Page 26 - September 2015

In the winner’s circle after Savannah Jr won the 1965 All American Futurity are, from left, trainer Ted Wells, Jr., jockey Jack Wallace, Jr., and co-owner R.E. Cates
“. . . I thought it
was just because
he was young
and green, but it
turned out to be
his disposition, too.
He was a pretty
mean horse,” said
trainer Ted Wells of
Savannah Jr.
$135,266. He would also sire two AQHA Supreme Champions in Sir Savannah and Savannah Tiger. The daughters of Savannah Jr would produce foals that earned $3,941,017 with 306 racing ROM with 27 stakes winners and 35 stakes placed runners, including 1983 Champion Two-Year-Old Gelding Face In The Crowd ($616,197).
The influence of Savannah Jr found its way into the 2014 racing scene with the AQHA Racing World Champion JRC Callas First. This gelding won five stakes in 2014, including the Refrigerator Handicap-G1 and the Zia Park Championship-G1. The third dam of JRC Callas First is Savannah Lynn by Savannah Jr.
record gave him the title of the AQHA Racing Champion Two-Year-Old Colt for 1965.
The racing career of Savannah Jr would continue at three. He would win the Ruidoso Championship and finish third in the Rainbow Derby. He would be named the 1966 AQHA Racing Champion Three-Year-Old Colt.
Rapid Volley would finish the year as the AQHA Racing Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. Cee Bar Deck would be the AQHA Racing Champion Two-Year-Old Gelding and he would come back at three to be the AQHA Racing Champion Three-Year-Old Gelding and the AQHA Racing Champion Gelding.
Four Forty Queen went on to be a great
producer for her breeder Spencer Childers. She
is the dam of horses like Sir Rambler and Lady Winsmore. Sir Rambler is found in the pedigrees of horses like World Champion Be A Bono. Lady Winsmore is the dam of the AQHA Racing Champion Three-Year-Old Filly Black Sable, who is the second dam of the AQHA Racing Champion Two-Year-Old Gelding Uncas.
Savannah Jr retired from the track with Ted Wells handling his breeding career at the Wells Ranch in Oklahoma. He would sire 430 foals in 15 crops, and the winners of $1,764,739 with 166 racing ROM, 18 stakes winners and 25 stakes placed foals. His leading money winner was Savannah Lark with earnings of
Bugs Alive In 75 wins the 1975 All American Futurity
Bugs Alive In 75 was another homebred
colt to win the All American Futurity-G1. His breeder was Ralph Shebester of Wynnewood, Oklahoma. Shebester was an oilman who was dedicated to Quarter Horse racing. He was
the one time owner of Blue Ribbon Downs. Shebester’s dream, like many, was to win the All American Futurity and he bred Bugs Alive In 75 with that goal in mind.
The trainer for Bugs Alive In 75 was J. B. Montgomery and Jerry Burgess was the jockey. The sire of Bugs Alive In 75 was Top Moon and his dam was Ralph’s Lady Bug by Jack’s Jet. Ralph’s Lady Bug was out of Lady Bug Leo, a daughter of the great mare FL Lady Bug.
The Ruidoso Downs Triple Crown for two- year-olds in 1975 was an adventure with an interesting group of two year olds. The Ruidoso back side was home to Dash For Cash, Chick’s Deck, Chick Called Sue, Rocket’s Magic and
Bugs Alive In 75. The first two legs of the Triple Crown had been won by Chick’s Deck in the Kansas Futurity, with Bugs Alive In 75 running second, and Chick Called Sue winning the Rainbow Futurity, with Bugs Alive In 75 coming in second. The legendary Dash For Cash had skipped these two races to get ready for the All American Futurity.
Bugs Alive In 75 finishing second behind Chick’s Deck and Chick Called Sue was a disappointment for Ralph Shebester. Bugs Alive In 75 had been bred to win the All American Futurity and he was expected to win races. He had done just that as the winner of the West Texas Futurity at Sunland Park, but he had failed to win a race in the first two legs of the Ruidoso Triple Crown.
The All American Futurity won by Three Oh’s in 1968 is a great example of the credentials Bugs Alive In 75 carried to be a potential winner of this great race. His sire Top Moon and the F L Lady
Bug family had a lot of success in the race where Ralph’s Lady Bug had finished fourth. Top Moon was the sire of Lady Bug’s Moon and Top Bug, who were second and third respectively in Three Oh’s All American. Lady Bug’s Moon was out of F L Lady Bug and Top Bug was a granddaughter of F L Lady Bug. This gave the descendants of F L Lady Bug four of the top five places in the race.
Ralph and his wife Betty had tried two other times to win the All American and had finished fourth both times, once with Ralph’s Lady Bug under Ralphs name and once with Chicory Moon under Bettys name. But, the dilemma was that Bugs Alive In 75 had finished second in the first two legs of the Ruidoso Triple Crown. The reason behind the seconds was that Bugs Alive In 75 was such a powerful horse that he would lose his footing and, thus, lose control. His trainer J. B. Montgomery explained it this way to Jim Jennings in the article “Bugs Alive
24 SPEEDHORSE, September 2015
speedlines