Page 147 - Speedhorse August 2018

Gene Hensley, along with Carl Mercer, realized in 1957 that Quarter Horse racing needed a guaranteed purse for 2 year olds and originated the idea of the All American Futurity where foals were nominated soon after birth and kept eligible by subsequent payments. Mercer and Hensley thought the initial running of the All American would carry a purse with the staggering sum of $50,000.
Ranchers had five loves - women, whiskey, gambling, cattle and horses, but not necessarily in that order.
It was Americana where horsemen returned to the basics of “my horse is faster than your horse, and here’s my money to back up my mouth.”
The Miller cornfield, just a few furlongs from the racetrack, was the site of many a match race. Even trainer Don Farris, who had three horses
in this year’s All American in Anne B. Tandy’s Streakin Six, B.N. Adams’ Pa Pa Wheelie, and R.D. Hubbard’s Denim N Diamonds, remem- bers the money that changed hands.
“When I was 13 years old, I rode in some of the match races,” said Farris with a wide grin. “The biggest pot I ever won was $25,000 with a horse called Moss Head.”
However, America was becoming “civi- lized” and the law closed up the town in 1948. But horsemen continued to come to Ruidoso because of the climate and a little broken down race track known in those days as Hollywood Park.
Tractors pulled cars to the highway, there was no clubhouse, the track had an uphill slope of 12 feet in 440 yards, and the saddling paddock was made of chicken wire, which prompted one horseman in all honesty to declare, “I thought the owner, Gene Hensley, kept chickens in there during the off season.”
Oklahoma and Texas with no pari-mutuel tracks, then or now, found New Mexico as a place that provided recognized racing.
The biggest race in Quarter Horse circles as late as 1954 was the $20,000 Los Alamitos Derby.
Gene Hensley receives a Special Lifetime Membership in the QROA for his origination of the All American Futurity. Hensley was general manager of Ruidoso Downs during the formative years of the All American.
Hensley, an Arizona liquor dealer, realized in 1957 that for the sport to grow, a substantial guaranteed purse was required for futurities, a unique system for 2-year-old racing whereby foals are nominated soon after birth and kept eligible by subsequent payments up to the time of the race.
Along with Carl Mercer, then president of California’s Pacific Quarter Horse Association, the idea of the All American was conceived, and the purse for the initial running in 1959 was to be $50,000, a staggering sum in the short horse industry.
Old-timers were used to running at their own money, while the new generation wasn’t quite so eager.
But in 1959, the first All American Futurity field was dispatched with a purse growing to $129,868, more than Hensley ever imagined.
Southwest horsemen were attracted to the idea and money flowed in so fast the paymaster of purses had trouble counting it all. In 10 years, the purse was a bulging $600,000, and finally in 1972 the race exceeded the $1 million mark.
Today there is so much excess money from the advanced nominating system that the futurity will doubtless be increased in future years. Ruidoso also contests the $1 million All American Derby for 3 year olds and in 1982 there will be the $250,000 All American Gold Cup for 4 year olds.
If Hensley had come up with his All American concept but owned a racetrack in Boise, Idaho, that is where the race would be held today.
Carl Mercer was head of the Triple A Livestock Sales Co. and president of the Pacific Quarter Horse Association. The first All American Futurity field in 1959 was dispatched with a purse of $129,868.
But Ruidoso was the recipient of his brain child and, in essence, it is the best kept secret the Texans have.
Outsiders have a tough time qualifying for the All American, as exemplified by the states represented in 1979. Seven of the 10 starters were Texas born, two were from Oklahoma and only one from California, which has an excellent breeding program.
Texans like to keep the race among themselves, if possible, and are willing to spend millions in the breeding industry to have the All American trophy at home. The Jockey Club of Ruidoso, a private member- ship corporation, has 97 members who pay as much as $50,000 to belong. What they get for the money is four seats on the finish line and a parking pass.
All American week was the scene of some fancy, all-night parties with bottles of Jack Daniels quickly being consumed. Owners of the starters feel this is their Super Bowl, their World Series, and partying is as much a past time in Texas as watching television.
Qualifying for the All American may be tougher than winning it. More than 300 horses tried to qualify for the 400-yard spectacle, but only the 10 fastest entered the gate.
Oilman and Midland, Texas, rancher J.H. Crouch, owner of one of the contenders in Sages Belle Star, felt very strongly about win- ning the race.
Crouch was offered the 240-acre Feliz Montana Horse Ranch in a trade, free and clear with no strings attached for his 2-year-old filly.
SPEEDHORSE, August 2018 145
LOOKING BACK - AN EXCERPT FROM OCTOBER 1979 ISSUE
E