Page 93 - July 2022

Mr Kid Charge winning the 1971 All American Futurity-G1 at Ruidoso Downs.
by Bob’s Folly (:21.9–1956), then lowered successively by Go Man Go (:21.8–1956), Pokey Bar (:21.7–1962), Jet Deck (:21.49– 1963), Some Kinda Man (:21.47–1973) and Come Six (:21.46–1973). My apologies if I missed any horses which belong on the list. The main point is that in a period of 33 years, the record had been lowered by about half a second.
All the above is just context for the real story I want to share. It happened at Ruidoso Downs on an August afternoon in 1973. The feature race was the World’s Championship Quarter Horse Classic and the field of horses assembled was, up to that time, the most accomplished group of running Quarter Horses ever to
face each other on that historic oval. The All American Futurity winner of 1971, Mr Kid Charge, faced the All American Futurity winner of 1972, Possumjet, as well the great Champion Gelding Chicory Moon and a gate full others of the highest class.
I had seen just enough of Truckle Feature
to focus my attention on him. He had been nothing less than dominant in his prior races and had set a sizzling Track Record for 400 yards at Sunland Park. I thought that if he got away from the gate well it would be his race to win. His jockey, Willie Lovell, was best known as a Thoroughbred rider, but had ridden plenty of top Quarter Horses as well, including the great Easy Jet to a victory in the 1969 All American Futurity. So, he knew all about quick starts. Or at least he thought he did.
They loaded the horses into the starting gate in consecutive fashion back then, instead of the more equitable 1-6, 2-7, 3-8, 4-9 and 5-10 system we use today. That meant that the inside horses had to wait in the starting gate a lot longer than the other horses to the outside
Possumjet and her winning connections after winning the 1972 All American Futurity-G1 at Ruidoso Downs.
of them, giving the advantage to the outside couple of spots. Those horses would have just enough time in the gate to set their feet and not much time to do anything else—like flip in the gate.
Truckle Feature had drawn number 2—far from the outside post his connections had wanted. He had been known to act up in the gate and the long wait would only give him more time to do so.
Once the outside horse was loaded, there was another long wait while some of the horses acted up. I could see Truckle Feature wallow around in his stall a bit, but I wouldn’t know until later how Willie Lovell was feeling about it.
When the starter finally did press the button, the hulking form of Truckle Feature burst into view as if he had broken through on his own. Possumjet and Chicory Moon were famous
for their quick starts but on that day Truckle Feature had them by daylight before they had gone five strides. He looked to be 2-lengths in front when they crossed onto the main track, and from there to the finish, he became the perfect picture of power and efficiency. At about
the site of the old paddock, 150 yards from the wire, Lovell threw another cross in his reins, taking an even tighter hold. It seemed to just launch the great horse’s strides even farther until he blasted past the finish line and galloped off around the turn as if he could have gone around again with that same stride. It was dazzling.
The crowd was thunderstruck. Experienced racing fans knew they had seen something they had never seen before. Everyone was eager to see the race time. Thousands of eyes glanced toward the infield flags, which hung motionless. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, officials were scrambling to deal with the situation properly. First the stewards verified the start to make sure Truckle Feature hadn’t forced the gate open himself, gaining an advantage. They also made sure that the starting gate had been placed at the exact correct point. It all checked out. All the gates had opened simultaneously from the 440-yard mark. Meanwhile they called down
to the finish line where two officials, racing secretary Tom Dawson and placing judge Leonard Martinez, had waited in the winner’s circle with electronic stopwatches to hand time
SPEEDHORSE July 2022 91
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