odds-on favorite in the St. Leger but finished 10th and came off the track with a sprained knee, which led to his retirement from racing. He became the sire of only 86 foals with just 19 starters, 16 winners and
10 black type winners. His stakes winners include Colombo with earnings of $125,854, winner of the 2,000 Guineas like his sire and third in the Epsom Derby. Another one of his stakes winners was Miracle, winner of the Grimark Stakes at 6 furlongs, the Newmarket Stakes and the Eclipse Stakes. The sire
of Manna was Phalaris and he was by Polymelus. The dam of Phalaris was Bromus by Sainfoin by Springfield.
The dam of Manna was Waffles, an unraced Irish bred mare. She was also the dam of horses like Sandwich, winner of the St. Leger Stakes, and Parwiz, winner of the City and Suburban Handicap. Her sire was Buckwheat and she was out of Lady Mischief by St Simon. Sweeping Glance was the dam of Sweeping Light. She was unraced and a daughter of Sweep, the famous source of
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