Page 40 - Canada Spring 2021

LOOKING BACK
Shapiro, but was unsuccessful. Later Jay called Reggie Cornell, a friend and trainer at Hollywood Park, and asked if he knew Shapiro. Cornell did and agreed to contact him on behalf of Pumphrey. Time passed without any word until finally that fall Ted received a flyer announcing that Azure Te would be selling in the Fall Thoroughbred Sale at Pomona, California. He tried unsuccessfully
to reach Jay who was shipping cattle at one of the ranches. Jay returned
to learn that Ted had talked to J. R. Cates, for whom Ted stood Savannah Jr., about putting together a group
of breeders to buy Azure Te and
that Cates had offered to buy all the horse and let Ted stand him. Jay felt that the important thing was for
the horse to be made available to Quarter Horse mares, providing his conformation matched his racing record and pedigree, and told Ted to proceed with Cates and The Burnett Ranches and he would surely send some mares to the horse. As a result, Jay did not attend the sale and Azure Te was struck down at $45,000 to another buyer.
Ted and Jay, regretful of losing the horse, rehashed the sale. Apparently the Cateses, after discussing Azure Te with other breeders at the sale, felt the horse could be bought very cheaply and consequently set their sights too low. Even so Ted felt
the horse was a steal and in fact questioned whether Azure Te even sold. Though they had abandoned their pursuit of the horse it took about two weeks for Jay’s curiosity to tap his consciousness and stir him to call Tom Caldwell, the manager of the sale. Azure Te had sold, but Caldwell told Jay he was surprised at
Azure Te wins at Hollywood Park.
the buyer and agreed to contact him to see if the horse could be bought. Again, time passed and no word.
Jay tracked Caldwell down at the Tattersalls sale in Kentucky to reaffirm his seriousness about buying Azure Te. He and Ted planned to attend the California Midwinter Sale and hoped some arrangement could be made by then. Word finally came back from Caldwell that Mr. G. G. Jamieson, Azure Te’s new owner, would be in Australia, but that he had arranged for his ranch manager, “Deacon” Hobbs, and veterinarian, Dr. Bill Linfoot, to show the horse. They would have the authority to act on Mr. Jamieson’s behalf, but Caldwell was not encouraging about the prospects of making any deal.
In California Jay and Ted met with Tom Caldwell and his partner Vic Heerman, who is as good a student of Thoroughbred pedigrees as anyone on the West Coast. Caldwell and Heerman agreed that Azure Te’s sire, Nashville, was, at the time, the outstanding Thoroughbred sire in California, particularly for
the type of horse Pumphrey was
seeking. The following day Ted
and Jay drove to Desi Arnaz’s ranch and found Nashville to be every
bit the horse they had imagined.
He was a stakes winner of $90,895 and a sire of stakes winners. He
was a very fast horse from a line of fast horses, *Nasrullah by Nearco. The *Nasrullah line produced such outstanding horses as Indian Hemp, Zip Pocket, Bold Ruler, What Luck and Fleet Nasrullah. Jay and Ted were further impressed by the fact that, as a two year old, Nashville had outrun Bold Ruler at six furlongs by 1 1/4 lengths at Belmont. Anxious to pursue the purpose of their trip, they passed up a chance to look at Azure Te’s mother, Blue One, but Jay saw her two years later at Flag Is Up Farms and, although she was a Thoroughbred, she appeared to Jay to be “a grand big Quarter mare.”
The following day Ted and Jay caught a plane to Oakland, rented a car and on a cool December morning drove into Rancho Del Charro at Pleasanton. They were greeted by Hobbs and Dr. Linfoot and after exchanging amenities Jay
40 SPEEDHORSE CANADA Spring 2021