Page 30 - July 2022

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
A look at stallions with first-crop yearlings of 2022
by Michael Compton
Fast starts are imperative to the success of an American Quarter Horse on the racetrack. The same can be said of young stallions just beginning their careers at stud. The following stallions are looking to leave the blocks early this season with their initial crop of yearlings being introduced to the market in the coming weeks.
How the respective first yearlings by Flying Cowboy 123, Hawkeye, One Famous Icon,
Rip Tide, and Tarzanito are received by horsemen at the upcoming yearling sales can go a long way in determining the types of opportunities ahead for their progeny. Our annual preview of stallions with first-crop yearlings includes brief snapshots of each stallion as advertised in the 2022 Speedhorse Stallion Register statistical pages.
FLYING COWBOY 123
(Apollitical Jess-Hot Cash 123,
Takin On The Cash)
Stood at Bob Moore Farms and is being relocated to Granada Farms
2022 fee: $5,500
A son of the perennial leading sire Apollitical Jess and a half-brother to the World Champion Cold Cash 123, Flying Cowboy 123 owns plenty of achievements standing on his own. The precocious racehorse was a dual champion, having earned the titles of American Quarter Horse Association’s Champion Two-Year-Old Colt of 2018 and Champion Three-Year-Old Colt of 2019.
Flying Cowboy 123 won the Texas Classic Futurity-G1 and the Texas Classic Derby-G1 and placed in the All American Derby-G1 and the Rainbow Futurity-G1 en route to career earnings of $1,045,811. His dam, Hot Cash 123, was unplaced in her racing career, but
she has more than made up for a lack of racing accomplishments in the breeding shed. She is the dam of 8 winners from 15 starters, including World Champion Cold Cash 123 and APHA World Champion I Do One Two Three.
It was announced in May that Flying Cowboy 123, who is owned by Paragon Farms, will be relocating to Granada Farms in Texas, for the upcoming breeding season. He stood his first three seasons at Bob Moore Farms where he was offered to breeders for $5,500 in 2022.
“I’m super excited about his yearlings,” said Granada Farms’ Jimmy Eller. “They are very racy looking with a lot of eye appeal. Some of the best breeders in the country had bred to him and I have seen some of those babies, and they are outstanding. I expect them to sell very well.”
On Flying Cowboy 123 being relocated to Granada Farms, Eller shared, “It will probably
be September before he gets here. We’re as excited as we can be to have him.”
On the importance of a first-crop stallion getting off to a fast start at the yearling sales, Eller said, “I think it’s a great indication when people like a set of yearlings by a particular sire, and they pay good money for them. You can expect those babies to be in good hands with good trainers. I think it is extremely important that they are well received.”
HAWKEYE
(One Dashing Eagle-No Fees, Runaway Winner)
Stands at Granada Farms 2022 fee: $1,500
Grade 2 winner Hawkeye won or placed
in 8 races during his career, banking $195,690 for his owner/breeder Bobby Cox. He captured the Sam Houston Classic-G2, the Harris County Classic, and was runner-up in the Bank of America Canterbury Park Championship Challenge. The flashy gray was also a finalist
in the All American Futurity-G1, the Rainbow Derby-G1, and the James Isaac Hobbs Stakes-G3 in his impressive career.
A son of World Champion One Dashing Eagle, Hawkeye is produced from the stakes- winning Runaway Winner mare No Fees. The dam of 17 winners, No Fees is the grandam of World Champion Whistle Stop Cafe, as well as graded stakes winners Inspyre, So Rapido, and Marfilmio. His second dam is Grade 1 producer Feefees Celebration, a half-sister to Champion Brimmerton and Grade 1 winner Gone Celebrating.
“I’m real excited about his yearlings,” said Jimmy Eller. “There are going to be quite a few of them sold. We bred a full book of mares to him each year we’ve had him, so there is going to be good representation out there. I know
there have been some excellent mares bred to him, including Bobby Cox’s mares. I expect him to be well represented, and I think they (yearlings) will sell well this year.
“He is stamping them,” Eller continued. “The majority of them are gray like he is. They have a lot of mass to them; they are good-boned, good-legged with great hips and shoulders.”
Hawkeye stood the 2022 season for $1,500 at Granada Farms in Wheelock, Texas.
ONE FAMOUS ICON
(Mr Jess Perry-One Famous Lady, Chicks Beduino)
Stands at Copper Ridge Equine 2022 fee: $2,000
One Famous Icon came just a 1/2-length away from becoming a stakes winner at two, just missing in the AQRA Spring Fling Futurity at Turf Paradise. The sorrel colt moved forward the following season at three, capturing the AQRA Turf Paradise Open Derby at Turf Paradise, defeating Cartel Rocks and Lady Perry in the 400-yard fixture and establishing a New Track Record of :19.484. Also at three, He finished third in the AQRA President’s Fall Derby and concluded his sophomore campaign with a record of 9-4-1-1.
By Champion Mr Jess Perry, One Famous Icon is out of the classy Chicks Beduino mare One Famous Lady, a stakes-placed earner of $172,515 during her racing career. She is the dam of 11 winners from 19 starters, including the likes of Champion 3-Year-Old Colt One Famous Eagle, a full brother to One Famous Icon, and stakes winner Famous Cartel Lady.
“They are a lot like their sire,” Copper Ridge Equine’s Justin McCormick DVM, said of the first yearlings by One Famous Icon. “They are big boned; he puts some chrome on them, and they are pretty flashy.
28 SPEEDHORSE July 2022