The American Quarter Horse had its beginning in Colonial America with the celebrated American Quarter Running Horse, a horse known for its speed over short distances and its usefulness as a working animal. These horses continued through America as people traveled west, and they were considered by many to be a type of horse rather than a distinct breed. By the time they reached Texas, several families had developed from such foundation sires as Steel Dust, Shiloh, and the Copperbottom families.
Through the legwork of men like Bob Denhardt and other key individuals, the American Quarter Horse Association was formed in 1940, and the American Quarter Horse became an official breed. When you research early pedigrees, you can see that these families were often crossed with one another. A great example of this is found in the mating of Shiloh with Ram Cat by Steel Dust, which produced Old Billy, who is credited with the South Texas Old Billy Horses and in the sire line of Peter McCue, another famous foundation sire.
But in these early years, some argued that the Quarter Horse was still a type of horse and not a breed. Then, in November 1945, the Journal of Heredity published the article “A Genetic Analysis of the American Quarter Horse,” based on the research of J. Lane Fletcher of the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station. This study was developed to answer five questions, including the level of inbreeding that had been practiced, the degree of relatedness among horses, the importance of specific individual animals, the influence of the Thoroughbred, and the average generation length within the breed.
Here is what the study concluded: the inbreeding coefficient was 1.7 percent. The inbreeding coefficient measures homozygosity of genes in the study group, which is key to the formation of a breed. It was calculated using what we call Wrights Formula. The 1.7 percent was considered low, especially compared to the Clydesdale, a draft horse breed, which had an inbreeding coefficient of 6.5 percent, but that breed had been established for more than 60 years.
The Coefficient of Relationship was .98 to 3.02 percent among the representative samples. The Coefficient of Relationship indicates the biological relationship among brothers, sisters, and cousins within the population.
The study found that the most common ancestor was Peter McCue, who showed a direct relationship of 5.68 percent to foals born in 1940 and 1941. This included the King Ranch-bred Quarter Horses, which were highly inbred compared to the rest of the breed, with a coefficient inbreeding of 4.89 percent and a Coefficient of Relationship of 20.11 percent. The relationship between Peter McCue and the King Ranch horses was 6.69 percent and 40.29 percent through his grandson Old Sorrel, by Hickory Bill, by Peter McCue, who became the foundation sire of the King Ranch breeding program.
The study showed that 50 percent of the animals traced to at least one Thoroughbred. The King Ranch sample again stood out, with 59 percent traced to at least one Thoroughbred. Many of the mares bred to Hickory Bill were Thoroughbred mares.
This study demonstrates the significance of Peter McCue in the early formative years of the American Quarter Horse Association. However, the story of Peter McCue is filled with a mix of face and legend. Let’s take a closer look at Peter McCue and see what we can discover.
We will begin our look at Peter McCue with an article that was published in the American Quarter Horse Journal first in 1949 and reprinted in 1964, titled “Peter McCue’s Family Tree” by William Welch. Welch’s goal was to verify Peter McCue’s pedigree and confirm that he was sired by Dan Tucker, a Quarter Horse. Peter McCue was foaled on February 23, 1895, at Samuel Watkins’ Little Grove Stock Farm of Petersburg, Illinois.
The confusion surrounding his pedigree arises from the fact that Little Grove Stock Farm breeding book for that year listed Peter McCue as being sired by the Thoroughbred Duke Of The Highlands and out of Nora M, a Thoroughbred mare. This practice was common at the time and was often used so a horse could compete on recognized Thoroughbred racetracks. Notable examples of this practice include important sires such as Joe Reed P-3 and Flying Bob, both of whom were registered as Thoroughbreds.
To investigate the matter, Welch visited Walter Watkins, a son of Samuel and Irene Watkins, who was the widow of Elias, one of the sons. Both had been present during the years in question, and the breeding records were in the possession of Irene Watkins.
The significance of Samuel Watkins is emphasized in the article. He was the son of Joseph Watkins, who had come to the area from Kentucky. Samuel was born in 1842 and died in 1911. The Watkins family consisted of eight children, four girls and four boys. Walter and Elias were two of the sons. The others were Jeanette (Nettie), Elizabeth, Evans, Hattie, Nona, and Samuel Edgar, who was often listed as S. Edgar. As we continue with this history, we will see that some of the children’s names appear in the names of horses associated with Peter McCue.
Samuel Watkins was more than a racehorse enthusiast. He raised cattle and crops, and his success in farming allowed him to pursue his interest in racing, an interest inspired by his own father’s love of racehorses.
The Watkins breeding records show that Samuel Watkins used two stallions in 1894: Duke Of The Highlands and a Quarter Horse named Dan Tucker. The farm mares were listed in the ledger and included Nora M, Bertie S, Molly D (Mollie D), Keepsake, Anne Lee, Deek, Hattie V (Hattie W), Kitty Jones, Kittle Waddle, Doll, Coral, Blaze, Patti Thomas, Patti Billet, Butt Cut, Laurine, and Bird. Several of these mares will appear again when we examine the pedigrees of Peter McCue and some of his foals.
The breeding records show that all of these mares, except Deek and Kitty Jones, were bred to Duke Of The Highlands. Deek and Kitty Jones were reported to have been bred to Dan Tucker because they were not Thoroughbreds. Nora M, the dam of Peter McCue was listed as bred to Duke Of The Highlands. This documentation was used to register Peter McCue as a Thoroughbred so he could race on recognized Thoroughbred tracks.
Peter McCue Becomes a Racehorse
When the time came, Peter McCue was turned over to a “part time” jockey named Dick Hornback, who broke him. According to the story, Hornback weighed only 85 pounds, making him too light to be a regular jockey, but he rode Peter McCue in his role as a trainer. It is through Hornback’s accounts that we get the first indication of…
