Ep.59- Larry Sharp & John Ward (1974 Triple Crown Run)-QH Racing Talk Weekly

StallioneSearch.com has released Episode 59 of QH Racing Talk — Weekly, the episode features an in-depth conversation with deceased trainer Larry Sharp and jockey John Ward, who famously fell short of capturing the Triple Crown with Tinys Gay in 1974.

Co-hosts Greg Thompson and Bailey Ivey also recap the past weekend’s graded stakes races, offering insight and analysis from across the racing scene.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

It's the evolution of how the quarter horse racing world is entertained and informed. It's Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly for Wednesday, April 29th. If you are already addicted to this podcast, well, we are sorry, not sorry. If you aren't listening to this, can you really call yourself much of a quarter horse racing fan? Introducing our host, Greg Thompson and co-host, Bailey Ivy. It's Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly.

SPEAKER_06 0:28

And hello again, everyone.

SPEAKER_15 0:34

And I'm Bailey Ivy.

SPEAKER_06 0:36

Bailey, I'm getting prouder and prouder of this podcast because I just keep hearing more people talk to me about it. Uh it's just catching so much momentum and just so enthusiastic about the future of the podcast.

SPEAKER_15 0:49

Me too, Greg. At the races, everyone is constantly coming up to me, telling me that they love these biographies.

SPEAKER_06 0:55

Yes, and I think we hit the ball out of the park for this week. You know, a little bit of movie magic this week, Bailey, with what we've done. I've taken an interview that I had archived. I think I believe I had done the interview in 2018. And that interview was with Larry Sharp, the trainer of Tiny's Gay. And that's what we're going to focus on. Tiny's Gay, the story behind it, is just a great story. And it's it's one that I uh I'm so proud I'm able to tell this story. I'm sure it's been told before in print, but you know, hopefully by listening to it, I can guarantee you, Bailey, this is the first podcast that's talked about Tiny's Gay's run at the Triple Crown in 1974.

SPEAKER_14 1:36

Of course, we're the first people to talk about it, Greg.

SPEAKER_06 1:39

Exactly, Bailey. We're always breaking new ground here. And I was able to get on the phone with John Ward, who's lives up in Idaho, who was the jockey in 1974 aboard Tiny's Gay and went through that Triple Crown run. As a matter of fact, he'd uh the 13 starts that Tiny's Gay had made, he was the jockey on every one of them. And I was able to get on the phone with him, and then I weave the conversation between John Ward and Larry Sharp to what I feel has become out fairly entertaining for those quarter horse racing fans.

SPEAKER_15 2:10

Well, clearly, Greg, this is way before my time. You know, maybe it was back in your day, but I'm excited to listen to it.

SPEAKER_06 2:16

Yes, this all happened when I was two, but without further ado, I'm going to bring this to you after we get back from our sponsor here on Quarter Horse Racing Talk as we get into this fascinating story about the 1974 run towards the Triple Crown for Tiny's Gay.

SPEAKER_09 2:32

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SPEAKER_11 2:46

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SPEAKER_06 3:18

Alright, we're back here on Quota Horse Racing Talk, ready to get into our featured guest. As we discussed, we're going to intertwine the interview with John Ward, which we did in 2026 here, with an interview that we did with Larry Sharp, trainer of Tiny's Gay, who went for the Triple Crown in 1974. So let's take you back to the 70s. And to be exact, let's take you back to 1973, where the sport of horse racing was coming right out of the Triple Crown of Secretariat, maybe the most celebrated Triple Crown effort in horse racing history. Now in the quarter horse racing world, journalist Walt Wiggins Sr. was given credit as the first person to coin the Triple Crown in quarter horse racing as the Kansas Futurity, the Rainbow Futurity, and the All-American Futurity. And in 1974, Tiny's Gay was the first horse to go into the All-American as a horse that was victorious in both of the first two legs of the Triple Crown and was going into that Labor Day Classic. And along the way, Tiny's Gay was setting track records while winning these fraturities, whether it be at Sundowns in Washington, as he set the record for 300 yards that stood for almost 18 years, as well as equaling the rainbow record with a time of 19.74 seconds for the 400 yards that was set in 1969 by Miss Three Wars. And going into the race in 1974, the Colt Tiny Sky went into the starting gate with John Wordboard with a chance at immortality in the quarterhorse rank, but faced opposition by a Walter Merrick Philly on the outside by the name of Easy Day. As this is our focus of this podcast edition as we blend a prior conversation that I had in the archives with Larry Sharp, who passed away in 2019, as well as an interview with jockey John Ward about that fateful summer in 1974. Larry Sharp, give us the origins of where this horse Tiny Skey came into your life.

SPEAKER_12 5:57

Well, um, I guess it was in the fall of 1973. I had an owner, John Colville, uh, and I was training horses in uh Denver, Colorado at Centennial Racetrack, and uh there was a sale then, it was the haymaker sale instead of the heritage, and it used to be over at the fairground. And uh there was a little royal bar filly in the sale that uh we were interested in. Well, we flew in, I flew in from Denver, and he flew in from California, and so we go to sale, and um we sat there, the Philly we came to buy, they jumped the price on her too much, and we didn't buy her. So we were just sitting around there waiting to catch her flight back out of uh here to back to I was going back to Denver and he was going back to California. Anyway, I sat in there looking through the catalog and I said, John, look at this colt right here. I said, I knew this mayor, gazed the light. I said, She was a runner. And I said, She's only had two colts, both of them was Phillies, they were but three chicks, and I said, you know, uh both of them were stakes winners. And I said, These easy jet things, everybody's buying them, you know. And I said, This colt's but tiny watch, and I said, I can tell you he ain't gonna bring nothing, you know, because he's not had that many colts and nobody into him at all. And so they brought the colt in the ring. I didn't even go back in the back and look at him or anything, but they brought him in the ring, and I said, Dad gum, I like him. I can I can't I said, This is a heck of a colt, you know. So we started uh bid on him and uh I think we bid 2,500 and uh they stopped the sale and wanted to know what was wrong with his colt. Well, he's got all his legs, you know, he ought to be banging a lot more than that. Uh half brothers of two stakes winners. And uh so they started bidding back, and it was a$2,700 bid, and John said, uh, well, we don't need another stud horse. I said, Well, we'll cut him. I said, But if you're not gonna buy him for$3,000, I am. Well, he bid on him, or we bid on him. I bid was doing the bidding, so I bid on him again. When I bid, they just knocked him off. And uh I couldn't believe that I got him bought.

SPEAKER_06 8:16

How much did you wind up giving for him?

SPEAKER_12 8:19

3,000. And I said, I can't believe that we got him bought, you know. And I went back and Mr. Travis was back there, uh, and I said, uh, Mr. Travis, how come you sell that colt? Well, he said, Larry, I got so many I can't keep them all, you know. And he said, we got to get rid of some. After that, you know, uh, I shipped the colt back to Denver, and I had a boy that was working for me that broke colts, and as soon as he got back up there, we went to riding him, and he wrote him about, I don't know, four times maybe or something like that. Had him on the racetrack or galloping already. I mean, that he was smart. And uh he took and uh come back to the barn on him one day, said Larry, this is the fast booker. I said, You ain't wrote him a half a dozen times, how do you know he's fast? He said, I'm telling you, he's fast.

SPEAKER_04 9:08

Now, introducing the jockey, John Ward.

SPEAKER_06 9:12

John, thanks for joining us here on Quota Horse Racing Talk Weekly. Thank you. John, you'd mentioned that you'd entered into the Tiny's gay story very early into his career. So kind of give me your first getting to know this horse.

SPEAKER_13 9:28

I just had heard that they had bought him in the sale in Oklahoma, and then they brought him back, and these guys were riding them over to uh John Colville's house uh and breaking them. So I went over and visited with them and looked at the babies they had bought, and they had some nice babies, and Tiny's Gay was a very nice one, but they had another one that they were a lot higher on because he was a little more mature, and he was just a little classier and heavier built than Tiny's Gay was, and so that horse was the one that Larry Sharp liked so much, and he was taking him to Denver that spring to run in the fraternity over there. So that was my first uh uh appearance with him, and then we snuck him into the racetrack there at Los Alamitas in January and started galping him. So that was my first appearance on him, and he was just always uh just so easy and not temperamental about anything, and he would but he never ever acted like one. First time that we ever worked him, okay? Like I said, we snuck him into Los Alamedas in January, and we were working them, and we were just gonna breeze them, just turn them around and breeze them there at Los Alamedas one morning. And we had the other horse, I can't even remember how he could he was bred or what his name was. But he was a nice cult, good-looking cult, and a lot more mature than Tiny was. So I had my gallop boy, a young man that was called Ronnie Carrasco, who eventually became a jockey and rode some. So he was a good hand. And I said, Well, you get on Tiny's Gay, and I'll take this other cult because we're gonna take him to Denver, to Centennial, and start him in a fraturity in April. So that's what we'd done. We took him out there and warmed him up, and then we turned around to work them. And as we started off and kind of got him going a little faster and a little faster, then Tiny's gay bogged his head and tried, but and the Gallup boy, he just giggled and he kicked him in the side with his foot, and he just picked up his head, you know, he he just took off. And I mean, right then he ran by that horse that I was on that was supposed to be ready to go run. He just ran past me and just kept going.

SPEAKER_06 12:23

So after that, you knew you had a serious runner that you weren't on at that point in time.

SPEAKER_13 12:28

So I was not on him that time, but I seen what he was doing, and he just dropped and barreled past me. That was the last time anybody crawled on him except me.

SPEAKER_05 12:39

And we'll be right back after these words.

SPEAKER_17 12:43

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SPEAKER_06 12:55

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SPEAKER_03 13:32

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SPEAKER_06 13:50

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SPEAKER_10 14:10

All right, back to the podcast.

SPEAKER_12 14:13

Trainer Larry Sharp. I had uh some horses and fraternities at Denver and Centennial then. It was of spring. They'd they'd switched their meat to the spring. That was the first spring meat they had there at Centennial. And I had horses and fraturities there. And I had Tiny's Gay. We'd paid him in the fraternity in Kennewick, Washington, which was in uh, yeah, I'm sure it was in March. Anyway, uh John Cooper was going up there, so I hauled him. Matter of fact, I hauled his horses up there and took Tiny's Gay and he ran him for me up there. John Ward.

SPEAKER_13 14:50

Well, the first race was uh quite exciting, okay? This horse was standing in the gate, everything was good, and he reared up in there and he was in like the the two-hole, and we just, you know, got him and he didn't get hurt, he didn't strike his legs over the bars or anything. And we got him back down in there, and the starter says, Is he okay? And I said, Yeah, he's fine, don't worry about it. And so we just kind of got him straightened around and they kicked it. Well, he false, he didn't break, he just kind of stumbled out of there because he wasn't paying attention. Well, that's a good thing he did, because that horse that was in the one-hole came out in front of me. So I just let him go and I dropped to the inside fence, and then we come into the 220 shoot there. You know, I mean, we come into the turn because it was like it was like a 300-yard race or 330 or something, and we came where the turn goes around into the straightaway, and I just went up the gap and passed that horse and come back out. And then I passed the rest of them very easily, just letting him run, you know, very easy after I got him straightened out and going down there. He win the race by daylight. I knew he was a runner, he was he was just always that way. You couldn't turn him and make him work easy. That horse would just boil, and his his feet felt like this coming right over the top of his ears.

SPEAKER_12 16:37

Trainer Larry Sharp. Uh he started uh three times up there, and he went all three of them, set a track record and stuff, and win the fraternity and stuff, and and um I brought him back to Bay Meadows, and I shipped from Centennial to Bay Meadows, and I took him back over there at Bay Meadows and win the Bay Meadows Fraternity with him.

SPEAKER_13 17:00

Bay Ma Bay Meadows was uh and there was another racetrack just like it, which was Portland Meadows up in Portland, Oregon. But the grandstand and and the the paddock was underneath the grandstand on the ground floor. Okay. Uh-huh. We were down, and then the cement kind of come up from the front side or from down on the track side. The cement come up and then we were built up. So the the paddock was kind of like down two feet below us, and then that's how you come out of the paddock. So the horses were in that inside paddock, uh, and it was it was fine, but they were a little nervous because they had never been in anything like that. In the paddock, he got a little nervous because it was at that paddock underneath the the grandstands there. It's a little nerve-wracking. But once we got him on the track, he was fine. He warmed up and he just went to the gate. He stood there, and when they kicked it, he was gone. That was it. I just couldn't just reach up and take a hold of him, and he just ran away from them.

SPEAKER_12 18:14

Well, after he went to Bay Madison Fraternity, he wasn't in the Kansas, and uh the penalty, I forget now what it was. I said, Well, we've got time to make that penalty, and shipped we had 11 days from Bay Madison to to the Kansas fraternity trial. And so we um uh paid the penalty on him and uh hauled back there and and uh they was uh they ran two sets of trials in for the Kansas. And so he uh I think they had to take two, you had to run as good as first or second, maybe uh in the in the first trials. Well he went easy and he ran the fastest time of the two however many trials they had, he had the fastest time overall. Then we come back, I think a week later or something, and we are on the other set of trials, and he had the fastest time again.

SPEAKER_06 19:08

John, talk to me about his win in the finals of the Kansas.

SPEAKER_13 19:12

Uh the the fraternity, and he was in the one hole, and he he ran out of the one hole and beat him by daylight, and Bubba Cassio came up to me and he said, That's the nicest baby I have ever seen. He said, There's been no horse in my lifetime that's ever run that that well and that fast out of the one-hole as a two-year-old baby.

SPEAKER_12 19:39

And then uh we run the Kansas and he went it and set a stakes record and all that, you know, and went easy. The rainbow, uh was two sets of trials for it, and he had the fastest time both times in them deals, and then uh come back in the finals and win. He just barely went by oh a head or something. Vim and Vigor ran second to him, and uh John Ward was my jockey. And uh he never uncocked a stick on him, but this particular day he was running head in head with Vim and Vigor, and she was giving him a run now. And uh John Reaston hit him, and uh he was heavy headed, you know, and he dropped his old head and John Reeston picked him up and he got back back and we went it by a head, I think, something. Anyway, I told John, I said, Well, did you learn anything? He said, Yeah, I don't never drop his head.

SPEAKER_13 20:36

Horses do that sometimes. They break or false break, and they just stumble a hair or something, like stub your toe, and as they're coming out of the gate, he did that and he kind of stumbled, and I just gathered him up and shit, he just ran off. He just got back up. I mean, I was back in front in 50 yards. I mean, he was just dynamite. Uh he couldn't slime down, he just loved to run. And my friend who flew down there with me and him, got went together all the time, was Jimmy Dreyer, and he was on the Philly, and she ran second, and she was hung on me, but I knew I had caught her and beat her, so I wasn't worried about it. But them guys were screaming and hollering, and oh my god, they got him beat. And I said, What do you mean got him beat? Well, you never asked him to run. I said, I didn't need to. I just I said, What do you want me to do? Jump up and down and jump off or whip him or whatever. I've never whipped him. Why would I want to do that? I just sit up there and hold him together. He was he just loved to run and he was all out all the time.

SPEAKER_06 21:48

Larry, looking at the charts for the nineteen seventy four All American Futurity Trials, it shows that Tiny's Gay was the third fastest qualifier going into the finals.

SPEAKER_12 21:59

He got Run over pretty good right away from the gate. As a matter of fact, John was plum up on his head. I mean, that horse had hit him, and horse kind of hit him in the rear end and knocked him forward. He was stumbling anyway, and the horse knocked him forward. John Ward was on him and uh he uh liked to went out over his head. I mean, he was plum on his head, and that little horse just run right back under him and come up. We end up with the third fastest time in All American.

SPEAKER_04 22:26

And we'll be right back after these words.

SPEAKER_06 22:31

The leading second crop sire in the nation literally is on fire at Lazy E Ranch. And he goes by the name of Cyber Monday, and he's the number one second crop sire by a landslide, nearly double the earnings to his nearest competitor, partly because Cyber Monday has been kicking out stakes winners in sets. With his daughter Cyberbuzz reeling off a win in the desert classic Faturdi, and another one of his offspring, a paint, Knockout Eyes, who is the fastest qualifier, wins the inaugural Remington Park Appaloosa Faturity. Check out all the buzz of all the stallion roster at Lazy E Ranch, including the number one second crop sire Cyber Monday.

SPEAKER_03 23:09

Also standing is the La Salle Super Derby winner Big Lou. The Grade 1 producing sire, Coronado Cartel, the all-time leading sire, first down dash, grade 1 runner-up Jess Fireme. The Grade 1 winning champion, Kempton, a sire with nearly$44 million in earnings, PYC Paint Your Wagon. Sire of three champions and five millionaires, valiant hero. And introducing for 2026 the Grade 1 winning Unrelentless. All standing at Lazy E Ranch in Guthrie, Oklahoma.

SPEAKER_06 23:38

Another successful year at stud is coming to an end of 2026 breeding season for Eagles Fly Higher. Standing at Leicester in Opaloosas, Louisiana. That's the Louisiana Center for Equine Reproduction. Check out his stallion page on stallionesearch.com. All right, back to the show. Alright, we're back, John. Just a recap of where we're at in the story here. Up to this point, as a two-year-old Tiny's gay had won the Tumbleweed Futurity up in Washington, went down to California, ran huge in the Bay Meadows Futurity to win there. Yep. Got supplemented into the Kansas Futurity, went through both not only the elimination trial, but also the time trial, and then won the finals, comes back into the elimination trial for the rainbow futurity and the time trial, and then of course comes back and wins the rainbow futurity. And up to this point, either setting or matching two track records and two stakes records up to this point, and that's before you qualified into the All-American Futurity as the third fastest qualifier behind Easy Six, written by Jerry Nicodemus, as well as James MacArthur's Philly, Easy Date, that was the second fastest qualifier going into the finals. And what I find very interesting, John, if you look at the chart, you qualified into the All-American Futurity on Wednesday, August 23rd, and 10 days later you're going into the finals. So there wasn't really that great big of a gap between all of these races that you'd already put into this horse up to this point. And going into the finals of the All-American Futurity, you had already put in 12 starts in his two-year-old campaign, and trying to equate that over 50 years later. Honestly, it's hard to equate, as it seems like the modern two-year-old just could not handle that. It's a far-fetched.

SPEAKER_13 25:24

It would not have happened. And this this Colt was not born till May, okay? So he didn't turn two till he had already win two or three races.

SPEAKER_05 25:35

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_13 25:36

So he was just amazing. Never had a blemish on him. He never even shimbucked. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 25:43

So now you got the all-American, you got the Kansas winner and the rainbow, then and and now you've qualified into the finals. Talk about the hype. We haven't had a triple crown winner up to that point in '74.

SPEAKER_13 25:54

Talk about the hype of of uh how they were pushing the it was it was just amazing and crazy how much crap was going on in the deal over us qualifying and one winning those other two and then coming back and look like we could just win the All-American easily if we just didn't have any trouble. We were just sitting there uh holding everything together and hoping we could make a getaway.

SPEAKER_12 26:24

So all there was a lot, a lot. I've matter of fact, uh, you couldn't pick up a newspaper around anywhere that wasn't about him. And it was a lot of pressure, I'll tell you that, you know, I mean, because I remember uh Bubba Cassio, the trainer, uh he was a big time trainer then, and and uh he used to try to put the pressure on me and say, Larry, you know, every time that horse wins the race, the odds are gonna get r greater that he gets outrun his next trip. I said, I know it, I know it. And I said, I'm just really grateful for what I've accomplished so far, you know. Or he has, it was him anyway, it wasn't me. You know, the horse, uh, you know, you worry about him 24-7, and and um we I had someone staying there uh 24-7 with him all the time, you know, and and I s a lot of times it was me, you know, I'd spell off and stuff, and the odds was greater that we was gonna get outrun every time we went, you know, and and he had some problems that we knew about and stuff, and and uh you think you've got everything covered, you know, you worry about every base is and and there's so many variables in a horse race that people don't understand, you know, about them. I mean, they're like you. There might be a given day you don't feel like getting up or going and doing your job and stuff, and them horses have the same deal, you know.

SPEAKER_13 27:46

But here they're here's this other little mare that easy date and Walter Merrick owned her, and you know, she was a nice, nice mare, and she could run, and she'd run good up at at Bay Meadows, and then came to Riadoza also after that, because she hadn't been at Riadoza, but they shipped her down there, and uh James MacArthur had her, and Donnie Knight had always ridden her, so you know she was she was the one that I was scared of, but I didn't think she could get past me.

SPEAKER_06 28:23

But Larry, you mentioned that this horse had a bit of a quirk as it pertained to the walk from the backside over to the paddock. So describe to me what that quirk was.

SPEAKER_12 28:34

Well, when you start to the paddock with him, he'd walk about all thirty, forty feet and he'd stop and he'd go to looking at the racetrack and just start puffing himself up and and uh the time he'd get to the we'd get him up to the paddock, he'd look like he'd put on a hundred pounds. He'd be blowed up, boy, and and he'd just stand while you saddled him, he'd just stand, look at that racetrack. You couldn't if you take him out of the stall to walk him and stuff, you take him over where you can see that racetrack, he'd just stand and look at it. I mean he'd stand for an hour and never move. He was phenomenal in the way he psyched himself up, you know. So Larry.

SPEAKER_06 29:11

So Larry, it's Labor Day 1974. Horses for the All-American Futurity are led to the paddock. You're sitting there, here comes your jockey John Ward, and y'all are standing there. Talk to me about the instructions or the lack of instructions that you gave him.

SPEAKER_12 29:32

Good luck, bud. He knew him, you know, he knew how he was, knew everything about him, you know. And what was I gonna tell him out other than good luck, you know?

SPEAKER_13 29:43

Larry was always good about stuff. You know, he might say, Hey, don't forget this or don't forget that. We'll be there all tailing, and you know, so that was just kind of all there was. It wasn't really any instructions. We knew we had the best horse if everything went the right way, but horse racing is horse racing, and sometimes things don't go exactly as planned.

SPEAKER_06 30:10

In 74, it was your very first All-American Futurity. You didn't know it would be your only all-American Futurity, but at that time it's this is you're on the grandest stage in court horse racing. Talk about the weight of the race, or or is it just something you were able to get into tunnel vision where you could block everything out and just looking at the task at hand?

SPEAKER_13 30:31

I'd like to think that I was that brilliant that I could, okay? But it wasn't. I was a nervous wreck the whole day. Uh you know, I just wanted to stay away from people and just get through it. So uh it was it was tough. But you know, once once you get on the horse and you're out uh on the racetrack, then everything from there on is just the way it always goes. I mean, you've got things to do, things to accomplish, and you gotta go warm him up, make sure he gets what he needs and and stuff. So that's how it that's how it went. It wasn't any once I got on him, it was just concentrate on where you're at and what you're gonna do. Well, I was in the five, so I could have like I think they loaded the first one through five at the same time as they loaded the six through ten. Does that make sense? We go two at a time, two at a time. So that's how it worked. So I was like second in the gate. Tiny's gay had always been very calm and quiet in there, and he just stood there and watched. And as I recall, the loading went very, very good. We didn't have any troubles that I can recall. And so once they were loaded, it didn't, it wasn't long till we were gone. He stood perfect, we didn't have any trouble, and I don't think there was any trouble in the gate, but shoot, that was a long time ago. As he left there, he just stumbled that one foot, the toe of his one foot just kind of went out from underneath him, and he stumbled leaving there, but like I said, he was on his toes and he just picked it up and he was right back, you know, up there with him at 50 yards. So I wasn't worried at that point, and I was just sitting there riding him, and I had never ever had to ask that horse to run. So as we got down the racetrack, there was that one there on the outside, and I must have drifted out or she must have drifted in, because we were pretty close side by side when we got down to the wire. And I just kept urging him, and I was I was sure that I had got there. And like I said, I never ever uncocked my stick and whipped on him because there's no need. He's doing all he can do. He was just always that way. Couldn't catch her. That's all. She just got past him down there on the end. And like I say, I know the stumble took just enough out of him that we couldn't hold her off.

SPEAKER_12 33:29

I was behind the gate because I used to tail him away from the gate. And uh I like I was telling you earlier, I was just so tickled to see him walk off. I mean, it was a sad moment. A lot of people, my wife and everybody's crying because they did announce him the winner, and then they got out when they looked at the photo. Well, he was outrun, so it was a disappointment, but uh like I said, I was so tickled to see him walk off together and everything. And I uh like I told you earlier, I was uh uh a little bit uh skeptical about uh the problems that he had with his knees and stuff and was kind of wondering, you know.

SPEAKER_06 34:11

John, there's that classic picture of you on the inside, you're stretched out, pushing him towards the wire, and you're looking over at uh Donnie Knight and Easy Date on the outside. Uh at that time, it's almost right at the wire. Uh I'm assuming when you hit the wire there, you knew that he had she had gotten it.

SPEAKER_13 34:33

Yep. I was feared. And Donnie Knight had them blow up that picture, and you know, he had a big eight by twelve or whatever picture of of that race at the wire, and it looks like I won it. Okay, so he gave me the picture and said, Here, you can stick it on your wall. I don't want the send it. So we were good buddies, and you know, that just happened. I mean, he stumbled leaving there, and that mirror just got past me, and I just couldn't make it up.

SPEAKER_12 35:09

So he knew the horse. He didn't hit him. I bet I don't know many people tell me, well, if he had just hit that horse one time, he'd have win. I said, no. I said he did that once in the rainbow, and we liked to got out run. I said he rode him exactly like I wanted him to, and he knew that, and that I said that horse was doing all he could do anyway. One reason um that um it hit me later on, you know. I know the boy that worked for me, uh Terry uh Morris, he was uh cooling him out in a test barn. He was just he was crying. He said, Larry, we gotta take a picture of this horse. He said, He don't know what it is not to have his picture.

SPEAKER_04 35:53

And we'll be right back after these words.

SPEAKER_18 35:57

Hey, is your horse AQHA Challenge eligible? And have you nominated? Read all about the challenge, see the schedule of upcoming deadlines, the schedule of regional challenge races, and everything the AQHA Challenge has to offer by logging on to AQHA.com forward slash racing. And we'll see you at the finals in October in Albuquerque.

SPEAKER_06 36:16

The AQHA Champion Racing Sire and the multiple graded stakes sire, FDD Going Grand. Standing there at Royal Vista Ranch in Wayne, Oklahoma is the sire of Grade 1 winner, the Grand Legend, AQHA Racing Champion Distance Horse, as well as the Grade 2 Lovington Stakes winner FTD Cloud, an earner of over$304,000 on the racetrack. As these are just some of the stakes winners this son of FTD Dynasty has produced in his stellar sire career over at Royal Vista Ranch.

SPEAKER_03 36:48

Also standing for 2026 is Multiple Graded Stakes finalist, a political J Streak, the already legendary leading sire of political Jess, a perennial leading sire, Flying Cowboy123, multiple stakes producing sire, heart of the cartel, and new for 2026, the Grade 1 winner, Just Dulce. All this talent standing at Royal Vista Ranch in Wayne, Oklahoma.

SPEAKER_10 37:10

All right, back to the podcast.

SPEAKER_06 37:13

Larry, after the race, you had told me you had some interesting conversations with Walter Merrick, owner of EasyDate, the winner of the 74 All-American Futurity that stole the opportunity for Tiny's Gay to win the triple crown.

SPEAKER_12 37:26

Well, that night, after the races was over and everybody was celebrating and stuff, and I went up and visited uh with Walt and uh was drinking some wine and enjoying herself quite a bit. And Walt told me, he said, Larry, he said, My American outrun you, I just caught you with a fresher horse. And he said, uh that's when he told me, he said, I wish it could have been a triple uh a dead heat, because he said uh a triple crown winner would really help our industry now. I said, Well, I wish it could have been too, you know, but I said, You you beat me. I told him, I said, I was in front. Well, you come and run by me. I said, I ain't got no no qualms about that. I said, You run by me, that's the deal, you know.

SPEAKER_06 38:09

Larry, clearly since 74 there hasn't been that in very many horses make a true run at the triple crown. And it continues to be such a huge feat in quarter horse racing to be able to pull something like that off. And to the best of your judgment, why do you think that is?

SPEAKER_12 38:25

Well, I tell you, it's it's just uh it's a tough situation, you know. I mean, there's so many variables. And there's then we had to run two sets of trials for the rainbow and the cans. Well, that was two extra races that they don't run now. And even now, though, it's uh there's so many horses, and there's so many variables in the racetrack and the wind and the weather and uh different situations, you know, and our horses, I don't know. Uh we're not able to uh I I don't know, a lot of people say we've read the soundness out of a lot of them and this and that. I don't know that that's particularly the case. Uh I just think uh maybe uh people are training more for one particular race. The person has got big and they're firing all their guns for one race, and you know, it's hard on any given day. And what's really hard for that deal is to keep a horse up for three days, just like the triple crown thoroughbred deal. You know, uh it's hard to keep a horse peaked out over six weeks. I mean, you know, and even then they're gonna be going down. You know, I mean that's that's what I tell everybody, I said, anymore, the way these horses are bred and everything. I said, the whole field's within a length, you know. I said they're all good. And it's basically the one that makes the least mistakes is ends up being the winner.

SPEAKER_06 39:50

You had shared with me that you were there in 1981 at the All-American when when Special Effort won the triple crown. Yeah, yeah, I was. So share with us your recollection of how you felt at the time as well as maybe some thoughts that if Tiny's Gay was one ling faster on that day that you could have gone down in the record books as that triple crown winner.

SPEAKER_12 40:11

Uh I breed a lot of horses myself, you know, and have for years and been in it and and um and you know, and Johnny uh good friend of mine and and stuff, and I I'd I'd tickle me to see that horse win, you know, uh like I said, to help the industry. I've we needed it, you know. I uh was always a little jealous, you know, that he got it. Because I tell everybody, well he didn't run outbeat nobody, you know, when he ran, but he did. He beat some nice horses. But I was telling someone the other day that um Tiny's Gay and that all American, I think there was only one horse that hadn't made a hundred thousand. And that was a lot of money back then. I think they end up being six six world champions in that race. Maybe not that year, but as a three-year-old they come back with world champions.

SPEAKER_06 41:03

It was discovered after the race that Tiny's Gay actually slab fractured in his knee and was taken to California to have surgery on it in order to see if his racing career in the future could be preserved.

SPEAKER_13 41:26

You know, they went in and put some screws in it and thought maybe it would calcify and he would be okay and we could bring him back. So we had him at Bay Meadows the next spring and we loped him for you know fifty days or something, and then we tried to breeze him one morning and uh it was no good. He had he just couldn't make it.

SPEAKER_06 41:53

John, looking back, uh what what's the thing that stands out? I I'm assuming you're a family man, you got kids and grandkids, I'm just making the assumption. What is it? Sure. What is the story that you tell about that that uh fateful summer in 1974?

SPEAKER_13 42:09

It was just it was like uh it was like winning uh everything you wanted to win, and that's getting outrun by a nose in the one that meant the most to you in your life. That's what it was to me. And it was. I mean, it was a heart crush, but nothing you could do about it. I did as well as I thought I could do, and you can't ever make a horse not fall down leaving there sometimes. And I did everything I could and did everything right, so it just doesn't happen that way. That horse is running his guts out, and I'm just sitting up there holding him together, and then afterwards we knew what had happened when he stumbled leaving there, he had slab fractured that knee. So there was the answer right there.

SPEAKER_12 43:07

Well, I've uh for years and years I kept that on my wall at home. Uh, and people would say, uh, that horse won 12 races for you, win all them fraternities and stuff, and the only picture you got up here of him is when he ran second in All American. I said, Well, that's to remind me every day that you can have the best and still get beat.

SPEAKER_06 43:29

Well, John, all these years later, uh, we certainly appreciate you getting on here with Quidd Horse Racing Talk Weekly and and talking about what could have been, it would have been our first triple crown, but uh certainly you were there uh making the history, and we are absolutely happy that you came on here to share it with us.

SPEAKER_13 43:47

Oh, you bet. I'm perfectly happy to do that. Glad you guys called me, and it was it was the biggest part of my life.

SPEAKER_05 43:57

Thanks again, John. You bet, thank you.

SPEAKER_04 44:00

And we'll be right back after these words.

SPEAKER_06 44:03

Running quarter horse breeders, you gotta be taking notes of all the stakes qualifiers as well as the stakes winners that Uncle D is kicking out in 2026, including the grade 3 win in the Mr. Master Bug stakes by Uncle Redheads, and the Grade 2 Victoria Innis Memorial Stakes win by BW Shawnee off. As these runners are continuing to pad the stats, as Uncle D leads all third-year sires as the top in the nation going into the 1st of May, standing at Prestige Equine in Roswell, New Mexico, the red hot sire Uncle D.

SPEAKER_08 44:40

The racing recap sponsored this week is Ruidoso Sales Company. The 2025 All-American winner, King of the Tide, is a Ruidoso, New Mexico sale graduate in 2024. Book now to plan to be there this summer.

SPEAKER_06 44:53

Alright, we're back here on Quarter Horse Racing Talk, ready to jump in the recap section, and we're going to go out to Delta Downs on April the 24th. The restricted grade three Miss Poly Classic stakes for three-year-olds and up, going 400 yards at a$50,000 purse. And here's the call from Don Stevens.

SPEAKER_01 45:11

And they're off in the Miss Poly Classic at Delta Downs. JJ Jess of Dynasty came away running for the lead. Up and on the outside. El Teresa's right there, farther out, dropping dimes, trying to make up ground. JD, he's a painted eagle coming on late. Some crowding in the middle. San Lorenzo Princess is gaining. It's getting late, dropping dimes on the outside of JJ Jessa Dynasty. Dropping dimes at JJ Jess at Dynasty to the wire.

SPEAKER_15 45:34

Dropping dimes is a four-year-old gelding by a political blood out of the freight train B Mayor depositing checks. Bred by Ryan and Danielle Robichot, owned by Jaime Cardenas, trained by Josué Ponce, and ridden by Jorge Garcia.

SPEAKER_06 45:48

Moving over to Saturday, April the 25th, out in Arizona at Turf Paradise, the AQRA quarter horse derby, the$57,000 event for three-year-olds going 350 yards. And here's the call.

SPEAKER_16 46:01

They're off. Fast start for Block and Tell. A little less talk is between horses. Charging in the center is ZM Jess. Also up there in Onika Cartel and Block and Tell and First Down Karma. It's ZM Jess with the lead. First down karma ZM Jess.

SPEAKER_15 46:19

ZM Jess is a three-year-old gelding by Just Different out of the Just Louisiana Blue Mare, just a blue tack. Read by Francisco Molina, owned by Jose Martinez, trained by Javid Keynes, written by Serapio Figueroa.

SPEAKER_06 46:34

Next up we go out to California. The Coyo Bar handicap, a grade three event for three-year-olds and up going 350 yards for a$40,000 purse. And here's the call from Michael Rona.

SPEAKER_00 46:45

Racing! Show until cartel broke outwards and bumped Winner's share. Cattail Cove's away cleanly. And CM Jesse be a cowboy's down the outside from Cheetah. It's Winnow's share. CM Jesse be a cowboy, cattail cove and cheetah. Show and tell cartel, blanket finish, close. I think cattail cove on the inside and a blanket finish.

SPEAKER_15 47:06

Cattle Cove is a nine-year-old gelding by favorite cartel out of the Separatist mare, Katie Catella, read by Dr. Steve Burns, owned by Ralph Newcomb, trained by Juan Alleman, and ridden by Martin Ariaga.

SPEAKER_06 47:19

And skipping over to Monday, April the 27th, out at Turf Paradise in Arizona, for a near$81,000 purse. It was the desert classic fraturity for the two-year-olds going 300 yards. And here's the call.

SPEAKER_16 47:33

They're off. Good start for Cyberbuzz who fires out. Lightning Capo goes right with him. Said Capam is in with a good chance between horses Cyber's curve. It's Cyber Buzz the leader. A charge between them from Kevin's Dime Piece, Cyberbuzz.

SPEAKER_15 47:50

Cyber Buzz is a two-year-old Philly by Cyber Monday out of the apolitical Jess Mare Honeybee. Owned and trained by Alex Torres, read by Thomas Shekel, and written by Francisco Zamora.

SPEAKER_06 48:02

Bailey, a lot of great racing this past weekend, and we'll be right back after these words from our sponsor. Alright, that's all the time we have for this episode of Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly. And Bailey, I think this one hit the mark because what I hear a lot from people is they just love these look back at yesteryear of quarter horse racing and kind of historical moments and getting the people that made the headlines and that made the history and getting their point of view. It's what I've gotten a lot of feedback from the people that do listen to the podcast. That's just what they love.

SPEAKER_14 48:36

Yes, Greg, everyone loves to hear a little bit of quarter horse racing history.

SPEAKER_06 48:41

Yes. And we got a lot of great racing coming up down the road. We got a lot of things to talk about, plenty of people to interview here for these upcoming episodes. And Bailey get to go to the Kentucky Derby this week. So there's a lot of people that have quarter horse racing ties. They're involved in that big weekend. So look forward to grabbing a few of them and putting them on the podcast.

SPEAKER_14 49:03

Yeah, Greg, don't rub it in that you're going to the Kentucky Derby while I'll be here in Texas.

SPEAKER_06 49:08

I'll be sending you a daily text, so just keep uh keep a lookout for them. And here at Stallion ESearch, I'm Greg Thompson.

SPEAKER_15 49:16

And I'm Bailey Ivey.

SPEAKER_06 49:18

And we'll be back next week here with Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly.