Is College Education Worth It?

One of the important tools the racing industry has come to appreciate is the role the mare plays in the production of her foals. While visiting with successful breeders, you often hear a common theme: the mare contributes more than 50% to the development of the foal. This is through both genetic and environmental factors. You hear varying estimates of the mare’s contribution to the development of the foal, and those estimates range from 60% to some who boldly say, “Give the mare 100% of the credit.” The AQHA Hall of Fame breeder Hank Wiescamp put it this way: “I’ll give the mare 70 to 80% credit if she is a good producer, and if she is a poor one, I’ll give her 100% credit. I don’t care what kind of a stud you have—if you don’t have a producing mare, you are kidding yourself.”

The racing industry has set up criteria that can be used to evaluate the success of a mare as a producer. It starts simply with how many starters she has and how many of those starters have won a race. Then, we look at how many of these runners have earned their Register of Merit—especially through speed indexes, denoting the kind of speed she produces. The next area that truly shows the value of a mare comes as a stakes producer, with the number of stakes winners, stakes-placed runners, and stakes qualifiers she sends to the track. Then we look at the stakes races they have been successful in, not only by the money earned, but also by the level of races won through graded stakes events. The last category is the championships her foals have earned, and this is probably the most difficult to achieve on this list of standards.

Crazy Down Corona has accomplished a number of these goals in her breeding career that set her up as a unique producer. It came about in 2022, when she became the first mare to be the dam of an All American Futurity-G1 winner and a Champion of Champions-G1 winner in the same year. Those two winners made her the dam of two Champions that year. This outstanding year earned her owners, Steve Holt and Jeff Jones, the Champion Owners title. The trainer for these two horses was Heath Taylor, the AQHA Blane Schvaneveldt Champion Trainer. That same year, she was named an AQHA Dam of Distinction, and she capped the year off as the Speedhorse Broodmare of the Year.

Empressum and Hes Judgeandjury were the two foals that allowed her to achieve these goals. Empressum was the 2022 World Champion, Champion Gelding, Champion Aged Gelding, and the winner of the 2022 Champion of Champions-G1. He also won the Vessels Maturity-G1 and the Go Man Go Handicap-G1. He made six starts that year, with four wins and two seconds, earning $587,896. Hes Judgeandjury was the 2022 Champion Two Year Old, Champion Two-Year-Old Gelding, and the winner of the 2022 All American Futurity-G1. He also qualified for the Ruidoso Futurity-G1, finishing fifth, and the Rainbow Futurity-G1, where he placed third. He then went on to qualify for the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity-G1, finishing third. He was the leading money earner for the year, with…

Pedigree research, and the history that accompanies those pedigrees, is a never-ending odyssey. The researcher uncovers some information and reports it, which often leads to further discoveries. This was the case with a phone call from J. L. Hankins, the son of J. O. Hankins. He reached out after reading a story I had written about Queen H, one of his father’s famous mares.

J. L. found our story very interesting, but he wanted to add to it. He asked me to focus on Squaw H, a daughter of Queen H, and her race record. He strongly felt that, due to a lack of official records, this mare was not receiving full credit for her long and illustrious racing career. So, he sent me some information about his father and his famous mare, along with several news articles, in hopes that we could fill in some gaps.

J. O. Hankins was the brother of Jess Hankins and Lowell Hankins. They were ranchers in Rocksprings, Texas. King P-234, owned by Jess Hankins, is considered by many to be the “cornerstone of the industry” as a sire of horses known for their exceptional performance, speed, and agility in the arena. However, King P-234’s offspring have also proven to be a source of speed on the racetrack. He sired 12 racing ROM (Register of Merit) earners. Some of his notable runners include Hank H, who was the broodmare sire of Tonto Bars Hank—the 1960 Champion Two-Year-Old Colt, the 1961 Champion Three-Year-Old Colt, and the winner of the 1960 All American Futurity-G1. Hank H was a full brother to Squaw H.

Horses bred by J. O. Hankins earned a total of 2,101 AQHA performance points, with 38 earning a Performance Register of Merit (ROM), 12 becoming AQHA Champions, and seven receiving Superior Awards in the arena. He was also a million-dollar breeder of racehorses, whose runners earned a total of $1,604,327. Of 181 starters, 101 were race winners, 98 earned a Racing ROM, 14 were…