Page 162 - January 2019

They followed the Felix into Flying H coun- try east of the Sacramento Mountains. Here they ran into the Flying H chuck-wagon where they were invited to stay and have dinner. This suited Doe, for he’d ridden the chuck line before. Doe told the wagon boss that they were going west
to match a horse race. “What with?” quizzed the boss. Doe pointed to the little mare tied behind. The boss looked less impressed than ever, but managed to suggest to Doe that if that’s all you’re looking for, a horse race with that, we sure can oblige you. He said, “We’ve got a good horse right in our remuda that I’ll match at that.”
Doe said, “How far?”
The wagon boss said, “Four hundred yards.” Doe asked, “When?”
The boss said, “Now!”
Doe thought for a minute, then agreed to their terms if they would agree to wait until after dinner to run. Doe was coyote enough to know that the wagon crew might get mad after he beat them,
and he and Derwood might get run off before they had a chance to eat. He wanted no part of that. The match was made, and it was agreed to run right down the creek. The wagon crew generously offered to let Doe run down the cow trail. The wagon crew matched Doe all the cash they had, and one of the boys bet two months’ wages. All in all, about $600 was up. Doe instructed Derwood to run straight down the creek, to forget about
the cow trail. He wasn’t falling for that trick. The pride of the remuda and Bonnie Bird got a good start and Bonnie Bird threw about ten lengths
of daylight between them. She beat by some 20 lengths. When they got back to the starting place, the wagon boss took hold of little Bonnie Bird’s tail and jerked her around, saying, “I sure would like to see what’s inside you, girl, cause you sure don’t
show nothing on the outside.” The wagon boys were good sports about it all, so Doe and his team headed west . . . $600 to the good.
Doe and his jockey went on to Magdalena where they had just moderate luck, winning one with Bonnie Bird and losing one with his hack horse. They heard of a match horse at Duncan, Arizona, so they drove down there. All they could get up was $25, so Doe rode Bonnie Bird and
fell off on purpose, claiming he couldn’t ride the mare, “too rough,” he declared. He said that the kid would have to ride her on the rematch, so they finally got the bet up to $500 and outrun the Arizonans by five lengths. With a pocket full of new money, they continued west.
TRAIL TO MEXICO
From Phoenix to Yuma to Tijuana to Nogales, Doe and Derwood roamed with little Bonnie Bird, matching everything in sight. They were doing lots of running but weren’t making much money, so they decided that they would head for Mexico City. They knew the Mexicans loved to gamble, and the pickin’s should be fresh. Luckily, they made the long trip during a wet season, and there was lots of water and grass along the way. They carried grain for the horses, buying corn along the way. It took a little over a month to get to the capitol, and there they teamed up with a native trainer by the name of Gonzalez who put Bonnie Bird in his name so that they could run her. They were able to run Bonnie Bird four times right fast, winning big gambles on her each time. After these four big wins, the Mexicans put too much weight on the little mare, 156 pounds. Doe refused to run her and packed up to leave. He and Derwood knew that they were in jeopardy leaving with all the Mexican’s money, so they took about
$35,000 which they had won, spread it all over the floor of their buggy, then nailed a false floor over it. They headed north.
Their apprehensions were well founded, for on their first night out of Mexico City, five big tough looking Mexicans rode up and robbed them of everything they could find. They threatened to burn both Doe and the boy, they took knives
and slashed horse collars, pulled stuffing out, then roughed Doe and Derwood pretty badly. They finally settled for $300 cash, which Doe swore was all he had left from the races at Mexico City. Says Doe, “I stitched the collars up as best
I could, with wire, and got the hell out of there.
It took us about seven weeks to get back to the border at El Paso. We were lost half the time, out of water . . . and the horses almost died, but we finally made it to Juarez where we’d heard of a horse by the name of Pan Zareta for $5,000 at a half mile. Bonnie Bird was beat at least by a half- length. When he got home to the Pecos Valley, he had been gone for over eighteen months. Angrily, the owner of Bonnie Bird took her away from Doe and finally sold her to the men, Newman and Tramwell, who owned the fleet Pan Zareta.
LITTLE PEGGY B AT THE CIRCUS
Back in the 20’s or 30’s, Doe can’t remem- ber which, he had a friend, Lew Rose, who thought Doe’s mare Little Peggy B couldn’t be outrun. A circus hit town one fall and the manager wanted to match a horse race with someone the length of the tent.
Lew matched Doe and his mare, then went to Doe and told him what he had done. Doe said, “Hell, Lew there ain’t no way to outrun that circus horse in that tent. He is trained for that sort of thing.”
Andy “Dogie” Locklear worked cattle and roped off June Bug after he retired from his racing career, pictured here in the early 1920’s.
Little Peggy B and her foal June Bug. Little Peggy B outran the circus horse by 15 lengths, but never liked tents or elephants again. June Bug later became a good match race horse and favorite roping horse of Andy “Dogie” Locklear of San Saba, Texas.
158 SPEEDHORSE, January 2019
LOOKING BACK - AN EXCERPT FROM SEPTEMBER 1969 ISSUE