Page 173 - Speedhorse May 2019

JOHN & NEVA DOWNING (2010)
John and Neva Downing of The Painted Pitchfork raised Paints, Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds on a 330-acre ranch in Rifle, Colorado. They bred 570 Paint foals over four decades and were well known for their Champion breeding.
“When you raise Paints, it’s like opening up a Christmas present, you get to see what’s inside, what their color is going to be,” John said in a December 2013 Rifle Post Independent article.
The Downings raised multiple Paint Champions, including: Snazzy Indian, two- time World Champion Solid Racehorse and winner of multiple Champion Aged Horse
RAY GRAVES (2011)
Ray Graves of Duncan, Oklahoma, helped
titles; Azure Flight, the 1987 Champion 2-Year-Old; Snazzy Quest, the 1990 Champion Solid 2-Year-Old and 1991 Champion Solid 3-Year-Old Gelding; and Marys Hero, the 2001 Champion Solid 2-Year-Old Filly.
The 2003 World Champion Boy Of Summer was the Downings’ greatest money- earner, with earnings of $111,909 and 12 wins (4 stakes). Other notable stakes winners from the Painted Pitchfork were Painted Indian Summer, Special Sign, Summer Leader and stakes-placed Texas Bully Bug.
John was a longtime member of the APHA Racing Committee. The Downings have retired
Paints in the late 1960s. His success included mul- tiple racing Champions: Sky Top Bar, Fair Look, Last Date, Dr Beduino and Aze Beduino. Ray purchased the stallion Sky Top Bar as a yearling from his good friend Paul Harber; the stallion
was inducted in the 2013 APHA Hall of Fame. Numerous other winners from Ray’s Quarter Moon Ranch breeding program include Cherry Kiss, Champagne Woman, Canadian Moon, Gambling Man, Super Elite, Cash Date and Fever.
Ray was named Trainer of the Year in 1982 by the Paint Horse Racing Review. With a training record of 144 wins, 129 seconds and 114 thirds, Ray is ranked seventh on APHA’s Lifetime Leading Trainers list by races won and earned $369,249. He retired from race training in 2002.
from Paint racing, but will forever leave an impressive mark in
the industry. They rank third
on APHA’s Lifetime Breeders
list by races won with 121 wins
(21 stakes) and rank sixth by money earned at $1.05 million.
d
acing in many ways,
Ray formed the Paint Stallion Breeders Association along with Bill Maher in 1973, an organization aimed at promoting Paint stallions and their offspring, as well as the PSBA-sponsored American Paint Classic Futurity. Ray was involved with APHA leadership for several decades, start- ing in 1966. He served on the APHA Racing Committee from 1968 until a few years ago, was president of the Oklahoma Paint Horse Club, and was part of the APHA Executive Committee in 1979. Ray was inducted into the 2013 APHA Hall of Fame.
“Paint racing is special because of the indi- viduality of each colored horse parading down the track - the excitement of the crowd trying to pick the ‘spotted’ runner they like is palat- able and contagious,” Ray said in the March 2017 Speedhorse magazine.
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HENRY & LINDA BOWLAN (2013)
Henry and Linda Bowlan of Tecumseh, Oklahoma, have been in the racing business since the early 1970s. They were originally involved in halter-bred Quarter Horses before making the switch to racehorses and Paints. They bred Champion racehorse Judys Lineage and stood him at stud at their 40-acre farm.
The Bowlans and their veterinarian son Chuck acquired their first Paint broodmare,
a 1975 sorrel tobiano mare named Lady Real Good, from Mike Levis. Mike and Henry bred the Quarter Horse Shawnee Bug, who was a major success on the track and at stud with earners of more than $4.4 million.
“Shawnee Bug built this place,” Chuck said in the 2010 July/August Paint Horse News.
But, it was Judys Lineage who turned Bowlan Farms into a premier Paint facility.
“He was a neat horse to be around,” Chuck said. “He was nicknamed ‘The Alligator’ at the track because he liked to bite. But it was always a game with him, it was never a vicious thing.”
His babies were smart and quick, vaulting him
to second on APHA’s Lifetime Leading Sire’s list with money earners over $5.6 million.
“Chuck would always say ‘Judy’ would be the Three Bars (QH) of the Paint Horses - he was special, and he knew he was special. Horses like him only come along once in a lifetime,” Linda said after Judy died in 2017. “We’re just p pr r o ou u d d o of f a a l l l l h he e a a c c c c o om mp pl l i i s s h he e d d a a n nd d w w h h a a t t a a l l l l h h i i s s sons and daughters accomplished.”
Judys Lineage was inducted into the
2018 APHA Hall Of Fame. The Bowlans also stood several other Paint stallions over the years, including Treasured, Texas Hero, Country Quick Dash, Awesome Chrome and CRM Livewire.
The Bowlans also raised several Champion racehorses, including World Champion Treasured Rip, Reckless Cat, I Kick and Awesome Fling. They rank fourth on the APHA Lifetime Breeders list by races won with 114 wins (16 stakes) and third by money earned with more than $1.2 million. They’ve raised 183 Paint foals and won the Leading Breeder title in 2008–2009.
Both were involved with the APHA Racing Committee for many years; Linda also admin- istered the Paint Stallion Breeders Association futurity/derby races and the Pot O’Gold Futurity for many years. Henry and Linda were inducted in the 2015 APHA Hall of Fame.
“You have to love it because it’s not an easy b business. It’s a hard life, but a good life.
If you ever get to the point where
you don’t care, you need to get out
of it,” Linda said in a 2010 Paint
Racing News article.
PAINT HORSE BULLETIN