Page 95 - May 2018 Speedhorse

record, which is there for everybody to see, I don’t think it would be taking away from the horse to say that he came along at a time on the Cross J when one era was ending and another was beginning. He was on the bridge between AQHA pioneering and the beginning of AQHA sophisticated progress. I do believe that is one of the reasons Ron has always been so crazy about Bill Doolin. He lived on the cusp of it all, and he lived in grand style.
“I’ve never mixed into Ron’s horse business too much, but I can’t help making observations from time to time. Today, horses are being bought and sold and syndicated for millions. Fine. I do hope the day never comes when the objective of money, quick depreciation and long gains become the goals rather than taking the blood of the horses and using it well. A horse can be sold in a minute, if the terms are right. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to get the best from the blood.”
Some of the stallions that succeeded Star and Beggar in the Cross J stud were Starway, Bill Doolin, Beggar Sam and Millstream Star. Some of the Thoroughbreds were Catwalk, Busy Deck, Sun Pharos, Don Peppino, Maskillo, Beggar’s Lad, Swift Abbey, Ginger Brown and Sea Dog.
A few Cross J horses that made heads turn by their outstanding performances during the heyday of the Cross J were the record-setter War Star, Sizzler, Red Beggar, and Pokie Star – all of them members of the speed horse clan.
Some of the dust-slinging rodeo aces were Baldy Boy, Buster, Croppy, Strychnine, Songster and Nickels, and of course, Old Baldy.
Pharo’s Deal, also bred by Mason, was champion polo pony two years in a row.
During the mid 1950’s, a package of eight Cross J Thoroughbred youngsters were sold to Mexican buyers, including: My Distance (Don Peppino-Masked Love); Sun Love (Sun Pharos- Busy Love); Mydeck (Busy Deck-Catty Talk by Catwalk out of Haw Haw by Beggar Boy); and also in the package – Don’s Love, Sun Mask, Sand Pep, and Donna M.
All were consistent winners in Mexico City. The list of greats goes on and on.
Interviews that led to this story took place in
the Mason home in Nowata. Ron Mason enjoys sharing sparkling burgundy with guests before dinner, and on those occasions the subject is still horses, but it evolves in a relaxed manner.
“In 1967, when I was just a youngster of 77, I decided to sell the Cross J. My daughters were happily married, with lives of their own – women can’t run a ranch anyway. My sons had decided they didn’t want to be ranchers, so I held some dispersals and sold out.
“Monett and I bought our house here on the hill behind the golf course in Nowata. The Cross J’s only a few miles away. Monett takes people out to see it every once in a while. I’ve never gone back, never intend to. Last time I looked at it, it was mine. Now it isn’t. I won’t go back.
“Eventually I sold all my Quarter Horses, but I always kept Thoroughbreds around. I had a great belief in my Quarter Horses, and I respect the breed, but I’m a Thoroughbred man at heart.
“Speed is speed. It can be directed by trainers if they’re good, but speed is speed. It has got to be there. Intelligence has got to be there. The balance of bones has got to be there. You can still take all of that and put it together and come up missing. You never know how it’s going to turn out.
“They talk about courage, spirit, the will to win, guts – they’ve got a thousand names for it. I don’t have any, but I know quality when I see it. Whatever it is was in Discovery, if you want an example from Thoroughbreds. Whatever
it is was in Bill Doolin, if you’re talking
Quarter Horse. Each one excelled himself, then sired excelling offspring and became sires of broodmares that produced offspring with the same quality. I’m not picking these two as the only two, I’m just using them as examples. They did it all. When a horse does it all, he passes from the category of good to great.
“All I know is that if horses are in your blood, they won’t go away, and they’ll never let you go either. Here I am pushing ninety-one, and I’m beginning to believe what the old saying says – a stallion owner can’t afford to die, he’s always got at least three years to go to see what the next crop is.
“I’ve got a mare at Tackett’s right now. Precious Gold. I’d never let her go. She’s representative of too many Thoroughbred bloodlines I cater to.
“She’s by one of the Thoroughbreds I had – Sea Dog by the imported Turn-To out of the imported Sea Dream by Hyperion.
Bill Doolin, shown winning at 330 yards in 1947 at Tulsa, Oklahoma, came to the Cross J when one era was ending and another beginning. Bill Doolin was by Chicaro Bill and out of Little Peach by Beggar Boy TB. Little Peach is out of Peaches 1 by Oklahoma Star.
Bill Doolin went on to stand at the Cross J.
SPEEDHORSE, May 2018 93
LOOKING BACK - AN EXCERPT FROM JULY 1981 ISSUE
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