Page 43 - November 2017

“Between growing up and being an adult, I never knew not having racehorses.”
Petry and a photo of Mornin Jess with her 2014 weanling filly Shez The Bomb.
His favorite part of the operation is the challenge of breeding
and raising babies.
Shez The Bomb wins the 2017 Audubon Stakes at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans.
mares that I’d never have bought. They let me ‘up’ this hobby a little bit.“
Along with his family, he credits good partnerships with his success. “Partnerships have worked well for me,” he says. “I’ve got
a friend, Daniel Pugh, in Alabama, and he
and I partner on a few yearlings every year. And the 3-year-old stakes filly I have this year, Shez The Bomb, I’m part owners with Watson Land & Cattle (Paul Watson). I bred the filly and raised her, and she just recently won the Audobon Stakes, which was for 3-, 4- and 5-year-old mares. She’s a 3-year-old, so she was running with all the good horses. She’s a really nice little filly.”
He also finds help for his operation in the Louisiana Quarter Horse Breeders’ Association. “They’re probably one of the big reasons for
us to have racehorses as a family,” Barry says. “Without their help, I doubt I’d be as involved as I am. Our purses are what they are because of them; our breeders’ awards program is what it is because of LQHBA; and they even organize our yearling sale.”
“I’ve always been impressed by the way
his horses look at the sale and how they’re bred,” says LQHBA Executive Director Tony Patterson. “He’s been doing this a long time and is very good at handling his business. And he’s really good to talk to and bounce ideas off of.”
HIS PASSION
Barry says his favorite part of the racing operation is the challenge of breeding and raising babies. “— The selection process and the breeding,” he says. “Did you select correctly? Did you breed to the right stud? And did you make the right decisions along the way? It’s a competitive business, and not every horse is a real good racehorse. And, a lot of things can happen to horses. It’s a challenge getting all the way to the sale at that year-and-a-half point.”
Barry has invested 31 years into racehorses and considers himself lucky that he’s been able to buy broodmares as non-producers that went on to produce. “Things are going good and I’m pretty sure I’m going to keep things as they are. I don’t plan on getting more mares or breeding outside the Louisiana Bred program. I may
get rid of a few more mares since my kids are getting older, but then again, they might want a mare or two as well. If you have interests with your kids, you’re always talking about what you’re doing.”
These days, as talking becomes a declining art, Barry enjoys the conversation, commitment and shared passion that Quarter Horse racing continues to engender within his family. And, he enjoys carrying on a tradition started by
his grandfather and passed to him by his own father. Live Oak Farms is all about family.
Barry has invested 31 years into racehorses and considers himself lucky.
SPEEDHORSE, November 2017 41
Along with his family, he credits good partnerships with his success. “Partnerships have worked well for me,” he says. “I’ve got a friend, Daniel Pugh, in Alabama, and he and I partner on a few yearlings
every year. And the 3-year-old stakes filly I have this year, Shez The Bomb, I’m part owners with Watson Land & Cattle (Paul Watson).