Page 72 - 2 November 2012

Triple CrOwn prOspeCT From Speedhorse, formerly Quarter Racing World, september, 1974 issue
by Nelson C. Nye
Setting: The stakes Circuit Time: 1974
In The Gates: Best Of The
Current Crops
Of all the good ones from the current scene of Quarter Horse straightaway racing, my hat is off to Tiny’s Gay, a product of the Paul
Travis breeding establishment in Oklahoma. Clearly a paragon of the finest sparkle, Tiny’s Gay is the result of the coordinated efforts of trainer Larry Sharp, jockey John Ward and a pair of vets – Jeff Palmer in California and Doc Miller of Ruidoso, plus the expert services of farrier Dick McCall and grooms Fred Sanchez and Terry Morris.
Sired by Tiny Watch out of Gay’s Delight by Rocket Bar, this is truly a speed merchant with many amusing idiosyncrasies, which have never been allowed to get in the way of his dash to the post. Eleven starts, eleven wins in the very finest company, an assemblage of stakes horses that which one could hardly find any better clean across the country!
It all got started at Tumbleweed Track, Kennewick, Washington, where Tiny’s Gay was entered in the Tumbleweed Futurity on March 17, gross purse $51,145.37, a 300-yard go for two-year-olds. 107 hopefuls went into the trials with Tiny’s Gay emerging with fastest qualifying time. In the finals he took it all away from Catchajet and Catcha Jet in a dash timed at :15.44 by an astonishing two and a half lengths!
Owned by John R. Colville of Paramount, California, a young feller new to the racing scene, Tiny’s Gay next showed off in the trials for the Bay Meadows Futurity, a 350-yarder where again he came out the winner by 2 1/2-lengths with fastest qualifying time (:18.08). In the finals this colt – bought for
a measly $3,000 – came out of the gates as though shot from a cannon to promote a stakes record for the three-quarter length win clocked at :18.07 which, I understand, has been the fastest time for this classic.
John Colville, who is a newcomer to Quarter racing, remains calm in the face of
his colt’s many triumphs. “I just come out
to watch him run. I watch him in the post parade. Then I watch the race. Then I amble over to the winner’s circle to collect the trophy.”
Tiny’s Gay has been dubbed the Secretariat of the Straightaways. Jockey John Ward says: “I don’t have to encourage him. He wants to run his heart out all the way. I keep a snug
Tiny’s Gay, inside, scores his eleventh consecutive victory in the 1974 Rainbow Futurity, tying the stakes record of :19.74 and becoming the first horse to win the first two legs of the QH Triple Crown.
70 SPEEDHORSE, September 28, 2012
hold; that seems to make him want to go all the harder.”
Trainer Larry Sharp declares: “He’s getting better all the time. I couldn’t be happier about the way he’s coming along.”
In the trials for the Kansas Futurity Tiny’s Gay was supplemented late, Colville paying
a penalty of $5,900 – a very adroit move as things turned out. The trials saw 226 hope- fuls go to the post. He went into the second round of these eliminations, larruping over the 350-yards with fastest qualifying time of :17.54. By now the darling of the two-dollar punters he was bet into the ground when the field took off in the finals. This he took for,
I believe, another stakes record, clocked in :17.41, said to be the best time a two-year-old had run at Ruidoso. This was the 24th run- ning of this $275,182.47 stakes sprint, first leg of Ruidoso’s Triple Crown. Tiny’s Gay went for the wire in a flurry of driving muscles and flying hoofs, according to the official version. He won by three-quarters, his eighth straight victory, worth $117,783, and never was this epic so well won.
His bankable assets now totaled $201,632. He won the Kansas with demonstrable ease, going into a class by himself at the top of the freshman heap - his was the swiftest Kansas Futurity ever! Second at the finish was I Can Go with Passum Choice, an 18-1 outsider, finishing in third place.
Then came the Rainbow, second leg of
the Triple Crown, which no one thus far has managed to win. In the original elimina- tions Tiny’s Gay was once again the quickest horse to the wire, timed at an amazing :20.26 on a heavy track. In the final eliminations (48 contenders) Tiny’s Gay whipped over the ground in :20.01 for the 400-yards – not only the fastest qualifying time but also a third of a second faster than his closest rival.
Here is the lineup for the main race: Tiny’s Gay (:20.01); Rebel Rainbow (:20.36); David Capri (:20.38); Vim And Vigor (:20.40); Chautos (:20.43); Maskeo Lad (:20.47); Three Lit (:20.49); Easy Six (:20.53); Get Swinging (20.56) and Final Kiss (:20.56). Our hero’s closest rival, moneywise, was Easy Six from the S. B. Burnett Estate with $64,473 on deposit.
The twelfth renewal of the Rainbow Futurity went off the pad on August 4, televised, with gross pot of $257,681.64, but only partially as expected. Tiny’s Gay won but almost was nipped at the wire by Vim And Vigor, which only missed by a short nose. Running time was a sizzling :19.74! Chautos was third. It has been suggested by some that had the race been a few strides longer there’d have been a different story.
Maybe so, but I’ll stay with Tiny’s Gay who is still in my book a hard-to-beat 11 for 11 and still the best bet with two legs behind him to win the Triple Crown.
classic moments
speedhorse Files