Page 25 - November 2017

When Jack Hutchins died in 1945, the Ferguson/Hutchins partnership was dissolved and the stallions and mares were divided in an even split. By a flip of a coin, Ferguson was given his choice of the two groups of horses. This was the point when Ferguson went out on his own to develop his Bar JF ranch horses, show horses, and what appears to be his first love, race horses.
The success of Ferguson in the racehorse business was founded with some mares that were purchased through Claude Morien, the Louisiana trainer we referred to above. The three mares we will look at are Clear Track, Skippy F (out of Clear Track) and Lightfoot Sis (also out of Clear Track).
Clear Track, a 1933 grey mare bred by Odeia Pitre of Prairie Rhonde, Louisiana, was registered by J.B. Ferguson and Jack Hutchins and has produced seven foals in AQHA records.
The first mare registered out of Clear Track is Daisy P, a daughter of Doc Horn TB. Daisy P was listed in my AQHA Studbook with her breeder as unknown. She was
owned by W.D. “Dink” Parker of Arizona. Her first foal was Miss Pinkie (by Blob TB), who was bred by Claude Morien and who
is listed in the AQHA Studbook as owned
by Tim Roden of Odessa, Texas. Bred by Morien, Miss Pinkie was the dam of 4-time stakes winner Roan Man, who won the New Mexico State Fair Breeders’ Futurity.
Miss Pinkie ended up with Art Pollard,
the owner and breeder of Lightning Bar, to produce horses like AAA runners Explosive and Heads Or Tails, who was second in the 1961 Sunland Derby. Dink Parker brought the Cajun-Bred running mares Della P, the dam of Lightning Bar, and Daisy P to Arizona.
The next mare out of Clear Track is Skippy F, a bay mare foaled in 1938 by Spanish Way. Skippy F was bred by Octave Fontenot of Opelousas, Louisiana. Some places show that Octave also made his home in Prairie Rhonde, Louisiana. Skippy F
was registered as owned by J.B. Ferguson and was described by Ferguson as one of
his racehorses. The AQHA race record for Skippy F shows that she earned her ROM in 1947 with the old AA rating, which would be an 85 speed index today. She was a match racehorse that had three official starts, with one win and one second place finish.
It was about this time that Ferguson found out about Top Deck, the unraced Thoroughbred stallion bred on the King Ranch. Top Deck was standing with Earnest Lane, and Ferguson took Skippy F to be bred to this now famous stallion. Stardeck F was the foal produced from this mating. This filly was the first stakes winner sired by Top Deck.
Stardeck F has a race record of 43-13(4)-10-8 with earnings of $13,852, winning the Del Rio Futurity, Del Rio Derby, Lincoln County Stakes and Debutante Stakes.
Skippy F went on to produce seven more foals with five more racing ROM and one stakes placer, Javon, who finished second in the 300-yard 1953 Texas Futurity. Her other ROM’s were Skip Deck (AAA), Skippy’s Baby (AAA), Cleardeck (AA) and Mr Kip (AA). Top Deck was the sire of these runners.
Lightfoot Sis was sired by Very Wise TB and out of Clear Track. However, she is not found on the AQHA produce list for Clear Track because the filly was an AQHA appendix registered mare. Lightfoot Sis is a 1945 mare bred by Octave Fontenot in Ville Platte, Louisiana. Fontenot owned a general store at Prairie Rhonde, which is between Ville Platte and Opelousas, and he had a racetrack known as Octave’s Place.
The book Cajun-Bred Running Horse tells us that Fontenot wanted to sell his horses, including Lightfoot Sis, who was unraced with one eye
and foundered. Fontenot wanted his good friend Claude Morien to buy them, but Morien didn’t want the non-runners like Lightfoot Sis. Fontenot convinced him to take all of the horses, and this is how Lightfoot Sis came to be with Morien.
J.B. Ferguson was the breeder & owner of 3-time World Champion Go Man Go.
The timing of Ferguson’s visit to the castration pen and the prophesy of Mr. Morien has certainly proven to be a great story that defines the life of Go Man Go. A life that was started when an unraced and unknown Thoroughbred named Top Deck was bred to an unraced and unknown Cajun- bred mare named Lightfoot Sis.
J.B. Ferguson was an oil field division manager for an oil company that was drilling on the famous Shanghai Pearce Ranch in Wharton, Texas. Ferguson quit his job over a dispute with the oil company about a clause in their contracts that he didn’t agree with, and was then hired by Jack Hutchins, a partner and manager of the Shanghai Pearce Ranch, to oversee the oil interests for the ranch.
Their association led to a partnership in the horse business, and Jack Hutchins and J.B. Ferguson became involved with the American Quarter Horse Association in the registration of their horses. Jack Hutchins even served as the second President of the AQHA in 1942 and 1943.
The partnership was identified by the initials F&H as a prefix for the horses they owned and/or bred. One of their horses, F&H Bill Thomas, was the sire of David Thomas, the sire of Lady Thomas Wilson, the dam of the All American Futurity winner Decketta. David Thomas was also out of a daughter of F&H Bill Thomas.
2-time Champion sire Roan Man (below) traces to his third dam Clear Track, dam of Lightfoot Sis, who is the dam of
Go Man Go.
SPEEDHORSE, November 2017 23
SPEEDLINES