Lightning Bar
| Lightning Bar | |
|---|---|
 Lightning Bar | |
| Breed | American Quarter Horse |
| Discipline | Racing |
| Sire | Three Bars (TB) |
| Grandsire | Percentage (TB) |
| Dam | Della P |
| Maternal grandsire | Doc Horn (TB) |
| Sex | Stallion |
| Foaled | 1951 |
| Country | United States |
| Color | Sorrel |
| Breeder | Art Pollard |
| Owner | Art Pollard |
| Record | |
| 10-4-3-1 Stakes: 0-1-1 | |
| Earnings | |
| $1491.00 ($16,980 in current dollars) | |
| Major wins | |
| 2nd Beaudry Handicap 3rd Juvenile Prep Stakes | |
| Awards | |
| American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) Race Register of Merit | |
| Other awards | |
| AQHA Champion | |
| Honors | |
| American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame | |
| Last updated on: May 24, 2009. | |
Lightning Bar was an American Quarter Horse racehorse and breeding stallion. Bred and owned his entire life by Art Pollard, Lightning Bar's sire, or father, was a Thoroughbred, and his dam, or mother was originally from Louisiana. Although he only raced for one year, he still managed to achieve an AAA speed index. His racing career was cut short by illnesses. After racing, he became a show horse as well as being trained as a roping horse. As a breeding stallion, he only sired eight crops of foals, but sired a number of influential horses, including his most famous son, Doc Bar. Lightning Bar died in 1960 from disease, at the age of 9. Lightning Bar was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Association's American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2008.
Early life
Foaled in 1951, Lightning Bar was bred to be a racehorse, but injuries and bouts of illnesses kept him from racing past his two-year-old year.[1] He was bred by Art Pollard, who owned him his entire life.[2] He was sired by Three Bars, a Thoroughbred stallion later inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame. Lightning Bar's dam, or mother, was Della P, a daughter of the Thoroughbred stallion Doc Horn. His second dam, or maternal grandmother, was a mare who was never given a name and was sired by Old D. J.[3] Art Pollard purchased Della P from "Dink" Parker for $1,750 ($22,193 as of 2024) in the late 1940s.[4][3] She had originally been owned in Louisiana before being brought to Arizona by Parker.[3]
When Lightning Bar was about 5 days old, Pollard was afraid that he had leg problems and was buck-kneed, and considered putting the young colt to sleep. First, though, he sought the advice of Parker, and as Pollard later related the story, "Dink just looked at me and shook his head. 'Ain't you ever gonna learn nothing? That colt's just what you're looking for.' "[5] When mature, Lightning Bar stood 15.2 hands (or 62 inches (160 cm)) tall and weighed about 1,250 pounds (570 kg).[6] He was a sorrel colored horse.[2]
Racing and show career
Lightning Bar started ten times on the racetrack, winning four times, coming in second three times and third once. Among those finishes, he ran second and third in two stakes races.[2] His total earnings on the track were $1,491 ($16,980 as of 2024).[4][2] His highest speed index, or compartive rating of his speed, was AAA.[2] He only raced for one year, as he suffered from bouts of pneumonia, distemper, and injured legs. He did equal one track record for two-year-olds at Pomona Racetrack, running 330 yards (300 m) in 17.2 seconds.[6]
After Lightning Bar's racing career, he went on to be a show horse, during which he earned 18 open halter points with the AQHA, and earned an AQHA Champion award in 1955.[2] He won one grand championship and one reserve championship in halter classes at recognized AQHA shows.[6]
Breeding career
The first year Lightning Bar stood as a breeding stallion, his stud fee, or the fee charged to breed a mare to him, was $250 ($2,836 as of 2024) but only nine mares were bred to him.[6][4] The next year, he only bred 11 mares, but in 1956, he bred 102 mares at $500 ($5,603 as of 2024) each.[6][4] One of Pollard's attempts to advertise his stallion involved letting one of his ranch hands take the stallion to a local jackpot roping. Pollard assumed that the employee would just ride Lightning Bar around and show him off, but Pollard later discovered that more was involved. Pollard said later that "I should have been suspicious when he (the ranch hand) returned with Lightning Bar that afternoon, with a sheepish grin on his face. I asked him how the horse was received and he said 'The stud did good and I won the jackpot!' After congratulating him, I asked which rope horse he had used. He replied, 'The stud.' "[7]
Pollard said of Lightning Bar that "I always had to be careful about the kind of latch I used on a gate with that horse. He could figure them out faster than I could. He would open a gate, and go for a stroll."[8] Lightning Bar sired 148 foals in his eight breeding seasons, and 118 of those foals went on to either race or show careers. 108 of his foals started races, and 77 of them won races, with a total of $476,949 total earnings.[notes 1] Lightning Belle was the foal who earned the most on the racetrack, earning $60,134 ($598,464 as of 2024).[2][4]
Five of Lightning Bar's foals earned AQHA Championships: Cactus Comet, Crash Bang, Lightning Rey, Pana Bar and Relampago Bar. One earned a Supreme Championship, Lightning Rey. His offspring earned $1,163.32 in National Cutting Horse Association competition.[2][notes 2] Another four earned a Superior Halter Horse title.[9]
Death and legacy
Lightning Bar died in June 1960 from Colitis-X,[8] a virus of unknown origin that can kill rapidly without warning.[10] The virus infected a large number of Pollard's horses, and only three horses that caught the disease survived. Pollard was so heart-broken, he sold off his remaining stock and did not return to the Quarter Horse business for 15 years. Pollard later said about the loss of his horses that "it was a nightmare when they were wiped out. Even now, we can still feel the sadness of losing those horses."[8] Another time, Pollard remarked that "Someone once said that a man deserves one good woman and one good dog in his lifetime. To that quip I would add one good horse. I certainly had one in Lightning Bar."[11]
Lightning Bar was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Association's American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2008.[1] Lightning Bar's most famous son was Doc Bar, who also was inducted into the Hall of Fame.[1] Two stakes races were run in his memory, the first one at Los Alamitos Racetrack for one year in 1961. The second ran from 1962 to 1966 and was at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico.[12]
Pedigree
| Ballot (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Midway (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Thirty-third (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Percentage (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Bulse (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Gossip Avenue (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Rosewood (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Three Bars (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ultimus (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Luke McLuke (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| *Midge (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Myrtle Dee (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Patriot (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Civil Maid (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Civil Rule (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Lightning Bar | |||||||||||||||||||
| Cesarion (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Flying Squirrel (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Katie W (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Doc Horn (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| *McGee (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Debutante (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Hanrose (TB) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Della P | |||||||||||||||||||
| Crazy Cue | |||||||||||||||||||
| Old DJ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Mignon | |||||||||||||||||||
| mare | |||||||||||||||||||
| unknown | |||||||||||||||||||
Note
- ^ No inflation adjusted earnings figures are given for the earnings of his foals as the foals raced over a number of years, making the inflation adjustment unreliable.
- ^ No inflation adjusted earnings figures are given for the earnings of his foals as the foals showed over a number of years, making the inflation adjustment unreliable.
Citations
- ^ a b c "Hall of Fame: Inductees Represent the Best of AQHA" Quarter Horse Journal March 2008 p. 48
- ^ a b c d e f g h AQHA Official Get of Sire Record for Lightning Bar
- ^ a b c Simmons "Lightning Bar" Legends 2 p. 143
- ^ a b c d e 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ Simmons "Lightning Bar" Legends 2 p. 145
- ^ a b c d e Simmons "Lightning Bar" Legends 2 p. 146
- ^ Simmons "Lightning Bar" Legends 2 p. 147
- ^ a b c Simmons "Lightning Bar" Legends 2 p. 149
- ^ Pitzer Most Influential Quarter Horse Sires p. 72
- ^ Belknap Horsewords p. 113
- ^ Nye Complete Book of the Quarter Horse p. 283
- ^ Smelker Quarter Racing Stakes Horses I History of Events section, p. 53
References
- American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) (2009). AQHA Official Get of Sire Record for Lightning Bar American Quarter Horse Association Records Department. Accessed on May 24, 2009.
- Belknap, Maria (2004). Horsewords: The Equine Dictionary (Second ed.). North Pomfret, VT: Trafalgar Square Publishing. ISBN 1-57076-274-0.
- Nye, Nelson C. (1964). The Complete Book of the Quarter Horse: A Breeder's Guide and Turfman's Reference. New York: A. S. Barnes and Co. OCLC 1373730.
- Pitzer, Andrea Laycock (1987). The Most Influential Quarter Horse Sires. Tacoma, WA: Premier Pedigrees. OCLC 18561545.
- Simmons, Diane (1994). "Lightning Bar". Legends 2: Outstanding Quarter Horse Stallions and Mares. Colorado Springs, CO: Western Horseman. pp. 142–149. ISBN 0-911647-30-9.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter|editors=ignored (|editor=suggested) (help) - Smelker, Renee H. (1969). Quarter Racing Stakes Horses 1949–1967 Volume 1. Tucson, AZ: Renee Smelker. OCLC 28034025.
- Staff (2008). "Hall of Fame: Inductees Represent the Best of AQHA". Quarter Horse Journal: 43–55.
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