Page 82 - SPEEDHORSE April 2018

Bold Venture (pictured) came to the King Ranch as they pursued a Thoroughbred racing program, and they bred 1946 Triple Crown winner Assault (by Bold Venture) as well as 1950 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Middleground (also by Bold Venture). In all, the King Ranch won six Triple Crown races, including two Kentucky Derbies, one Preakness Stakes, and three Belmont Stakes. Bold Venture went on to sire AQHA Champion Woven Web TB (aka Miss Princess)
Bob Kleberg learned that you needed outcross bloodlines for a good line breeding program. He outcrossed through the introduction of mares and was interested in securing some daughters of Little Joe as an outcross. Kleberg went looking for daughters of Little Joe at John Dial’s ranch.
Dial, a racehorse enthusiast, sold several mares by Little Joe to Kleberg and while he was there, Dial showed him a Thoroughbred stallion. The stallion was Chicaro, who was bred in Kentucky by Harry Payne Whitney of the successful Whitney line of Thoroughbreds. Chicaro moved to the King Ranch.
Kleberg told Edward L. Bowen the following that was penned in the book ASSAULT by Eva Jolene Boyd, “The story of our getting into
the Thoroughbred game was a sidelight of the Quarter Horse business.” He went on to add that Chicaro was, “a very fine Thoroughbred horse that was a little different than any I had seen . . . he was bigger than I liked, but he had the same muscling that the Quarter Horse has.”
The ASSAULT book also tells us something about Bob Kleberg and his interest in genetics. The author explained, “When it came to upgrading livestock, Kleberg Jr. thought genetics was the way to go. He had studied genetics for two years at the University of Wisconsin and, he admitted, ‘not much of anything else. I wasn’t interested in anything else.’”
The arrival of Chicaro on the King Ranch signaled the move by Kleberg to pursue a Thoroughbred racing program. He became a common fixture at Thoroughbred sales. Kleberg went to the 1935 Elsmeade Dispersal where he bought seven fillies and mares. One of the mares was Corn Silk by Chicle, the sire of Chicaro. Morton L. Schwartz was the owner of Elsmeade and was also the breeder of Bold Venture, a Kentucky Derby winner and a stallion that came to the King Ranch.
By the mid 1940’s, Kleberg’s eye for a
horse and his interest in genetics had paid
off in his Thoroughbred program. They bred Assault, the 1946 Triple Crown winner of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. They followed that up with Middleground, winner of the 1950 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. Both Assault and Middleground were sired by Bold Venture. The King Ranch would win six Triple Crown races including two Kentucky Derbies, one Preakness Stakes and three Belmont Stakes.
During the latter part of World War II, horse racing was put on hold in the United States. Kleberg countered that by sending horses to Mexico to race. One of those horses was Depth Charge, a son of Bold Venture and the mare Quickly, the dam of the Triple Crown winner Count Fleet. Depth Charge had been purchased by the King Ranch to make a run at the Triple Crown. When he failed to show the stamina to
Also by Bold Venture, Depth Charge (pictured) became a speed specialist for King Ranch and retired to stud at their Thoroughbred Division in Kentucky. Depth Charge, the sire of four AQHA Champions – Brigand TB, Johnny Dial, Super Charge and The Haymaker, was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame in 1991.
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