Page 44 - Canada Spring 2021

LOOKING BACK
Azure Te makes his first giant leap as a maternal grandsire when Hot Idea swept the 1977 All American Futurity.
ROM producers saved Azure Te from certain overproduction in the ensuing foal crop.
In 1972 Azure Te’s get continued to boost his recognition as a sire. Azuree won the Kansas Futurity Consolation. Twelve Five, an orphan filly out of Double Rose by Double Bid, won her section of the All American Futurity trials in a blistering :19.86, the second fastest qualifying time out of 179 starters. She had already run second
in the Rainbow Futurity and was in the lead in the finals when she hit a mud hole and pulled a muscle in her back taking her out of contention. She returned to the track and ran well in her three and four year old years.
Hot Kiss, owned by Burnett Estates, won her trial heat of the All American tying with 2 other horses for the ninth, tenth and eleventh fastest qualifying time. Hot Kiss had the misfortune of not shaking into the race, so actually Azure Te qualified two foals for the All American from both his first and second crop. The great horse has continued to bomb the All American with qualifiers and from 1971, when his first crop of foals raced, through the 1977 All
American and is tied with Go Man Go in producing eight All American Futurity finalists.
The popularity of Azure Te’s colts was also becoming evident in the sale ring. Seventeen lots by Azure Te averaged $14,235 in the 1972 All American Futurity Sale, the second highest average of any living sire who had more than one lot in the sale.
The syndicate was very concerned about the number of mares that
were being booked to the horse, but Jay insisted that by raising the fee to $3,500 and limiting his outside book to AAA or AAA producers or mares with a speed index of 90 or better or producers of the same, the numbers could be absorbed by the market. Of course he was right and it paid extra dividends in the many quality runners Azure Te sired. His get continued to sell well because the bottom side of his foals’ pedigrees had some bold type to go with the top side. An ad announcing Azure Te’s 1973 breeding terms came out in October of 1972 and again the syndicate was forced
to run a “Thank you – book full” ad the following month. In 1973 Azure Teen, in her second career start, won
the $147,000 Oklahoma Futurity
at La Mesa Park and added to Azure Te’s prominence as an All American sire by qualifying for that Futurity. Azure Teen, who was bred by Bud Warren, sold in the All American
Sale as a yearling for $12,600 to Dr. Richard S. Harper of San Antonio. She also added $73,600 to her earnings as a finalist in the Oklahoma Futurity. Hot Kiss was a finalist in
the All American Derby. The Honker qualified for both the West Texas Derby and Rainbow Derby. Tea Belle and Te Best made it into the Laredo and Tumbleweed Derbies respectively. Today’s Girl qualified for the Tall City Futurity while Well Built and Hot One were both finalists in the Twin Sisters Futurity.
The interesting thing at this point is that the dams of all of the outstanding horses mentioned thus far were bred to Azure Te before any of his foals had been tested on the track. One could expect better things to come as people were more willing to commit their top mares to a proven sire.
Come Six continued his winning that year in the Peninsula and Dale Robertson Stakes while The
44 SPEEDHORSE CANADA Spring 2021