Page 28 - 20 July 2012

UPdATe:
After his promising debut as a freshman sire in 1984, Casady Casanova went on
to have a productive career in the breed- ing shed. Easy Austin, his top runner in 1984, remained his leading money earner throughout Casady Casanova’s lifetime, with $693,850 in earnings. Easy Austin was also Casady Casanova’s lone AQHA Champion, honored in 1985 with the Champion 3-Year-Old Gelding award. All told, Casady Casanova sired the earners of $6,786,118, which may have fallen short of the industry’s lofty ambitions for him back in 1984, but kept him on the all-time lead- ing sires list for many, many years. Some
of his other top runners included Classy Casanova, a Grade 2 stakes winner of more than $200,000, and Grade 2 stakes winner Casady King si 108.
Through 20 registered crops, Casady Casanova sired 1,130 registered foals. Of those, 786 were starters that made 9,962 starts. He sired 478 winners (1,427 wins), 47 stakes winners (74 stakes wins), and 48 stakes-placers. Of his 786 starters, 537 earned their Register of Merit, 27 were Superior Racehorses, and seven were Regional Champions.
Daughters of Casady Casanova have pro- duced 32 stakes winners including champi- ons Speedy Empress si 104 ($494,716), The Cashanova si 104 ($259,102), and WR Red Ace si 105 ($313,416).
Exemplifying the versatility of the American Quarter Horse, Casady Casanova was also known as a sire of performance horses, and remains popular in the pedi- grees of modern-day barrel racers. Lance Graves’ 2007 BFA World Champion Miss Fortune Fool is out of a Casady Casanova mare. Miss Fortune Fool set a record high price for a barrel horse sold in Brazil when she brought $365,000 (U.S.) at a sale in
Sao Paolo in 2010. The 2008 BFA Futurity Horse of the Year and 2009 BFA Derby Champion, Gay Bar Casanova, is out of
a granddaughter of Casady Casanova,
and five-time NBHA World Show Senior Division Champion What A Sharp Chick is sired by a son of Casady Casanova.
Horses sired by Casady Casanova have earned 452.5 AQHA performance points and earned money in events recognized by the National Snaffle Bit Association and the Ranch Horse Association of America.
Casady Casanova passed away in 2001.
Go Go by Go Man Go and out of Twayna. The future of this colt bears watching. Easy Kojak is 5x4x4x5x5 linebred to Top Deck.
Merrill thinks that much of Yeager’s Lady J A’s success is due to her daughters Twayna and FL Lady Bug. This female family is responsible for “great runners” that have “early quickness, a great amount of speed away from the gate and a lot of sense.” Merrill sees these traits in Casady Casanova and as the key to some of his success as a sire.
It was this quickness and determination that caused Casady Casanova’s foot problems. Merrill described it as his “legs running faster than his body.” He literally tore his feet up trying to get away from the gate. Merrill feels Casady Casanova’s ability “to put that early speed away from the gate and to carry it on through the end of the race” as a valuable asset for this young sire. Merrill goes on to add that jockey Jerry Nicodemus called Sure Casady “the fastest horse away from the gate he’s seen.” Jockey Kenneth Hart has made similar state- ments about Casanova Kate’s ability out of the gate and Merrill feels the same is true of Easy Austin. Merrill stresses this aspect of Casady Casanova’s siring ability because most Quarter Horse races are won or lost out of the gate.
Easy Austin’s recent upset of Eastex in the Golden State Futurity focuses in on his ability away from the gate. After Easy Austin’s stakes victory, jockey Kenneth Hart was quoted saying that “the gelding just beat the doors open.” Easy Austin apparently combined his quick start with the speed through the race to set a stakes record :19.79 for the 400 yard race. He then came back to win the $265,000 El Primero Del Ano Derby Grade 1. Justly, Easy Austin was voted the best 3-year-old and best 3-year-old colt or gelding during the 13th Annual HQHRA season.
Merrill sums up his feelings in this manner: “Casady is a great mix of solid sensible horse with a great amount of speed, a tremendous siring ability that can pass that early quickness on to his foals but yet he has all the style and class of a modern speed bred horse.”
On September 24, 1965, Top Deck died from a kidney ailment. In 1967 Bob Gray wrote, that “Top Deck died at the pinnacle
of his success.” (Horseman, December 1967). Little does Gray’s statement realize the full impact of this great sire—the sire that was almost overlooked because of his south Texas location and his lack of quarter type confor- mation. Top Deck’s descendants, like Casady Casanova, are carrying on through breeding to his sire line and through successful linebreed- ing to this great sire. Casady Casanova thus combines the line-breeding of Top Deck with the foundation Quarter Horse breeding of Yeager’s Lady J A to produce today’s “modern speed bred horse.”
26 SPEEDHORSE, July 20, 2012
Casady Casanova.
speedhorse Files