Page 35 - Speedhorse March 2018

Harold Kitchens and was sold as a weanling in the 1958 Keeneland Fall Mixed Sale for $2,000. She won one of eight starts and $1,061. The AQHA and Equibase produce records show that this mare was the dam of only two foals: Beduino and his full sister Beduinita, both by Romany Royal.
Beduino was foaled in 1968. He was sold as a yearling to a Fernandez family friend. He started his race career in 1970. His official race record shows that he had 13 starts, winning six races from 1970 to 1972. He was stakes placed with a second in the 1971 Clasico Windsor Stakes. He earned $11,630, or 145,380 pesos, in his official race career in Mexico.
The fact that Beduino was a powerful and speedy racehorse proved to be a problem. It was his speed and power that made it very difficult for him to hold his path on the turns, which resulted in some physical problems
for the horse. He was repurchased by the Fernandez family and they set his race career on a new course. Beduino started a career as a match race horse against Quarter Horses. This allowed him to run on the straightaway and eliminate the turn. The decision to match race would lead to two races that would change Quarter Horse racing history.
The first race came in 1972 between Cheriwari and Beduino. The race was set up between Ronnie Banks and the Fernandez family. Banks had bought Cheriwari for match racing in Mexico, and Cheriwari
had earned his credentials to the match
race with a third in what is now the Grade
1 Vessels Maturity and then a win in the 870 Marathon. When the gates opened, Cheriwari bolted to a quick lead with Banks and his Jockey Charlie Smith feeling the race was over. But in a flash, Beduino came from behind to win by 2-lengths.
Ronnie Banks decided to try it again, and this time the match race was between Beduino and Come Six, a 4-time AQHA Racing Champion. The winner-take-all match race was set for February 1974 in Mexico. Banks felt with Come Six, he could beat the grey colt.
Banks recalled the race and it sounded a lot like the first match, “I was at the starting gate and told them when to spring it. Come Six was out of the gate and the grey horse hadn’t even left yet. I thought we were home free. They ran on down the track and I
ran over and got into a pickup and started driving down the outside rail. I remember looking and thinking there were a lot of happy people! I guess he (Beduino) beat us by 1-length. He just plain outran us.”
The next part of this story came when Frank Vessels Jr. of the Vessels Stallion Farm
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went to the AQHA Convention in Mexico City. The trip to Mexico gave Vessels the opportunity to see Beduino and he was impressed with what he saw.
By the time Vessels saw the colt, the match race was over, but a rematch was in the works and this time Come Six and Beduino would
run at Vessels’ Los Alamitos Race Course. The rematch never materialized as Come Six would breakdown, making him unable to run. The great mare Charger Bar, the 1971 AQHA World Champion, was the replacement for Come Six.
The match race was scheduled to be run under the lights on July 14, 1974, at Los Alamitos Race Course. To get the grey colt accustomed to Los Alamitos and running under the lights, he was matched with Chick Pat Go for 440 yards. The match with Chick Pat Go set up the big race, which never happened as the Charger Bar/Beduino race was cancelled. No real reason was given for the cancellation.
This marked the end of Beduino’s race career. Justo Junior reported in “The
Fernandez Family” that Beduino had run
n
53 match races with 50 wins. He was sen
t to Vessels Stallion Farm to stand under a partnership of Vessels Stallion Farm and
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the Fernandez family. Vessels Stallion Farm would buy the other half of the colt in 1985.
SPEED PEDIGREE
When we look at the pedigree of Beduino, we see some familiar names and some not
so familiar, and we see some very interesting individuals that show where some of the speed Beduino carried came from.
Romany Royal is by Grey Sovereign and out of Romany Belle by Vilmorin. Grey Sovereign is a stakes winner in the Richmond Stakes at 1200 meters, which is just under 6 furlongs. He had 22 starts with 8 wins and earnings of $26,357.
Grey Sovereign is by Nasrullah, who was bred by H. H. Aga Khan. He was the 1942 Champion 2 Year Old in England and had 10 starts with five wins, all in stakes races including
SPEEDHORSE, March 2018 33
SPEEDLINE
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