Page 207 - October 2016

Game Chicken soon found herself thrust into the limelight
as one of Paint racing’s top producers.
Two-time World Champion Solid Paint-Bred Running Horse Flashthechicks, out of Game Chicken, shown winning the 2011 Pot O’Gold Futurity at Will Rogers Downs, is the No. 2 APHA’s Lifetime Leading Money-Earner
Four-time Champion Imachickenkicker, out of Game Chicken, outruns half-sibling Flashthechicks to win the
2013 Paul Harber Memorial Stakes at Remington Park
World Champion Imflashinthechicks, out of Game Chicken, wins the 2016 Colors of Texas Maturity at Sam Houston Race Park
Champion Imahotchicken, out of Game Chicken, wins her trial and qualifies to the 2015 Oklahoma Paint & Appaloosa Futurity at Remington Park
so much in such a little time. In the years Jim and I have been married, and through all the struggles and hard work, it’s just a great blessing and a great achievement in our lives for sure.”
Currently ranked No. 1, Game Chicken is the only APHA mare to date with offspring earnings exceeding the $700,000 benchmark.
Though her foals could continue to impact Game Chicken’s legacy in the world of Paint racing, they’ll do so without their dam back at home on the Wheeler ranch. Sometime between the evening of Sept. 11,
2016, and the following morning, Game Chicken peacefully laid her head down
for the last time. Shirley says they’re not sure what happened—the mare was always healthy and showed no signs of distress the previous evening—but the loss is nevertheless devastating.
“It’s kind of tough going out to her part of the pasture and not seeing her,” Shirley said. “Jim’s been breeding and raising horses all his life, and we’ve been married 36 years—this
is the first time we’ve had a mare that did as much as Game Chicken.”
The Wheelers plan to keep Game Chicken’s daughter Imachickenkicker, and they’re excited to watch her 2015 foals hit the track. And in addition to her 2016 colt, the Wheelers are also expecting a 2017 foal by Royal Quick Flash and out of Game Chicken that’s being carried by a recipient mare.
“I don’t know what the future would
have held if she’d have lived longer and kept producing, but for her to have four foals to go to the track and all four be Champions is a pretty good statement, I think,” Shirley said. “But, we sure miss her.”
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paint horse bulletin
Sandra Beck, Coady Photography Kelli Johnston, Coady Photography
Dustin Orona
Dustin Orona