Page 22 - 17 February 2012

FLaSHTHeCHICKS
si 99, $186,007
World Champion Running Solid Paint Bred, Champion Solid Paint-Bred 2-Year-Old, Champion Solid Paint-Bred 2-Year-Old Gelding
First Down Dash Royal Quick Dash QH
Harems Choice
Royal Quick Flash
Hempen TB Venice Song QH
Venice FLASHTHECHICKS, ‘09-g.
Dash For Cash First Prize Rose Beduino TB Flicka Your Bic Indian Hemp Serry
Easy Jet Venice Ann
Beduino TB
A Classy Chick si 89 First Down Dash Short And Fleet Special Lineage TB Judys Chick Kitaman
Emma W. TB
Rocket Wrangler Find A Buyer TB Gallant Jet Rose Bug Romany Royal Jo-Ann-Cat Tiny Charger
Hy Flicka Nasrullah Sabzy
Spy Song
Santa Roseanna Jet Deck
Lena’s Bar TB Venetian Jester TB Mayflower Ann
Romany Royal Jo-Ann-Cat
Chick’s Deck Mayshego TB
Dash For Cash
First Prize Rose Sold Short
Fleet Anne
Alydar
Champagne Woman Walters Chick
The Lady Sadie QH Go Man Go Kitabar
Lillolkid
Emma Sue
Rocket Bar TB Go Galla Go To Market Hide And Seek Jet Deck
Leo Jewel
Lady Bug’s Moon Casco Rose
Grey Sovereign Romany Belle Rejected
Quick Eye
Depth Charge TB Clabber Tiny Hysitian TB Flicka
Nearco
Mumtaz Begum Stardust
Sarita
Balladier
Mata Hari Rosemont Sandury
Moon Deck
Miss Night Bar Three Bars
Lena Valenti Tom Fool
Venice
Tonto Bars Hank Lena’s Bar TB
Grey Sovereign Romany Belle Rejected
Quick Eye
Three Chicks si 100 Decketta si 100 Mayhego
Aegean Goddess Rocket Wrangler Find A Buyer Gallant Jet Rose Bug
Go Man Go Carlotta 2
Fleet Kirsch TB Hopes Clabberlou Raise A Native Sweet Tooth Barbizon
L’Amour Toujours Walter Bee QH O. R. Levan Gentleman Gem Panal’s Dot
Top Deck Lightfoot Sis Three Bars TB Wakita
Jack High Amaranth Breathing Time Viola C.
Game Patriot QH
Game Chicken
Kickin Chicken
Chicks Beduino si 104
Fire And Nice
Judys Lineage
Kita Wheeler QH
Breeder/Owner: Shirley Wheeler 2011 Record: 10-5(3)-4(1)-0(0), $186,007, 1st Graham Paint &
appaloosa Futurity-G1, american Paint Classic Futurity-RG1, Pot O’ Gold Futurity-RG1; 2nd Oklahoma Paint Futurity-RG1; 6th Speedhorse Paint & appaloosa Futurity-G1
Flashthechicks didn’t just have a good year in 2011, he had a great year. The 2009 bay gelding became only the 10th 2-year-old in
APHA history to earn more than $100,000 in a single season, helping propel owner/breeder Shirley Wheeler to the titles of 2011 Leading Breeder and 2011 Leading Owner in addition to his own world championship honors.
Wheeler breeds and races horses along with her husband, Jim. The couple live in Boynton, Oklahoma, outside of Muskogee, where they manage a small broodmare band of fewer than 10 Paint, Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred mares. In addition to Flashthechicks, they also campaigned Eye Opening Chick, the APHA Champion 3-Year-Old Filly in 2011. She is
out of Kicken Chicken, who is Flashthechicks’ granddam.
“When my husband and I got married, he had this horse’s great, great grandmother,” said Shirley, who has been married to Jim for 32 years. “We just kept breeding.”
Indeed, Flashthechicks is a fifth-generation homebred for the Wheelers, making his perfor- mance and championship that much sweeter.
“What has kept us going was the hope of having a year like we had in 2011,” Shirley said. “Every year when you breed your mares, you’re thinking, ‘this colt might be the one.’”
According to Shirley, Flashthechicks showed early on that he could be “the one.”
“He was different from the rest of the colts from the time he was born,” Shirley said. “He just had that personality.”
“Everyone says he’s the best one I ever raised, but he’s not. He’s the best one I ever kept,” said Jim Wheeler, adding that they have raised and sold such horses as Flying Arky, a stakes winner of $312,811 and track record setter.
It was Jim who purchased the Thorough- bred mare Emma W from his uncle James D. Wheeler’s estate so many years ago.
“My uncle would roll over in his grave if he knew I was breeding that mare to Quarter Horses,” said Jim. “But she had a lot of speed in her pedigree.
“(Flash) is really a special horse. These horses are family to me. I’ve had them for a long time.”
20 SPEEDHORSE, February 17, 2012
Flashthechicks goes wire-to-wire to win the 2011 Pot O’ Gold Futurity by two lengths at Will Rogers Downs.
Kellie Johnston/Coady Photography