The American Quarter Horse Association does a commendable job of recognizing its elite equine athletes, along with the hard-working people of the industry, through a plethora of awards every year. The honors span from lifetime achievement recognitions to Champion honors and numerous Regional High-Point awards. Many people aspire to take home the World Champion hardware, as it is the most prestigious award. However, there is a distinction that is just as exclusive: the AQHA Supreme Racehorse Award.
This award was established by the AQHA Racing Council in 2002 and requires a horse to earn $500,000 on the track and win at least 10 of their starts, with two or more of those wins coming from open Grade 1 races. If a horse qualified for the award prior to its establishment, that horse received the honor retroactively. In addition, since the graded stakes system was integrated in 1983, a list of Grade 1 equivalent races had been used prior to that. A total of 72 horses have earned the award, while a total of 135 horses have etched their names in the annals of Quarter Horse racing as AQHA Supreme Racehorses.
When going through the list of Supreme Racehorses, a name that appears more than once is Jerry Windham, an AQHA past President who served on the AQHA Executive Committee from 1995 until 2000, the year he served as President. He also served on the racing committee. Windham’s tenure on the Executive Committee predates the introduction of the Supreme Racehorse award. Still, he recalls it being discussed. “That was done a couple of years after I was already President. I remember it being talked about because I was still active on committees, including the race committee.”
The Supreme Racehorses Windham has bred and/or owned include such headlining names as Indigo Illusion, Stolis Winner, and Azoom. Each of these horses has just as impressive a record as the other, providing Windham with ample information on what it takes to develop a Supreme Racehorse and the gratifying feeling when all that work comes to fruition. “Well, certainly it’s a rewarding thing whenever you have something like that happen with a horse,” reflects Windham. “I think it was kind of the ultimate goal for any of us as breeders, owners, and runners of Quarter Horses to achieve that particular goal (The AQHA Supreme Racehorse Award). I thought it was a great deal to be one of the first ones that had that after it was installed.” The horse Windham is referring to here is Azoom, who qualified for the award in 2004, just two years after its establishment. Indigo Illusion received the award, as she met the qualifications in 1985, and Stolis Winner qualified in 2009.
The criterion that poses the greatest challenge for horses vying for the Supreme Racehorse award is securing 10 wins, a requirement that has denied many great horses the award. The elusive nature of this requirement stems from the amount of soundness required to capture those 10 wins. Windham shares his perspective on this issue, “It’s very important in Quarter Horse racing that you have a sound horse. If you don’t have a sound horse, you’re probably not gonna go very far.” A prime example of the importance of soundness is the matriarch mare of the Vessels Stallion Farm, Chicado V. She was a smaller-framed mare that had an immense amount of speed but had some issues with her knees. In her first time out, she stopped the clock at :18.1, setting a track record at Pomona and running the fastest 350 yards ever run by a two year old at the time. However, her troubled knees contributed to her unsoundness, causing her to retire early from the track after making just six starts. Chicado V did go on to make her mark as a producer, but one could only imagine how impressive her racing record would have been had she been able to utilize her speed fully. Windham puts it simply, “That’s the only way you’re going to accomplish all that, is to have a sound horse.” A horse nowadays would almost have to race two or more seasons to compile 10 wins, underscoring the importance of soundness. If a horse gets ample time to recover between starts, it must also possess longevity to continue performing in top shape, which again requires soundness and durability.
Another obstacle to compiling 10 wins is the decline in the number of starts made by our current horses. Windham provides his take when asked if this affects horses achieving the award. “It’s a hard question to be definitive on because it’s hard to really know about all those things, but I’m sure that makes a difference. Used to, we started these horses a whole lot more times than they start them nowadays, so I’m sure it would probably have some effect on it. I don’t know how much effect because it would be hard to be definitive on an answer, but if I had to say yes or no, I’d say yeah, it probably has, but it’s hard to prove out.” Although there is…
