Page 79 - January 2022

YEAR in 202 REVIEW 1
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SHARON LIST
DEAN LESTER
(June 20) -Longtime American Paint Horse Association member, breeder and owner Dean Lester of Skiatook, Oklahoma, passed away. Lester, 54, was born in Edmond, Oklahoma, and was married to wife Tonya Annette Mahan. Dean was a custom cabinet maker and partner in Wooden Solutions for many years before becoming an owner of H&L Custom cabinets. He loved to hunt, fish, coach basketball, football and baseball, and racehorses. He and Tonya are known for their ‘DTL’ horses, which include the #10 all-time leading Paint money earner and 3-time stakes winner DTL Chasin Tale (2021, $234,245)
as well as 2019 APHA World Champion
and 10-time stakes winner DTL Samureye ($185,915). Dean and Tonya are the #6 all-time leading Paint breeders of $1,099,178.
SHARON LIST
(June 30) -Longtime horse breeder/owner Sharon List, 78, passed away unexpectedly in her sleep. Sharon was born in South Dakota and lived there until she married Jens L. List Jr. and they moved to California. Together, they founded Double Bar S Ranch and they soon were major players in the Quarter Horse industry. After Jens passed away, Sharon gave her blessing for her children Rhonda and Dawn to continue to operate the ranch. Since 2000, Double Bar S Ranch starters have earned over $8.6 million. Among their top horses are World Champion sire Strawfly Special, 3-time Champion Jess You And I, Champion Carters Cartel, and Grade 1 winners Igotyourtac and Tac It Like A Man.
JEAN DILLARD
JULY
JEAN DILLARD
(July 11) - Dona Jean Luttrell Dillard passed away following a lengthy illness at her Dillard Ranch in Ringling, Oklahoma. Jean was born in 1927 in North Dakota and moved to Oklahoma with her parents. While attending Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University), she met her husband James Houston Dillard. They married in 1947 and had six daughters. They began breeding horses in the 1960’s and together they developed a successful breeding program – starting with their foundation mare Miss Breeze Bar, whose first foal is their 2-time Champion Howdy Jones. After James passed away in 1978, Jean continued to run the business and is the breeder of over $4.2 million in earners. Beside Howdy Jones, her top horses include her homebred mare 1989 World Champion See Me Do It – out of a granddaughter of Miss Breeze Bar. Jean is also the breeder
of horses with over 3,000 AQHA points, including AQHA Performance World Champion Rona Cabrona and Reserve World Champions JD Heckle and Devils Parr. Her ashes were scattered over the “pastures with her beloved mares.”
ROBERT “SONNY” EDSON HARRIS
(July 12) - Robert “Sonny” Edson Harris passed away at the age of 100. Harris grew up in Louisiana, attended Louisiana State University, and became a part-time owner of
ROBERT “SONNY” EDSON HARRIS EDUARDO GUTIERREZ-SOSA
the Blue Moon Restaurant and Night Club with his father. At the beginning of World War II, he enlisted and served in the U.S. Coast Guard until the end of the war. In the 1950’s, he and his father established a Black Angus cattle ranch, and then Harris became a Quarter Horse breeder at his Horseshoe Ranch. Among his top bred horses is Lightning Bar Jr, who earned a superior in halter and sired 481 foals with 570 halter points, 298 performance points, two AQHA Champions and 92 race starters. Sonny became an approved judge for the American Quarter Horse, Palomino and Paint Horse Associations. He was a lifetime member and served as a Director and Director Emeritus
at the AQHA and was a longtime member of the Louisiana Quarter Horse Association. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the LQHBA in 2015, and he and Lightning Bar Jr were inducted into the 2017 LQHBA Hall of Fame.
EDUARDO GUTIERREZ-SOSA
(July 14) - Jockey Eduardo Gutierrez-Sosa, 29, passed away following an accident in the first race at the Crooked River Roundup in Prinveville, Oregon. Eduardo was aboard 2-year-old Quarter Horse Godfather Advice in a maiden event when the colt hit the rail and threw his rider over the rail. The horse walked off the track, but Gutierrez-Sosa
was fatally injured. Eduardo has ridden the earners of over $850,000 in Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred races and was ranked a leading jockey by wins from 2016-2019.
Beautiful memories silently kept,
of ones we loved and will never forget.
SPEEDHORSE January 2022 77
Speedhorse Archives
Speedhorse Archives
Susan Bachelor, Speedhorse
Oregon QH Racing Association