Page 83 - March 2020

“Jeff is dedicated and wants to breed the very best. He doesn’t want to go to the racetrack with something that’s just
average.” - John Diediker
HIS HOME SWEET HOME
Along with his racing operation, Jeff breeds French bulldogs and miniature golden doodles, and also helps a local veterinarian, Boyd Mills, at Durant Animal Hospital.
Since moving to Oklahoma, Jeff has incorporated everything he loves on his 70 acres. “I don’t have to go anywhere to enjoy myself,” he says. “My friends are like, ‘You’ve never been on a cruise or done this or that,’ but that’s not really what I care about. There may come a day when I’m old and feeble and think, Shoot, I should’ve done this or that, but I don’t really think so.”
He admits he’s his own boss for a reason. “I do everything here on the farm myself; I don’t have any help, just because I’m too dang particular and nobody could do it to suit me!” he says. “I’m a micromanager; I’ll own it.”
Nearing official “retirement age,” Jeff doesn’t know how long he’ll remain in the racing industry, but, he says, “I do know that when I quit, I want to go out with a
bang, and so I’m trying to breed horses as well as I can and hopefully get some very, very nice horses. You just never know what tomorrow’s going to bring, so you’d better do your best at whatever you do.”
“Jeff is dedicated and wants to breed the very best,” John Diediker adds. “He doesn’t want to go to the racetrack with something that’s just average. He took over where Gene Miles and those big breeders were years ago; Appaloosa racing kind of went downhill after those “big boys” got out of it, but Jeff has picked it back up again and will be on top for years to come. If anyone outruns him, they’re going to have to really breed well because he’s breeding the best he can.”
“It’s very tough to win races now,” Jeff explains. “You’ve got a gate full of horses and everyone is wanting the exact same thing, so you’d better have bred that baby as well as
you could have, and then you still just have to hope for the best. I’m very blessed to have had it happen for me.”
Jeff received 13 trophys from the Appaloosa Horse Club and the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission at the 2019 Oklahoma Quarter Horse Racing Association Annual Awards Ceremony!
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