LOS ALAMITOS, CA—APRIL 22, 2018— Thoroughbred sires have always been an important part of Quarter Horse racing going back to the early days of the sport.

Thoroughbred stallions like Three Bars, Top Deck, and Depth Charge were among the dominant sires in Quarter Horse racing during the 1950s and 1960s and their bloodlines can be found in most of the top runners of today. Three Bars is without a doubt one of the giants in Quarter Horse racing history. His influence can found in the All American Futurity right from the start, as inaugural running in 1959 was won by his son, Galobar. The second running of the All American Futurity went to Tonto Bars Hank, who was sired by a son of Three Bars named Tontos Bar Gill.

Three Bars outdid himself in the third running of the All American Futurity, as he sired the first and second place finishers of the race in the form of champion 2-year-old Pokey Bar and champion 2-year-old filly Bunnys Bar Maid. Three Bars would go on to sire more than 20 other AQHA champions and become a perennial leading sire in the sport. Inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame in 1989, Three Bars had previously sired 1954 AQHA World Champion Josie’s Bar. He was also the grandsire of two-time AQHA World Champion Kaweah Bar.

All-time leading Quarter Horse sire First Down Dash and previous all-time leading stallion Dash For Cash both trace back to Three Bars from the male line of Rocket Wrangler by Rocket Bar, who was a son of Three Bars.

J.B. Ferguson’s Top Deck made his mark in the game as the sire of the legendary three-time AQHA World Champion Quarter Horse Go Man Go. Top Deck also sired the influential stallion Moon Deck, who sired the 1963 AQHA World Champion Jet Deck. Go Man Go and Jet Deck would both become among the greatest Quarter Horse sires in the history of the sport. Depth Charge also made a tremendous mark in Quarter Horse racing with Tiny Charger likely being his greatest son.

Tiny Charger outran the aforementioned Jet Deck twice and would later sire the 1971 AQHA World Champion Charger Bar.

Thoroughbred bloodlines remain prominent in Quarter Horse racing today. Snowbound Superstar, one of the greatest 870-yard runners of all-time, was sired the Thoroughbred Snowbound. Check Him Out, a Grade 1 winner and top stallion over the past decade, was the son of the Thoroughbred Hennessy. Favorite Cartel, the Grade 1 winning stallion, is a son of the late Eclipse Award winner Favorite Trick. Favorite Cartel has since sired Grade 1 winners Lotta Blues Man, Little Talks and Fire At Will, Restricted Grade 1 winner Flay, and Grade 2 winner Rite Regal.

It’s always eye-catching when a new Thoroughbred influence is introduced to Quarter Horse bloodlines and it’s specially a head-turner when it appears in the local morning works.

On Tuesday (Apr 24) Juan Aleman sent a pair of 2-year-olds for Gentry Farms to the track with the purpose of posting their first qualifying works. Their names were Always Dreaming, a Kentucky-bred filly out of 2011 Grade 1 Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap winner Fovee, and Zip Zip, a Kentucky-bred colt out of the three-time Grade 1 finalist Fodice, and they both worked evenly on Tuesday in a time of :12.40 at 220 yards.

Their sire is the graded stakes winning Thoroughbred Run Away And Hide, who currently stands at Darby Dan Farm in Lexington, Kentucky.

Run Away And Hide was unbeaten in his three career starts with earnings of $224,684 in 2008. He won the Grade 2 Saratoga Special Stakes at 6 ˝ furlongs in stakes record time of 1:15.67. He also won the Grade 3 Kentucky Stakes. His Thoroughbred sons include Run Away, winner of the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar, and Ten City, winner of the Grade 3 Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill. He’s also the sire of graded stakes winner Are you Kidding Me, Grade 1 winner Forever Young, and Grade 2 winner Metro Bus.

With some racing luck, Run Away And Hide will soon have Always Dreaming and Zip Zip facing top notch stakes competition at Los Alamitos.

The two sprinters are both eligible to compete in the trials to the Grade 1 Golden State Million Futurity and Grade 1 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity in 2018 and Grade 1 Los Alamitos Super Derby and Grade 2 Golden State Derby in 2019.

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Courtesy of www.losalamitos.com.