Page 35 - Speedhorse November, 2018

didn’t come until December in the Go Man Go Handicap where he won and defeated Anna Dial, the 1963 Champion Mare and Champion 3-Year-Old Filly.
Three Chicks retired with three wins, two seconds and one third in 10 starts and total earnings of $22,624. His earnings of $14,169 for the fifth place in the All American shows how significant the purse for the All American Futurity had become by 1961, the third year of its existence. The win in the Josie’s Bar netted him $2,750 and he earned $1,125 for second in the Barbra B. His win in the Go Man Go netted him $2,750, a race that is currently a Grade 1 with a purse of $100,000.
The life of Three Chicks changed in 1967 when he was purchased by Paul and Doris Travis when they bought the Golden Valley Ranch in Norman, Oklahoma, from C. F. Boyington. The deal included Three Chicks and 1965/1966 Champion Aged Stallion Tiny Watch, another Vessels bred runner. This was the start of the Travis Ranch, the place that Three Chicks called home for pretty much the rest of his life.
Travis Farm was alive and well in Michigan before they made the decision to move to Oklahoma and get really serious about breeding racehorses. They had first become interested in breeding racehorses in Michigan where they stood Pana Bar. He was a Top AAA/Champion son of Lightning Bar, and the great race mare Miss Panama by Ace of Diamonds. Pana Bar joined the stallion roster at Travis Ranch in Oklahoma.
The Travis’ built a good broodmare band to go with their new sires. They were all
AAA or Top AAA race mares, and many were stakes winners. One of the things Travis set out to do was to see that some of these mares became Champions if they weren’t already. The mares were shown at halter and, along with their racing points, earned performance points to earn their title. This band of mares included AAAT/AQHA Champion Fantacia, AAA/AQHA Champion Pal’s Tamak, AAA/ AQHA Champion Three Deep, AAA/AQHA Champion Bar Repetition and AAAT/AQHA Champion Decketta.
Three Chicks earned his Champion title by being shown eight times, earning five class wins and five Grand Championships, accumulating 23 points. He was shown one time in western pleasure and earned two points. His good conformation earned him Grand Champion Stallion at the Chicago International Quarter Horse Show, the second largest Quarter Horse show in 1966.
This is where the plot thickens. C. F. Boyington had purchased Scooper Chick
by Triple Chick in 1964. Scooper Chick
and Three Chicks were stable mates in
1963. Both raced in the colors of the Vessels Stallion Farm’s Western Stables. Scooper Chick was at the top of his game as a runner, setting what was then called a World Record and now a track record running 400 yards
in :19.88. He had set other track records, including 350 yards at Pomona in :17.77 and at Bay Meadows for 350 yards in :17.88. He
won or placed in 16 stakes races, winning five of them. His stakes wins include the King City Stake, Southern California Stakes, the Memorial Day Handicap and the Josie’s Bar Handicap to go with his Autumn Championship win. Scooper Chick raced in good company just like Three Chicks. He won over such Champions as Jet Deck, Anna Dial, Dariman and The Haymaker.
Boyington brought Scooper Chick to Oklahoma to stand at stud and then enter the halter arena. He won 21 Grand Champion Stallion titles and earned the Superior Award. He was also Grand Champion at the Chicago International Quarter Horse Show and the Fort Worth Stock Show.
Scooper Chick went down with colic and then he foundered, which is when Three Chicks came to the front to stand as the lead sire for Golden Valley Ranch. Tiny Watch joined him and then in 1967 they became
a part of the new Travis Ranch. Boyington reestablished the Golden Valley Ranch at
a new location. Boyington put forth every effort to save Scooper Chick, but in April of 1969 they had to put him down.
Three Chicks sired 614 foals with 392 starters that took home 219 Register of Merit Awards. He had 39 stakes winners and 30 stakes placed runners with combined earnings of $1,975,692. His leading money earner is 1975 Rainbow Futurity winner Chick Called Sue, who was second to Bugs Alive In 75
in the 1975 All American Futurity and had cumulative earnings of $257,713.
Three Chicks is the broodmare sire of 2-time Champion Azure Three, shown after his win in the 1978 Shue Fly Handicap.
SPEEDHORSE, November 2018 33
SPEEDLINES