Page 170 - November 2017

Annual Los Alamitos Halloween Carnival
Los Alamitos hosted its annual Halloween Carnival on Oct. 28, with proceeds benefitting the Boys and Girls Club of Cypress, California. The carnival featured a costume contest, carnival games, game prizes, pony rides, arcade games and much more. The costume contest attracted approximately 400 participants, making it one of the largest costume contests in Orange County.
Charlie “Choo Choo” Smith Passes Away
Hall of Fame
jockey Charlie
“Choo Choo” Smith
passed away Oct.
16. Charlie first
became a jockey in
1957 and was the
only one to ever
ride 1963 World
Champion Jet Deck.
The legendary
jockey won more
than 800 races and
was the nation’s
leading Quarter Horse rider six times and the leading rider at Los Alamitos 11 times. He was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame in 2005.
Sam Hester Sr. Passes Away
Leading Paint Horse breeder Sam
Hester Sr.
passed away on
Oct. 26. Hester,
with his wife
Nadine, is the
breeder of the
#5 leading Paint
money earner
Calista Corona,
the #7 leading
APHA breeder
by money earned, the #9 leading APHA breeder by races won, and the #14 leading APHA breeder by winners.
A Smooth Guy Passes Away
A Smooth Guy (Frenchmans Guy-Docs Movida, Dry Doc) was euthanized in October after sustaining an injury to his leg while playing in his paddock. The 2005 buckskin stallion was the sire of futurity and slot race champions such as Champion Smooth N Famous and BBR World Finals Futurity placed Colour Me Smooth. A Smooth Guy was owned by Myers Ranch.
Far Niente Dies (pictured to the right)
Three-time Grade 1 winner Far Niente was euthanized Oct. 11 after an accident in his stall on Oct. 7 which resulted in head trauma and
a loss of vision. Owned by Tom Atwood and John Wells, the 7-year-old gelding Far Niente earned $484,923 and won 11 of 28 starts, including the Vessels Maturity-G1 (twice) and the Golden State Derby-G1.
Hard Hitting Dies
Hard Hitting (TR Dasher-Chickasis, Chicks Beduino) died Oct. 27 due to com- plications from the West Nile virus. The 2006 brown stallion won five of 13 starts, including the Governor’s Cup Futurity-RG1 and Governor’s Cup Derby-RG1, and earned $358,924. Hard Hitting is the sire of over $1.6 million in earners from 5 crops to race.
168 SPEEDHORSE, November 2017
NEWS BRIEFS