Page 59 - 8 February 2013

Robert and Bruce Gentry with Velox Bar after setting the fastest qualifying time in the trials to the 1970 World’s Championship Classic at Ruidoso Downs.
Remembering
by Larry Thornton
The announcement of the passing of Robert “Bob” Gentry of the highly successful Gentry Brothers Running Horses caused me to flashback to my first introduction to this team of horsemen. That introduction came in 1969 by simply reading about Easy Jet’s All American Futurity win where their runner, Velox Bar, finished a game third behind Easy Jet and Miss Three Wars. Since Velox Bar, Bob and brother Bruce have been owners and breeders of a steady flow of good runners of not only racing American Quarter Horses but Thoroughbreds as well.
Bruce E. Gentry Jr. was the elder of
the two, born in 1927 in Lubbock, Texas. Bruce passed away in 2000 at the age of 72. Robert A. Gentry was born in Slaten, Texas in 1931. The Gentry Brothers grew up with an agricultural background, and both attended Texas Technological College, now Texas Tech University, after Bruce returned from his service in World War II. Not long after they formed their business partnership, the Gentry Brothers.
The first enterprise to fall under the Gentry Brothers title was the ranching and farming enterprise that today is a 20,000-acre ranch in Dixon, Texas. In the oil industry they started an exploration company in Houston. Next
on the business agenda was the Great Plains
Robert “Bob” Gentry and the Gentry Brothers Contribution.
Distributorship for Coors beer. These activities show the versatility of the Gentry Brothers that made them true entrepreneurs.
Bob and Bruce may have gotten their start through ranching, oil and beer distribution,
but their true calling and influence was through their involvement with horses. A leading example is their status as co-founders with several other horsemen of the Heritage Place Sales Company in Oklahoma City. Heritage Place today has the distinction of being “the world’s largest venue for Quarter Horse sales.” The individual families of the Gentry Brothers are still owners of this great sale facility under the ownership titles of The Bruce Gentry Family
and now The Robert Gentry Family. Their fellow owners are The Bob Moore Family and Dr. Charles Graham.
How did this business interest in horses, especially racehorses, come about? Kirk Gentry, Bob’s son, tells us, “They got in through my father, who was in the FFA in high school and enjoyed livestock all of his life. He used to show steers in high school. Later he got into showing halter horses. As time went on he got intrigued with horse racing and thought that was a more profitable way to go than getting a ribbon.”
This interest in horse racing takes us back to Velox Bar. The Gentry Brothers started on their road to success when they bought Jodie Echols
Robert and Bruce Gentry were part of the original founders of Heritage Place Sales Company.
SPEEDHORSE, February 8, 2013 57
Speedhorse Files
Speedhorse Files