Page 58 - June 2021

SPEEDLINES
She was a 6-time stakes finalist running at Los Alamitos, Albuquerque and Ruidoso. She was second in the 1955 New Mexico Breeders’ Derby at Albuquerque.
The ownership record for Gold Note
is an interesting one as she was owned by Johnny Longden, a Thoroughbred racing Hall of Fame member and the Triple Crown winning jockey aboard Count Fleet in 1943. He later trained Majestic Prince to win the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. Longden shared his ownership of these horses with his son Vance Longden.
Gold Note produced 11 foals with nine starters, six ROM and two stakes winners. Her foals have earnings of $54,603. Her ROM runners included Midnight Note and D’Or Note, both by Go Man Go. John’s Note by Father John is one of her ROM stakes winners. He was the winner of the 1972 Rocky Mountain Quarter Horse Association Futurity. The other three ROM are Palleo’s Note, Shining Note and Golden Note, all sired by Palleo Pete. Palleo’s Note and Golden Note are listed as bred by Vance Longden, and Shining Note is listed as bred by Johnny Longden. Golden Note was the second stakes winner for Gold Note, winning the 1961 Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Association Futurity. She was third in the 1961 All American Futurity, finishing behind Pokey Bar and Bunny’s Bar Maid. She was named the 1961 Co-Champion 2-Year-Old Filly with Bunny’s Bar Maid.
Gold Note is the beginning of the rest of our story as it was her branch of the Blackwell’s Tick Tac tail female line that has given us Sinuous and her foals such as Whistle Stop Café. This is the line that has come down through Shining Note.
Shining Note made 14 starts with two wins, one second and one third earning $2,309. She was a stakes finalist in the Sunland Quarter Horse Derby. Shining Note became the dam of 11 foals with 8 starters and six ROM. Her leading money winner
is Shining Saint with $10,547 in earnings from 10 starts with two wins, two seconds and one third. She was a finalist in the 1970 Kentucky Futurity and the 1970 Blue Ribbon Futurity.
Shining Saint by St Bar was the next mare in this line. She is the dam of 15 foals, 13 starters and 11 ROM with two stakes placed runners. Hear The Band was second in the 1982 Florida Bred Futurity, and Bright N Your Day was third in the 1981 Florida QHA Futurity. Bright N Your Day is the dam of Bills Ryon by Windy Ryon, winner of the 1991 QHBC Juvenile Classic
Custus Rastus, the sire of Gold Note
the New Mexico Breeders’ Derby. Legal Tender B and Currency Bee were sired by Hard Twist.
Nelson Nye, in his biography of Blackwell’s Tick Tac, shows that the next foal out of this mare was Cold Cash. But the AQHA lists Cold Cash as an appendix registered foal sired by Hard Twist but lists no dam. Equibase reaffirms this, showing that this horse had 87 starts with 13 wins, nine seconds and 15 thirds earning $10,643. The Blackwell’s reported to Nye that Cold Cash was out of Blackwells Tick Tac. This would give Blackwell’s Tick Tac a third Hard Twist foal.
The Blackwells added another stallion to the roster with a Thoroughbred named
Custus Rastus, and he sired the last two foals out of Blackwell’s Tick Tac. They were Determined, another appendix registered foal who was born prematurely in 1953. His dam died shortly after he was foaled. He was so weak that he walked on his hindlegs and thus one hind leg was crooked and because of that, he was not advanced to the permanent registry. He earned an A rating on the track with one win, two seconds and one third in 12 starts.
Gold Note was the 1952 foal sired by Custus Rastus and out of Blackwell’s Tick Tac. She made 31 starts with eight wins, five seconds and three thirds earning $7,531.
Gold Note is the beginning of the rest
of our story as it was her branch of the Blackwell’s Tick Tac tail female line that has given us Sinuous and her foals such as Whistle Stop Café. This is the line that has come down through Shining Note.
56 SPEEDHORSE June 2021
Speedhorse Archives