Page 168 - Jan_2020

So, as the rumor said, he had beaten at least one top Quarter Horse in a match race.
Vessels said, “I think he lost only one match race against a Quarter Horse and that may have been to set up a future bet.”
The Vessels family entered the Beduino story during a convention of the American Quarter Horse Association in Mexico City in 1974.
Scoop Vessels recalled, “My dad (the late Frank Vessels Jr.) told me that this Mexican man kept bugging him to come see his horse. You know, we’ve always had all kinds of horses and the last thing my dad wanted to see was another horse.
“But, the man kept bugging him and finally my dad gave in.”
Scoop continued, “When he came back to Los Alamitos from Mexico City, my dad said to me – and he was very excited – ‘Scoop, I just saw the best looking horse I’ve ever laid eyes on.’
“And,” said Scoop, “you know he’s seen a lot of great looking horses.”
Eventually, by long distance, a match
race was arranged between Beduino and Charger Bar, then the reigning Quarter Horse Champion. Fernandez shipped Beduino north to Los Alamitos and the Vessels Ranch, hard by the race track.
The story is that the bet began at $50,000 and then went to $100,000. Then, Vessels said, Fernandez wanted to bet ‘My horse for yours’ with Charger Bar owner Ed Allred. But the race never came off.
It is known that in an exhibition at Los Alamitos, Beduino barely beat a fair Quarter Horse named Chic Pat Go, a runner not as good as Charger Bar.
Had the race come off horse for horse, it probably would have been a $500,000 bet for a total of $1 million worth of horse flesh.
For, when the Vessels Stallion Farm bought half interest in Beduino for $250,000, that established his market value at $500,000.
And Charger Bar had races worth $200,000 to run at before she went to breeding. She’d already won $450,000. Further, a straight- legged yearling out of Charger Bar would probably bring $100,000 at auction. And, she could drop one foal a year.
It is interesting that Beduino’s daughter, What A Woman, beat Charger Bar’s first foal, Proud Heritage by Ettabo, in their maiden race.
For looks, Beduino is a handsome, studly brute with a royal air about him. He stands 16 hands 1 inch, and is so strongly built fore and aft that though a Thoroughbred, he resembles a tall Quarter Horse, or “a gray Secretariat,” said Scoop.
Gene Chambless, that noted Oklahoma horseman and Western gentleman who first came to California as a trainer of Rebel Cause for Dale Robertson, is now farm manager of the Vessels Stallion Farm.
He said Beduino has sired other winners besides What A Woman and Fishers Favorite. Bedawee, out of Ought To Go, has won three races, and Bedawin, out of Dupe’s Doing, has won five.
Chambless said, “Beduino is beginning to make his mark as a stallion. So far, he seems to cross well with Go Man Go mares.
“He was booked to 57 mares in the 1979 season and we have a full book for him in 1980. The fee is $2,500 and we’ll keep it there, at least for a while. We want his get to be racing so he can prove himself.”
Chambless continued, “His foals tend to be gray or roan. What A Woman is a gray and Fishers Favorite is a roan.”
Of course, their grandfather, Go Man Go, was a roan, reddish coloring with gray flecks.
The picture of Beduino no longer dominates the reception room at Los Alamitos Race Track.
Millie Vessels, president of Los Alamitos Race Course and also owner of the adjacent Los Alamitos Country Club, said, “Before the last meeting, we redecorated. I had a picture which used to hang in the board room moved to the reception room and Beduino’s picture now hangs behind the bar at the country club.”
The coffee shop and golf course is a favorite hangout for the golfers among the trainers, jockeys and agents after their morning chores are finished.
Undoubtedly they add to the legend of Beduino when a golfer comes in, is drawn to the picture behind the bar and asks, “What a magnificent animal, who is it?”
Beduino went on to become the sire of six Champions in Brigand Silk, Chingaderos, Femmes Frolic, Indigo Illusion, Strawberry Silk, and Tolltac. Beduino is also the broodmare sire of eight Champions in Baychaino, Dash Thru Traffic, First Sovereign, IBA Dasher, Meter Me Gone, Royal Quick Dash, Stoli, and Your First Moon.
LOOKING BACK - AN EXCERPT FROM OCTOBER 1979 ISSUE
164 SPEEDHORSE, January 2020
Beduino in an exhibition race with Chic Pat Go on June 21, 1974.
Beduino with trainer Steve Rothblum and jockey Ron Banks.
The ninth hole at Los Alamitos Country Club in 1977.
Fishers Favorite, Beduino’s outstanding two year old of 1979.