Page 36 - January 2018

by Diane Rice
Walt Wiggins Jr. and others reminisce about Speedhorse founder Walt Wiggins Sr. and the magazine’s rich history and lasting legacy
Walt Wiggins Sr. (center) with Champion trainers Jake and Bubba Cascio.
Inhis “Editor’s Notebook” column in the inaugural issue of Speedhorse — originally
known as Quarter Racing World — in August 1969, Walt Wiggins Sr. said, “Truly, there are exciting years ahead for all of us.” Little did Walt know just how prophetic his words were at that time.
In the nearly 50 years since that first issue, Walt and more recent Speedhorse owners have helped promote the Quarter Horse racing industry to not-even-dreamed-of levels and recorded its fascinating growth and history along the way.
“Dad’s vision was a very professionally done, slick magazine that portrayed all aspects of the Quarter Horse racing business in a very professional way,” says Walt’s son, Walt Jr. “And Speedhorse has continued that and probably developed and improved well beyond what he could have ever imagined.”
Life Prepares Walt Wiggins Walt Wiggins Sr.’s background as a
photojournalist and author formed the ideal foundation for publishing a Quarter Horse racing magazine.
“We always had horses around the home,” says Walt Jr. “I have a picture of my granddad holding his first Quarter Horse, taken around 1946. He named the horse Walt Wiggins, after my dad. And my mom [Roynel] had horses in her own right; she even had horses consigned to the first two All American sales in the early ’60s.”
Born in 1924, Walt Sr. served as a U.S. Army and newsreel cameraman during World War II, then as a staff photographer at West Point. His photojournalism assignments took him to 18 countries for iconic magazines such as Look, Life and Sports Illustrated, which led the American Society of Magazine Photographers to recognize
34 SPEEDHORSE, January 2018