Page 51 - May_2023

Speedhorse Archives
“He knew he had just ridden faster than he had ever ridden before, and he sensed it was faster than anyone had ever ridden.”
the runaway colt pulled up, Robert was in a trance. He knew he had just ridden faster than he had ever ridden before, and he sensed it was faster than anyone had ever ridden.
J.B. Ferguson heeded Eldridge Strauss’s advice and skipped the bush tracks with Go Man Go, instead sending him across the country to the new Los Alamitos Race Course. The hustle and activity in such different surroundings
made for many distractions to Go Man Go,
and he had already made a name for himself for misbehaving when the big day came for his first race. Once the eight starters had been loaded, Go Man Go reared up, dumping his rider, and breaking through the front of the starting gate. He then galloped loose around the racetrack until the outriders caught him, brought him back to the gate and reloaded the field. Despite
it all, Go Man Go won the race, defeating future Champion Filly Dolly’s Ace by a nose.
One week later, Go Man Go won again. Five days later, he won again. Ten days later he won the Los Alamitos Juvenile Championship as the heavy favorite. By this time Go Man Go’s reputation had spread. J.B. Ferguson directed his team eastward, this time to Ruidoso Downs. Less than a month after his arrival, Go Man Go won his trial to the Ruidoso Futurity. He won again in an allowance race for six straight wins. Then in the final of the Ruidoso Futurity on a sloppy track, he was beaten by a nose by the grey gelding Sure Now, a son of the Thoroughbred stallion Be Sure Now.
Less than a month later Go Man Go was back in action in California at Pomona, where he won his trial for the Pacific Coast Futurity by 3 1/2-lengths. Six days later he won the futurity final. The day following that race the Strauss family loaded him up and headed once again to the mountains of New Mexico—this time to Albuquerque for the final race of the season— the Winner Take All. There he would meet up with the undefeated Bob’s Folly, who had won all eight of his starts. The kicker was that Bob’s Folly had beaten Sure Now, Go Man Go’s only conqueror, by daylight in a subsequent race. Moreover, the Winner Take All was contested just eight days after the Pomona race, and it took
two days to pull a trailer from the west coast to
starters. Top Deck was an unraced King Ranch Albuquerque. The wagering public made the
Thoroughbred whom Robert Kleberg had gifted two colts co-favorites but when the gates opened,
to Ernest Lane. J.B. Ferguson bred Lightfoot Sis Go Man Go ran the race of his life up to that
to Top Deck on a fee of $200, then when Go time and defeated Bob’s Folly by a full 2-lengths.
Man Go began to show his talents Ferguson That victory not only assured Go Man
bought Top Deck and stood the stallion for a fee
Go of his two-year-old championship titles of Champion 2 Year Old and Champion Stallion, but propelled him to the title of World Champion Running Quarter Horse—the first two year old ever to win the honor. He had won nine of his ten races, finishing second once. He had raced at four different racetracks, going from sea level to the mountains and back to sea level and back to the mountains—losing only once on a sloppy track. Moreover, he had often been forced to overcome his own misbehavior, several times spotting his rivals lengths of daylight before storming from behind to win going away. Even at age two, some experienced horsemen were saying he was the fastest horse they had ever seen.
Go Man Go forced Quarter Horse breeders to acknowledge that his sire, Top Deck TB, was a sire to be considered. In addition to Go Man Go, Top Deck had sired top level competitors Ridge Butler, Moon Deck and Antlers Trade
from a very limited number of
Top Deck TB, the sire
of Go Man Go.
of $500 at his place near Wharton, Texas. For whatever reason, though, no more than a handful of outside mares were booked to Top Deck following Go Man Go’s championship season.
In general, the offspring of Top Deck were of a different conformation type than what most breeders of the time considered “good looking.” They were leaner, lighter boned and generally lacked the keen head and fox ears of their purely Quarter Horse contemporaries. But what they lacked in the looks department was more than compensated by their furious speed. They
were high-strung, often to a fault, and gained a reputation of being difficult to handle.
However, “Pretty is as pretty does” is a classic saying for a reason. In Part Two of this two-part article we will reveal how the doings of Go Man Go changed people’s ideas about conformation and in doing so, changed the history of the racing Quarter Horse breed. We will also learn how the great Champion changed ownership—
again and again and again.
SPEEDHORSE
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