Page 93 - Speedhorse April 2021

Kirk’s father Robert and Uncle Bruce with Velox Bar.
With several other horsemen, they co-founded the
Heritage Place Sales Company in Oklahoma City
THE FAMILY ROOTS
Bruce, born in 1927 in Lubbock, Texas, that now comprises 20,000 acres in concentrated their efforts on building a solid and Robert, born in 1931 in nearby Slaton, Dickens County, Texas, about 70 miles bottom side, with broodmares whose blood
Texas, grew up in the world of agriculture. Robert participated in FFA, showing steers
in high school. Later, he got involved in showing halter horses and because he preferred collecting cash to collecting ribbons, that evolved into racehorses.
Both brothers attended Texas Technological College, now Texas Tech University, in Lubbock. Following graduation, they founded their business partnership as the Gentry Brothers. First, they built a ranching and farming operation
east of Lubbock.
Next, they explored the oil industry.
In 1961, they founded Great Plains Distributors, a beverage distributorship in Lubbock that Kirk has grown up in and has run since Bruce and Robert passed away in 2000 and 2013 at ages 72 and 81, respectively.
It wasn’t long after the brothers founded Great Plains Distributors that they bought their first racehorse. Since then, they
— and since their passing, Kirk — have
has powered generations of winning Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds alike.
But the brothers’ interests didn’t stop there. With several other horsemen, they co- founded the Heritage Place Sales Company in Oklahoma City, which just held its 43rd annual Winter Mixed Sale and has grown
to the world’s largest venue for Quarter Horse sales. The Bruce Gentry Family and the Robert Gentry Family continue in the company’s ownership along with the Robert Moore Family and Dr. Charles Graham.
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