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Many top rodeo cowboys wanted Cross J horses, including World Champion rodeo cowboy/ Academy Award winning actor Ben Johnson shown here calf roping on a Cross J horse in 1949.
in the race. Star was still seventeen years old, a bit old most horsemen believed, to establish the equine dynasty Mason seemed to expect.
Star did all that and more. But the same rule that applies to stars in the sky applies to the Stars that appeared on the ground in Oklahoma. Only a few of the stars in the sky are identified and given names. Only a small portion of Star’s family enriched the blood of AQHA. Many of his offspring, especially in the early portion of his breeding years, were never registered.
Using AQHA registry numbers as a guide, beginning with the earliest number and progressing from there, remaining only with the individuals that Mason bred or otherwise used in his breeding program, ten Oklahoma Star sons wore the Cross J brand on their thighs, including: Starway out of Quarter Lady; Sizzler out of Lad’s Run TB; Nowata Star out of Bay Lucy; Starboy out of Bay Babe; Hillsides Little Man out of Brown Annie; Double Star out of Bonnie Star; Oregon Star out of Bay Babe; Congress Star out of Quarter Lady; and Snip Star out of J4.
The ten Cross J sons of Oklahoma Star were foaled 1936 through 1942. Most of them earned names for themselves in match races in the Redlands rather than in official AQHA races.
Each bequeathed respectable families of speedhorses and performance horses to the registry. Five – Starway, Starboy, Double Star, Osage Star and Nowata Star – contributed to Cross J stud production.
Mention should also be made of Dawson- bred Oklahoma Star Jr. by Oklahoma Star out of Babe Dawson. He turned out to be one of her most illustrious sons and is listed by AQHA as a leading maternal grandsire of ROM qualifiers.
In 1944, Mason bred one of his favorite mares to Junior: Sheridina (Sheridan TB- Quarter Lady). Sheridina came with War Star, AAA stakes winner. November 12, 1951, under
the silks of the C.M. Kiser stables, War Star set an unofficial world’s record of :15.6 for 300 yards at Pittman Park in Las Vegas.
A closer look at the dams of the abovementioned stallions parts the curtains a little more regarding the bloodlines Mason believed in and the mares he championed:
Quarter Lady, ch. ’34, the dam of Starway, Osage Star and Congress Star, and the second
Chicaro Bill in old age with Ronald Mason
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LOOKING BACK - AN EXCERPT FROM MAY 1981 ISSUE
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