Page 174 - June 2016

LegAcy of cHAmPionS
Shari Burger is working to ensure Paint racing’s legacy for decades to come.
Shari Burger
Shari Burger is no one-trick pony. From rais- ing champion runners to ensuring the future of Paint racing by continuing to grow opportuni- ties for colorful racehorses, the horsewoman from Jay, Oklahoma, gallops toward each goal with spirited enthusiasm and finish-line success. Her homebred Paint stakes champions have earned more than $600,000 on the track, for instance, and Shari manages three of the top- paying Paint racing futurities in the industry.
APHA caught up with Shari to learn more about this racing aficionado and why Paints are her breed of choice.
APHA: How long have you been involved in the racing industry in general and Paint racing, specifically?
Shari: I’ve been involved in the racing industry most of my life. I grew up in Mustang, Oklahoma, near several prominent racehorse farms. My parents, Don Steven and Rebecca Burger, were involved in breeding, training and racing Quarter Horses in Oklahoma and New Mexico. I remember making lots of trips to Blue Ribbon Downs, Ross Meadows and other tracks that no longer exist today.
I didn’t become involved with Paints until after I graduated college from Oklahoma State
University. My parents had a cropout Quarter Horse filly born in 1992 named Wheel Six Fortunes (QH) by Marthas Six Moons (QH) out of Miss Wheel A Fortune (QH). They had no interest in breeding Paints, so they gave her to me as a college graduation present. I decided to breed her to Texas Hero, who stood at Lazy E Ranch. The result was Hez Comin Unwound,
by Alannah Castro
who later became the 2001 APHA Champion Running Breeding Stock Aged Gelding. Wheel Six Fortunes produced several multiple stakes winners with earnings near $185,000, includ- ing Wheels Lineage, Audacious and Kiss This Goodbye. Her daughters have also produced champions and stakes winners. She turned out to be one of the best-producing broodmares in the Paint racing industry.
APHA: Tell us about some of your favorite Paint Horses.
Shari: I’ve had several favorites over the years, but winning the 2000 Pot O’ Gold Futurity with Wheels Lineage was very special:
it was my first stakes win with a homebred
Paint. I remember the day of the race, she was laying down in the stall resting and my trainer, Brandon Parum, told me it was good luck. I thought he was joking at the time, but she proved Brandon right winning by 2-lengths. She went off at 34-1 odds, the longest shot in the race. It turned out to be a great day for my mom and aunt, who cashed in winning tickets for $500.
My all-time favorite Paint is Bust N Moves. I raised and sold him to Tom Denham as a yearling.
He was later claimed during his 2-year-old year by the Cowboys and Indians partnership of Inola, Oklahoma. He retired with 11 wins (six stakes) and $182,140 in earnings. He was also named 2007 Champion Running Solid Paint-Bred 3-Year-Old and 3-Year-Old Gelding and remains the top earner for his sire, Judys Lineage.
APHA: What is your favorite Paint racing memory?
Shari: My favorite memory is the rivalry between Bust N Moves and Got Country Grip in the 2008 Mr Lewie Handicap at Remington Park. I actually stayed home, thinking Bust N Moves couldn’t beat Got Country Grip, who was going for a North America record of 17 consecutive wins. The roar from the record crowd on television was unbelievable as the two became locked in a duel to the finish. Bust N Moves defeated Got Country Grip by a neck, ending his winning streak. It was my proudest moment as his breeder, but also bitter- sweet for “Grip’s” connections. I knew his trainer and owners very well. Grip was such a phenomenal horse, the best racing Paint of all time, in my opinion. It was the most thrilling, edge-of-my-seat race I’ve ever watched in Paint racing.
Wheel Six Fortunes, a cropout Quarter Horse mare, started Shari Burger down the road of
Paint racing as a breeder, owner and promoter.
Wheels Lineage, the longshot of the race, wins the 2000 Pot O’ Gold Futurity at Blue Ribbon Downs.
2-time Champion Bust N Moves, returning after winning the 2008 Mr Lewie Handicap, gave Shari one of her favorite memories when her homebred Paint gelding—owned at the time by the Cowboys and Indians Partnership—defeated Got Country Grip in the stakes event at Remington Park.
172 SPEEDHORSE, June 2016
paint horse bulletin
Courtesy Shari Burger Gene Wilson & Associates Shari Burger