Page 80 - September 2022

1961 All Amer
AQHA Hall of Fame horse Sugar Bars.
Immediately after our embarrassing one-win
summer at Ruidoso Downs in 1960, Dad was able to salvage the season
by winning the Rocky Mountain Quarter
Horse Futurity in Denver with a filly owned by one of
his main clients at the time, Bud Warren. The filly’s name was Sugarcita and she was one
of the few offspring of Sugar Bars, who accomplished much as a runner. Sugar Bars was by
Three Bars and out of a good Leo mare, so he was gorgeous, but he hadn’t done much
on the racetrack himself.
Nonetheless, Bud promoted him tirelessly as the future
replacement for Leo, who had turned 21 that year and was near
the end of his days.
If I recall correctly, the 1960
crop was Sugar Bars’ first to hit the racetracks so the pressure
was on Dad and whoever else had any Sugar Bars offspring for Bud
Warren. At that time, Dad probably hadn’t heard of today’s business concept of “expectation management” but he was a natural at it. That’s not to say he was delicate about it. In fact, he could be pretty blunt about it, especially if the owner to whom he was speaking continued to insist on the merits of the racing prospect in question. I heard my share of those discussions, occasionally in person but usually by hearing Dad’s
end of the telephone conversation.
They usually went like this: OWNER
perfunctory greeting: “Well, Ted, how’s that colt out of (family’s favorite mare) doing? Is he a sure enough runner? We’ve always known he would be.”
TED: “He still
hasn’t shown me much.”
OWNER: “Why hell, it’s
getting close to time for another futurity payment! He ought to be almost ready to run! Surely, he’s showed enough by now! His mama was already winning races by this time!
TED: “Well, he’s not his mama.”
OWNER: “Well that stud horse I bred her to is a mighty nice horse, too. He was Grand Champion at Fort Worth and he showed he could run some, too. He won a couple of races. And this colt looks just like him!”
TED: “He does look like a show horse, all right. And he’s pretty quick for a few jumps out of the gate, but he doesn’t stride very far. Or very fast.”
OWNER: (Long silence) .... “Well, I was talking to (another trainer) and he’s got two colts by that same stud horse, and he says they’re both sure enough runners.”
TED: “Well, this one isn’t. He’s just about average at his best. Maybe you ought to take him and give him to (the other trainer) and see if he can get some run out of him. But I sure wouldn’t make another futurity payment on him if I was you. I told you that the last time.”
78 SPEEDHORSE September 2022
by Scott Wells
Speedhorse Archives