Page 27 - November 2017

Top Deck, the sire of Go Man Go, was well-bred to be a sire: 4x4x5x5 to Broomstick by Ben Brush, and 4x4 to Peter Pan, a grandson of Domino, giving him a pedigree based on the significant Domino/Ben Brush nick.
Top Deck is also 3x4 to Man O’War.
5-time AQHA Champion sire Top Deck TB, is the sire Many of today’s top runners trace their lineage back of Go Man Go. to Domino, foaled in 1891 and the sire of very limited progeny, including 9 of the 12 Triple Crown winners.
A PEDIGREE CONTROVERSY
The American Quarter Racing Association (AQRA) was formed in 1945 to promote the racing segment of the Quarter Horse. It was a racing association that focused on fast racehorses and it was open to any fast horse and this included Quarter Horses, Thoroughbreds and the Cajun-Bred Running Horses. The AQRA became a melting pot of fast horses.
When the AQHA and the AQRA
merged in 1949, it brought a problem back
to the front of the American Quarter Horse Association. The AQHA had been divided into two groups: the bull dog enthusiasts and the racing enthusiasts. The bull dog people believed that the Quarter Horse was the stocky built, heavier muscled individual, while the racing individuals looked to a taller, less heavily muscled individual. The bull dog faction didn’t want Thoroughbred blood in the Quarter Horse and the racing segment wanted to bring the Thoroughbred into the mix. The conflict between the two factions was one reason for the formation of the AQRA.
The pedigree of Go Man Go represents
how the AQRA brought the Thoroughbred
and the Cajun-Bred Running Horse together when Ferguson bred Top Deck to Lightfoot Sis. Top Deck was a royally bred Thoroughbred on the King Ranch who was sired by Equestrian,
a racehorse with eight starts, two wins and one third place finish with earnings of $1,580. The greatest claim to fame for Equestrian is as the sire of Stymie, a $1,500 claimer that retired as the all-time leading money earning Thoroughbred runner with earnings of $918,485.
Equestrian didn’t have a great race record, but he was a regally bred Thoroughbred sired by 2-time Horse of the Year Equipoise, who won the titles in 1932 and 1933. Equipoise was bred by C. V. Whitney and raced by C. V. & H. P. Whitney and boasted lifetime earnings of $338,610, winning 29 of his 51 starts. Equipoise is by the successful Whitney stallion Pennant by Peter Pan, a grandson of Domino. The dam of Equipoise is Swinging by Broomstick by Ben Brush.
Beldame Stakes winner Frilette is the dam of Equestrian and is sired by none other than Man O’War. Her dam was Frillery by Broomstick by Ben Brush.
River Boat is the dam of Top Deck. Unplaced in two starts, River Boat is by Chicaro, the stallion that started the King Ranch Thoroughbred breeding program. Chicaro came from Kentucky by way of New Orleans, Louisiana. He sired the Cajun- Bred Flying Bob on his way to Texas during his time with Earnest Lane. Flying Bob
sired 1945-46 World Champion Queenie
Broomstick (pictured above), foaled in 1901, is one of the great sires of race horses, including 1911 Kentucky Derby winner Meridian and the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby, Regret, in 1915.
Leading sire Man O’War, foaled in 1917, shown winning the Dwyer Stakes at old Aqueduct in 1920, won 20 of 21 starts and is considered by many to be the greatest racehorse of all time.
SPEEDHORSE, November 2017 25
SPEEDLINES
Keeneland-Cook Keeneland Library
courtesy AQHA