Page 93 - January 2021

taught school and later worked as a coach, agriculture teacher and high school principal. Meanwhile, he and older brother Duane and
a friend, Howard Moore, spent weekends attending races at La Mesa Park in Raton. In the late ’70s, on their way out to Raton for the weekend, they decided to claim a racehorse. “We had a good idea about ranch horses but no idea about racehorses,” Jimmy admits.
They claimed the Thoroughbred Fols Ahoy, by Royal Fols and out of Hoy, by Curandero. The filly finished three years on the track with $5,453 and a 21-4-5-2 record. The winnings were enough to spur the trio on, and they continued claiming horses individually and in partnerships to run at Raton, learning as they went along. “We ran a lot of horses at Raton,” Jimmy says. Later, he adds, Duane became leading owner a time or two, and Howard ended up with Champion 3-Year-Old Colt Okey Dokey Dale and numerous winners at Ruidoso.
CAREER CHANGES
When the stock market crashed in the ’80s, Jimmy and a couple partners bought out six banks in Western Oklahoma. In addition to his horse racing venture, he still works as CEO and chairman of the board of the Bank of Western Oklahoma in Elk City, Vici, Weatherford, Cordell, Geary and Woodward.
“My father had always told me, ‘If you’re going to race horses, breed the best sire to the best mare; don’t halfway do it,’” Jimmy relates. “So,
Marilyn & Jimmy Harrel and their daughter Keela and her husband David Terry.
when I went to running horses for real, the first thing I looked at was pedigree. Then, I looked at individuals. I was always looking for a bargain that had the bloodlines I wanted.”
Tips from his trainers — Max Bastion at Raton, then Jack Brooks, and finally Paul Jones after Jack retired — helped him up his game. “I might not have won a lot of big races early on, but gradually as we came along, we got
to buying a little more quality along with the breeding,” he says. “It was a gradual process to get to having pretty good horses.”
Jimmy also took advice from Stuart Barringer, who has sought and bought horses
for clients for the last 62 years. “As we got to buying a little better horse, Stuart would check their conformation,” Jimmy says. “He was at horse sales 200 and some days a year and he was a good horseman. Every once in a while, I’d have him step over and look at one that I was wanting to buy and as time went on, it got to where he would just come to the sales and walk through the horses with me. He has a tremendous eye
for soundness. We worked those sales for a long time, and he has been a good resource.”
Stuart says he met Jimmy about 30 years ago at a California sale. “Jimmy has been a dear friend for 25 years now. He’s a good man and his wife, Marilyn, is an absolute doll.
“He’s a straight shooter and if he tells you it’s Easter, just dye your eggs; it’ll be that-a way!” Stuart adds. “He wants the truth and will make his decisions from there.”
A SNAPSHOT of the Harrels’ Honors
In addition to his career in the banking industry and his passion for the racing industry, Jimmy has also been honored as:
• Oklahoma Agriculture Hall of Fame
inductee, 2019
• Board member, Oklahoma Youth Expo
• Owner of Separate Bet: Quarter Horse
of the Meet at Remington Park
• Owner of Inseperable: Quarter Horse
of the Meet at Ruidoso Downs, AQHA Champion 3 Year Old and Champion 3-Year-Old Colt, 2009
• Member, Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor’s Business Advisory Council
• Member and Chairman of the Board, Oklahoma Wildlife Commission
• Member and Chairman of the Board, State Board of Agriculture
• Member and past Chairman of the Board of Regents for Oklahoma A&M Colleges
• Member and Chairman of the Board of Regents of Oklahoma Higher Education
• Oklahoma State University Outstanding Animal Science Alumnus
• Member of Ag Leadership Team to Mexico
• VIP Award, Oklahoma FFA Association
(Jimmy and Marilyn)
• State and National FFA Business
Man of the Year
• Honorary FFA degree, Oklahoma
FFA Association
• Honorary FFA degrees from Leedey,
Elk City, Geary, Cordell, Merritt,
Canute and Taloga FFA chapters
• Oklahoma 4-H Outstanding Alumnus
• Dewey County, Oklahoma, Hall of
Fame inductee
• Member of local and Dewey
County Fair boards
• Dewey County Farm Bureau
Family of the Year
• Oklahoma Youth Expo Show honoree
SPEEDHORSE January 2021 91
FAMILY CIRCLE
“My father had always told me, ‘If you’re going to race horses, breed the best sire to the best mare; don’t halfway do it.’”
- Jimmy Harrell