Page 119 - June_2023

For the third consecutive year in 1957 Go Man Go was voted World Champion Quarter Running Horse and Champion Stallion.
in the World. However, his management of the horse from that point on is questionable. He raced the horse again at age five and he managed just one win from ten starts in the Clabbertown G Handicap—with six other placings. Then at age six he was a mere shadow of his former self but managed two allowance wins from six starts.
Ferguson shunned offers from outside breeders who would have stood the horse at a first-class facility and supported him with their best mares. Instead, he kept him alongside Top Deck at his out of the way place near Wharton, Texas. He offered Go Man Go and Top Deck, each for a fee of $500, yet booked very few mares.
There was another factor at work. Being by
the Thoroughbred sire Top Deck, Go Man Go, despite all his achievements, was still just Appendix registered. And there were some powerful people, some of them owners of established stallions, who believed, or claimed to believe, that Go Man Go’s conformation would somehow harm the Quarter Racing breed. This controversy definitely retarded Go Man Go’s stallion career. Finally, a panel of judges was assigned to inspect his first crop of foals. They passed inspection and Go Man Go was given official AQHA registration.
I recall my father urging his owners to breed some mares to Go Man Go for the $500 fee and most of them expressed their doubts, saying the horse was “just a freak.”
He was a freak, all right. His first crop to reach the track had only nine runners. Of the nine, six ran AAA time and two ran AA time. One of them, Dynago Miss, won the Ruidoso Futurity, defeating Rebel Cause. And when the All American trials were concluded, Go Man Go was the sire of three of the finalists! Ferguson realized the opportunity and leased Go Man Go to E.L. Gosselin of Oklahoma City. In the lease was a $60,000 purchase option after two seasons. Although the horse’s career really began to take off when moved to Oklahoma, once again, J.B. Ferguson had set too tempting a price on Go Man Go.
The ownership saga of Go Man Go would make a book in itself. Fortunately, there is such a book, though copies of it are rare. Walt Wiggins’s Go Man Go: The Legendary Speedhorse, traces the legal trail through years of wrangling for full ownership and control of the increasingly valuable stallion. He spent a good portion of his stallion
career at Briarwood Farm, on the same land where A.B. Green initially intended to stand him, though at the time it was owned by Mel Hatley and Joe Gary. He also stood with distinction at the Vessels Stallion Farm adjacent to Los Alamitos Race Course during a time when he was owned by Frank Vessels Sr. In the end, it was Harriett Peckham who owned him and stood him at her Buena Suerte ranch in Roswell, New Mexico. His stud fee was $5,000 and he was booked full every year.
Go Man Go proved to be the greatest stallion of his time. And he did it the hard way. After
his phenomenal racing crop of 1960, he had no starters in 1961. In 1962 he had eight starters, six winners, one of them being Hustling Man, winner of the All American Futurity. In 1963 he had
two All American Futurity finalists including the winner, Goetta, who won championship honors each year she raced, including World Champion Quarter Running Horse of 1964. Another stakes winner from that crop was Go Galla Go, the dam of Rocket Wrangler, whose impact on the breed
is historic, through his son Dash For Cash. Six
of Go Man Go’s seven Champions were females.
They include Go Josie Go, Goetta, Dynago Miss, Go Derussa Go, Steam To Go and Whataway
To Go. While Go Man Go sired many brilliant racing sons, Hustling Man died while in race training and Duplicate Copy, Go Man Go’s only other Champion male had only some brief success as a stallion. There is no tail male bloodline today that leads to Go Man Go. However, his influence through his daughters is a prevalent theme in the pedigrees of many of today’s Champions.
In 1981, at age 28, Go Man Go was shipped from Roswell to nearby Ruidoso Downs to lead the post parade for the All American Futurity. Led by Dr. Leonard Blach, the old horse swelled up and pranced like a three-year-old before the great crowd, no doubt believing he could outrun the youngsters who followed him that day.
Go Man Go is buried at Ruidoso Downs, the scene of some of his greatest triumphs and of his last public appearance. His remains
are buried beneath a lengthy monument of polished red marble inscribed: GO MAN GO, THE KING
His was a story for the ages.
Speedhorse Archives
Speedhorse Archives
Above, Go Galla Go, the dam of Rocket Wrangler the sire of Dash For Cash, was from Go Man Go’s fourth crop to race of 1961.
At right, Hustling Man, winner of the All American Futurity, is from Go Man Go’s third crop to race of 1960.
In the end, it was Harriett Peckham who owned him and stood him at her Buena Suerte ranch in Roswell, New Mexico. His stud fee was $5,000 and he was booked full every year.
SPEEDHORSE June 2023 117