Page 103 - May 2018 Speedhorse

Talent Bar won four AAA races on four consecutive weekends at Centennial Race Track as a three year old, beginning with this 350-yard win on Sept. 24, 1966.
any law saying that a winner-to-be had to stay in the biggest stall on the grounds. It wasn’t where a horse was stalled before the race; it was what he did when the gates opened that counted. Chapman rolled out his bed roll and slept right there with Talent.
James finally got him in a race the weekend following the 4th of July. It was winners preferred, but no one paid much attention to Talent’s wins at Sonora or Uvalde. He was a long shot and paid $44.90 to win. P.C., not much of a betting man, didn’t put any money on him. He grins, “I did good just to get him there.”
Well, the horse certainly paid off for those who did bet on him! He ran the 350 yards in 18 flat, equaling the fastest time that distance was run at Ruidoso all summer, and that was by the speedy Goetta. P.C. breathed a sigh of relief. They might be newcomers, but they weren’t out-classed!
In the Rainbow trials, Talent Bar was to prove that his previous race hadn’t been a fluke. Little Bar Olene nipped him right at the wire, but he was learning. In the futurity, he left the gate good and led all the way to the finish line. Little Bar Olene finished second. This was the first major win for the young jockey riding Talent. His name was Johnny Cox. The trophy and blanket were presented and the win photo made. P.C. was headed off down the track with his new blanket tucked under his arm, thinking about what he’d get out of the $88,552-purse,
when the inquiry sign flashed on the board. P.C. told James, “I don’t think they could have called it on us because we were in front all the way, but I’ll tell you one thing! . . . they’ll never get this blanket from me!”
The inquiry was disallowed. The Perner crowd was a happy bunch that day. Chapman got his fourth of the winnings; Paul made a fourth on his investment, and P.C. and Peggy got half the pot. James cooled Talent out, and he and P.C. got their heads together. They had until midnight to make the final deadline for the All American. That night they went back to the barn to check on Talent Bar, and the colt was just fine, so the decision was made. Perner found Liz Devine and paid the $13,000 late payment for the big futurity.
But daylight told a different story. By morning, Talent couldn’t walk out of his stall. He had a bone chip in his knee. The vet was called, and it showed in an x-ray. And that
took care of the All American dream as well as $13,000. The doctor suggested that they take the horse home and turn him out for the winter, so that’s what they did. Given a little time, the problem might take care of itself. James Hunt agreed to stand him during breeding season. They bred him to a limited number of mares, and his first foal crop consisted of six or eight foals. One of these foals was to prove that Talent Bar had the talent for passing his running ability along to his get. Fred Barrett bred his good
Top Deck mare, My Deck out of his old My Question mare, to the young stallion. The result was My Talent. As P.C. says, “He was one fine animal. You don’t need but one like that to help your reputation.”
After breeding season, Chapman put Talent Bar back in training in Ruidoso, but the horse didn’t really get going until that fall. The season was over in New Mexico, so Wilbur Stutchel took him on to the Denver meet, where he won four AAA races on four consecutive weekends. He had on his running shoes, and he was tough (he won an additional race at Uvalde for five consecutive victories, and then finished second in the Winter Garden Derby at that track). With that, Perner brought him home and retired him from the race track. He changed back to a ranch horse and did his share of the work. P.C. says, “I’m a stud horse man myself. Most trainers hate them. They’d whole lot rather have a gelding or a filly, and I don’t blame them. Studs are harder to handle, but I’ve ridden every stallion that we’ve had and used them, and I like them. They’re just a little more horse. I’ve never broken a mare in my life.”
Pam was married to Herschel Upton, and when she was in Ozona, she’d ride Talent. Breeding season came around, and P.C. stood him at the ranch. He bred him to all of his mares and a good quota of outside mares. It was 1967, and that summer, Pam talked her dad into letting her make a barrel horse out of
SPEEDHORSE, May 2018 101
LOOKING BACK - AN EXCERPT FROM JANUARY 1974 ISSUE
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