Page 46 - Speedhorse July 2018

set track records in all four wins. She covered 220 yards in :12.040, 250 yards in :13.330, 300 yards in :15.480 and 330 yards in :16.660.
Little Lena Bars made only two starts in 1965, winning the La Mesa Park’s All Distance Series Championship #1 at 250 yards and was unplaced in her other start, earning $1,670. She retired with 31 starts with 16 wins, eight seconds and four thirds earning $18,454.
The sad news is that Little Lena Bars produced only one foal, a colt by Tonto Bars Hank. His name was All Lit Up. He earned his ROM with an AAA rating, but he was
a non-winner in 12 races with two seconds and two thirds. He earned 10 AQHA halter points with 30 performance points.
Three Bars is by Percentage, a son of Midway. Percentage, a stakes winner in the Pontchartrain Handicap and the Cincinnati Trophy Stakes, started in 87 races with 19 wins, 22 seconds and 18 thirds with earnings of $42,187. His dam is Gossip Avenue by Bulse. The dam of Three Bars is Myrtle Dee by Luke McLuke. She was a speed bred mare that set a 5 1/2 furlong record at Coney Island Racetrack. Myrtle Dee is out of Civil Maid by Patriot.
Lena Valenti is by Gray Dream, the winner of $19,180 with 28 starts and 10 wins, finishing second in eight and third in three races. Equineline indicates that Gray Dream was third in the Flash Stakes, but other sources indicate that he won four stakes races, the Brown Hotel Handicap, the Ann Arbor Handicap, the Cleveland News Handicap and the Hotel Cleveland Handicap.
The Thoroughbred sire record for Gray Dream shows that he sired the winners of over $2.8 million and 14 stakes horses, including Raton Futurity and Raton Derby winner Just-A-Dream; Cougar II Handicap winner Great Dream; Radcliff, winner of several stakes including the Ak-Sar-Ben Breeders’ Special
1st Division; Fleet Boy, winner of several stakes including the Albuquerque Derby; and Ginos Dream, winner of the Raton Derby.
The Quarter Horse sire record for Gray Dream shows that he had 43 starters on Quarter Horse tracks. This includes 12 winners, four ROM, one stakes winner and one stakes placed with earnings of $34,357. Gray Dream is
the sire of Dream Along, winner of the 1954 Centennial Park’s Kansas QHA Derby, and stakes placed runner Pink Pony, who was third in the 1955 Platte Valley Futurity and third in the 1956 Platte Valley Derby.
Gray Dream is by Gino, a son of Tetratema by The Tetrarch. The dam of Gino is Teresina by Tracery by Rock Sand. The dam of Gray Dream is Dark Love by Traumer. Dark Love is the dam of 13 foals with 13 starters and 12 winners. She produced two stakes winners in Gray Dream and Sun Lover, winner of the 1939 Kent Handicap.
When Merrick bred Lena Valenti with Three Bars, he was going back to the roots of Three Bars. Lena Valenti is out of Perhobo by Percentage. Perhobo was bred by Jim Parrish, the breeder of Three Bars. Perhobo’s dam is Homebody, an unraced mare by General Thatcher. This gives Lena’s Bar a 2x3 breeding pattern to Percentage.
THE JET DECK/LENA’S BAR NICK
The mating of Jet Deck with Lena’s Bar appears to be a solid nick in its own right. We see that in the produce record of Lena’s Bar, she was the dam of five foals/starters/ROM, two stakes winners and two stakes placed runners. A very good record for a mare. Her two stakes winners were sired by Jet Deck and that tells us that she nicked very well with him, making the cross the most successful nick for the mare.
Jet Deck is by Moon Deck, who is by Top Deck. Top Deck is by Equestrian and out of River Boat by Chicaro. Moon Deck is out of Moonlight Night, a Cajun-Bred mare by Peace Pipe. Moonlight Night is out of Mae by The Dun Horse. Mae is out of La Bergeron by Doc Horn.
Miss Night Bar is the dam of Jet Deck. This mare is by Barred by Three Bars by Percentage. The dam of Miss Night Bar
the C. L. Maddon’s Bright Eyes Handicap and the Shue Fly. Her record shows that she set a track record at La Mesa Park for 440 yards in :21.960 and then she broke that record going 440-yards at La Mesa Park in :21.920.
The racing record for Little Lena Bars in 1964 shows 18 starts with eight wins, eight seconds and two thirds earning $11,010. She was second in the 1964 Buttons And Bows Stakes. La Mesa Park had the All Distance Championship Series with seven stakes races going from 220 yards to 440 yards in 1964. Little Lena Bars competed in all seven races. She won the All Distance Championship Series #4 at 330 yards, #5 at 300 yards, #6 at 250 yards and #7 at 220 yards. She finished second in races #1 at 350 yards, #2 at 400 yards and #3 at 440 yards. She not only won four of them, she
The last foal produced by Lena’s Bar was Easy Jet, the 1969 World Champion,
Sire of 9 Champions, and the Broodmare Sire of 12 Champions.
When great horsemen like
Bud Warren and Hank Wiescamp took note of how they saw greatness in Lena’s Bar, I would say she got as good an endorsement as a horse could get for being one of the great mares of all time.
44 SPEEDHORSE, July 2018
SPEEDLINES
Lena’s Bar was “the best he had ever
seen.”
- Bud Warren