Page 30 - December 2020

SPEEDLINES
by Larry Thornton
POWER FADE
2020 Speedhorse Triple Crown Paint & Appaloosa High Point Champion
The Paint filly Power Fade earned the
title of the 2020 Speedhorse Paint & Appaloosa Triple Crown Hi-Point Champion. She earned her title with two wins and a third in the race series that consists of the Speedhorse Graham Paint & Appaloosa Futurity-G1, run at Remington Park, the Speedhorse Paint & Appaloosa Futurity-G1, run at Fair Meadows Tulsa, and the Speedhorse Paint & Appaloosa Championship Futurity-G1 that is contested at Will Rogers Downs. Her Hi-Point Championship will go down in history as one of those years that gave us a near miss for a second Speedhorse Paint & Appaloosa Triple Crown Champion. Painted Turnpike, her sire, is the sole earner of the Speedhorse Paint & Appaloosa Triple Crown Champion title. Power Fade is from the first crop sired by Painted Turnpike.
Power Fade, like the other participants, began her pursuit of a title in the Speedhorse Paint & Appaloosa Triple Crown Races in the Speedhorse Graham Paint & Appaloosa Futurity-G1 on May 30. She did it with a win, becoming the only horse eligible to win the prestigious Triple Crown. She was the longest shot in the field entering the race, winless from four starts including a third in her trial to the Speedhorse Graham Paint & Appaloosa Futurity. Power Fade followed this
victory with a win in her July 11 trial to the Speedhorse Paint & Appaloosa Futurity-G1 at Fair Meadows by an impressive 2 1/4-lengths and came back to claim a first in the July 25 finals. That gave her three wins in a row and set her up to be a Triple Crown Champion.
The next race on her schedule was the
Pot O’ Gold Futurity-G1 where she qualified in the Sept. 19 trials and was fifth in the
finals. Her next start came in the Nov. 14 Speedhorse Paint & Appaloosa Championship Futurity-G1 at Will Rogers Downs, where she finished third behind MH Famous Moonshine and Mammy Jammer who finished in a dead heat for first. Power Fade was also a finalist in the PSBA Futurity-G1. Power Fade made 10 starts in 2020, earning three wins, three thirds and earnings of $95,632.
Power Fade was bred by Kelly/Yearsley Equine LLC and is owned by Lloyd Yother and J. Garvan Kelly and this makes her a home bred as J. Garvan Kelly is the Kelly
in the Kelly/Yearsley partnership. Yearsley
is Nancy Yearsley, the co-breeder. Kelly, Yearsley and Yother form the nucleus of
the Eire Stock Farms racehorse breeding program in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. As we noted, she is by Painted Turnpike and her dam is the Kelly/Yearsley home bred mare Fade Shot by Fade To Fame.
The pedigree story of Power Fade starts with J. Garvan Kelly, who immigrated from Ireland in 1958. Kelly recalled his coming to American this way, “At the time, it was very easy to come and growing up in Ireland there wasn’t a lot of opportunity in the mid 1950’s. I had relatives here in various parts and I made the decision to go and within three weeks, I had my passport and a ticket, and I was on
a Cunard Liner to New York. From there, I went to Minnesota and worked for Minnesota Mining Company. Shortly after that I decided I needed go and finish my college career.”
Kelly moved to California and attended San Jose University to complete his education and then start a successful business career. The move introduced him to the Quarter Horses.
“That’s an old story. I had an acquaintance that had a horse named Viking Copy that was
in the Los Alamitos Derby back in late 70’s early 80’s, and he persuaded me to come see his horse run in that Derby,” Garvan explained. “I thought it was fantastic. It was totally different from
what I was used to in the Steeplechasers back in Ireland. In those days, it was standing room only at Los Alamitos six nights a week. Of course, that has changed today and so has everything else in our world. That is how I first became interested.”
The interest and enthusiasm in Quarter Horse racing eventually led to horse
28 SPEEDHORSE December 2020