Page 47 - Jan_2020

The story of Texas Hero begins with his breeders Herbert and Ginger Graham when they bred a Quarter Horse mare they bought from R. D. Hubbard named Breakaway Baby, who also became a registered Paint mare. The Grahams bred her to Raise A Jet to get not only Texas Hero, but also his full brothers Concho County, Raise Cash, Texas Dash and sister White Lace.
2-Time Champion Concho County 2-Time Champion Raise Cash 2-Time Champion White Lace
by Jack McCue. Thus, Jackie McCue is 1x3 inbred to Jack McCue by Peter McCue.
In the mid 1940’s, Jack Casement and a fellow rancher named Bill Coy traded mares for the breeding season. Jack got the mare Jackie McCue and he bred her to Tadpole, a son of Red Dog. The foal produced was Little Meow, the dam of She Kitty.
When Jack Casement bred She Kitty,
he was bringing together two of the breed’s great foundation sires in Peter McCue
and Joe Reed P-3. The interesting part of this situation is the inbreeding found in Robin Reed to Joe Reed P-3 crossed on the inbreeding to Jack McCue by Peter McCue, allowing for hybrid vigor when these two unrelated bloodlines were crossed.
When we look back at the pedigree of Texas Hero, we see his grandsire Easy Jet
Too is out of Indian Music, a daughter of Soft Music who is a Walter Merrick mare sired by Cue Ball by Young Midnight by Midnight by Badger by Peter McCue. The dam of Cue Ball is Salty by Billy The Tough by A. D. Reed by Peter McCue. Billy The Tough is out of Betsy 2 by Peter McCue. This gives Cue Ball a breeding pattern of 4x4x4
to Peter McCue. The dam of Soft Music
is a mare by Joe Reed P-3. This is another form of breeding to get hybrid vigor with Peter McCue and Joe Reed P-3 found in the pedigree of Texas Hero.
Soft Music as part of the pedigree of Texas Hero can be credited to the legendary Walter Merrick, the famous owner, trainer and breeder of many great horses. His breeding program started using horses carrying
the blood of Peter McCue and Joe Reed
P-3. One of his early runners was his first Champion, 1952 AQHA Champion 3-Year- Old Filly Mona Leta by Leo, who has a 2x2 to breeding pattern to Joe Reed P-3, and out of Hot Heels, a mare with a breeding pattern of 4x5x4x5 to Peter McCue.
MORE MERRICK INFLUENCE
Earlier, we pointed out that the First Down Dash/Hempen/Easy Jet cross was
the most significant breeding pattern in the pedigree of DTL Chasin Tale. This cross brings us back to Walter Merrick. First there is Hempen, a Thoroughbred stallion that Merrick purchased and syndicated to stand and use in his breeding program. Merrick is the breeder of Easy Jet. Hempes Folly, the third dam of PYC Paint Your Wagon, is by
Hempen TB and out of Jets Runway by Easy Jet. The dam of Jets Runway is War Folly,
by Bob’s Folly, who is out of the Merrick bred mare Hot Heels. Venice Song, the dam of Royal Quick Flash, is by Hempen TB
and out of Venice, a Merrick bred mare by Easy Jet and out of Venice Ann by Venetian Jester, another Thoroughbred stallion used in the Merrick breeding program. The dam of Venice Ann is Mayflower Ann by Tonto Bars Hank, who Merrick stood for a time, and Mayflower Ann is out of Lena’s Bar TB, the dam of Easy Jet.
By looking at the pedigree of Texas Hero, we can see how the pedigree of the running Quarter Horse was founded with horses
like Peter McCue and Joe Reed P-3 through Jack Casement and Walter Merrick. Then, through Walter Merrick and the use of horses like Hempen TB in his program, we see how this has evolved through the years. We see a similar situation with Thoroughbred stallions like Zevi and Reb’s Policy in the pedigree
of Southern Electric. This tells us that these pedigrees are built on a good foundation, but we must always look to improve our horses with key breeding patterns and outcross blood for improvement.
SPEEDHORSE, January 2020 43
SPEEDLINES