Page 144 - December 2015

Thank you to our Speedhorse friends.
We do appreciate all you do for the Sam Thompson Memorial. It is such a wonderful way to remember Sam each year.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.
Thanks,
Harold (Sam Sr.) & Cathy Thompson
Harold & Cathy Thompson
Clayton, NC
Andy Chavers Passes Away
Andy Chavers of Fort
Lupton, Colorado, passed
away Nov. 29. Chavers,
89, was a long time
horseman and promoter
of Quarter Horse racing.
Among the many horses he
and his wife, Jean, owned
and bred were Champion
Bully Bullion, the #2
All-Time siring son of Special Effort, and Champion See Me Gone. Chavers is survived by his wife and many other family members and friends.
Suzanne Norton Jones
Passes Away
Suzanne Norton Jones
of Tatum, New Mexico,
passed away Dec. 5. Jones,
91, was involved in nearly
every aspect of the horse
industry as well as being a
published author. She first sat
horseback at the age of one
and was competing in horse shows by the age of five. Four of her personally trained mounts were certified as Olympic prospects, one of which was sent to the final tryouts. Jones and her husband, New Mexico rancher & AQHA Director R.C. “Punch” Jones, were successful breeders, receiving a 30-year continuous breeder award and 40-year cumulative breeder award. Suzanne was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 1999, the same year she was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame, and she and her husband were inducted into the Ruidoso Downs Racehorse Hall of Fame in 2014. Suzanne is survived by her husband and many other family members and friends.
Legendary Rider Charlie Smith Passes Away
AQHA Hall of Fame Member
& legendary jockey Charlie
“Choo Choo Charley” Smith
passed away Dec. 7. Smith,
86, was the only jockey ever
to ride World Champion Jet
Deck, who won 14 stakes
races and broke 6 track
records. An 11-time leading
rider at Los Alamitos, Smith
won 841 races in his career and ranks 20th in the all-time list at the California track. Smith helped build Los Alamitos when he was superintendent in the 1970s and 80s. He was also one of the founders of the Bank of Westminster, owned multiple properties in California, and owned property in his home state of Oklahoma. He is survived by many family members and friends.
Stallion Register Correction
On page 43 of our 2016 Stallion Register, the headline should read Top Two-Year-Old Geldings of 2015, not 2014.
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Speedhorse Photo Archive Answer
The photo on page 139 shows jockey Kip Didericksen bringing Corona Chick back to the winner’s circle after their victory in the 1991
Grade 1 Dash For Cash Futurity. Corona Chick won three additional graded stakes races as a freshman – the Kindergarten Futurity-G1, Ed Burke Memorial Futurity-G1 and Governor’s Cup Futurity-RG1. She was also fifth in that year’s Bay Meadows Futurity-G1 and set a 350-yard Track Record at Los Alamitos. She was named the 1991 Champion Two Year Old and Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. The following year in 1992, Corona Chick was named Champion Three-Year-Old Filly, an AQHA Supreme Race Horse and a Superior Race Horse after winning the Governor’s Cup Derby-RG1, running second in the Southern California Derby-G2, being a finalist in the La Primera Del Ano Derby-G1, and setting an additional track record at 400-yards at Hollywood Park. In all, the 1989 bay mare won 15 and placed in two of 18 starts. She ended her race career with $591,326 in earnings.
Corona Chick was a phenomenal horse on the track, and it’s hard to believe that she would excel even more in her second career as a brood- mare. But, that is exactly what she did. Corona Chick is the dam of nearly $2.3 million in progeny, including, among many others, 4-Time Champion/High Money Earning Horse Corona Cash, the 2016 Speedhorse Stallion Register cover horse/Champion sire Valiant Hero, and AQHA’s All-Time Leading Living sire Corona Cartel.
In 1997, Corona Chick was named the AQHA Broodmare of the Year. In 2006, she was named an AQHA Dam of Distinction. And, in 2015, Corona Chick became an AQHA Hall of Fame Horse.
This year’s $25,000 Corona Chick Handicap was held at Los Alamitos on Nov. 14 and was won by Nymph.
142 SPEEDHORSE, December 2015
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