StallioneSearch Podcasts
StallioneSearch Podcasts
Ep.69 Billy Peterson- All American Winning Jockey/Financial Planner
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Ep.69 Billy Peterson- All American Winning Jockey/Financial Planner
You're back. That must mean you like what you're hearing. We like being the place where quarter horse racing legends and headline makers come to tell their stories. It's you, the listener, that continues to drive what we provide here on a weekly basis. So let's give them what they want here on the number one quarter horse racing podcast going for Thursday, July 9th. Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly.
SPEAKER_08Here we go. And hello again, everyone. I'm Greg Thompson, and this is the podcast Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly.
SPEAKER_10And I'm Bailey Ivy.
SPEAKER_08Bailey got another great show. I know I say that all the time, but truly, this is a very unique podcast. This one here, this episode. I'm really anxious to get this out to the folks so they can listen to this tale of Billy Peterson, one of the former All-American winning jockeys that's gone into the business world and has done very well, has his own podcast, and can't wait to get to the story. You guys to hear it. I'm very proud of this one for sure.
SPEAKER_10You know, Greg, I think that's the perfect word you used. Unique. It's one of the most unique stories we've had on the podcast. Billy had such an incredibly successful career on the racetrack. And while putting himself through college and competing at the highest level, then instead of just staying on the racetrack, he builds an entirely new career and is even more successful as a financial planner.
SPEAKER_08Without a doubt, I would say Billy would be the first one to say that he's more successful as a financial planner than he was as a jockey, even though, as mentioned, he's an all-American patronity-winning jockey. So I can't wait to get to the story as well as the recap section. Plenty to do here on this podcast, and we'll be right back after these words.
SPEAKER_13It's Roboshow Ranch. Hi, I'm Ryan Roboshow. Starting in July at the TQHA sale, and in the first weekend of August at the LQHBA sale, I want to urge you to come look at the Roboshow yearlings. Then we'll head to the top of the mountain in Riadosen for the select sale, and we'll finish off the sale season in Oklahoma at Heritage. So come by and stop and check out our yearlings at Roboshow Ranch and grab something to eat while you look at your next runner.
SPEAKER_19Eagles Fly Higher stands at the Louisiana Center for Equine Reproduction, and he's a Grade 1 winner on the track who is now siring graded stakes winners, like Eagle on a June bug, winner of the Grade 3 Sam Houston Race Park Derby. Check him out. Eagles Fly Higher.
SPEAKER_05Alright, back to the show.
SPEAKER_08Alright, ready to jump right in with our featured guest, Billy Peterson, who's currently a very successful financial planner out in Arizona. But of course, we know Billy Peterson from being an all-American fraternity-winning jockey. Back in 1995, when he guided the Greg Sanders train win a lot of cash to a win on Labor Day there up on the mountain. And so of course we'll get into plenty of those details, but one of the great things about this interview with Billy is that he is an author and he's also got his own podcast, and he's a salesman because he is a financial planner, so he has the gift of gab. And one of the things I found fascinating, it's sometimes not just always about the big grade one wins, but about people's origins of how they got into the sport of quarter horse racing. And Billy goes into great detail about when he first got started and what drove him to want to be a jockey in the quarter horse racing ranks, as well as to when he eventually decided to hang up his tack and the reasons why are in great detail. And it's clear that Billy is a great orator, someone who can really tell a story. And speaking of telling stories, let me get out of the way and let Billy tell his story here on Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly. Billy, thanks so much for joining us here on Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly. Thanks for having me, Greg. Billy, there's a lot of ground to cover, of what is certainly what I want to cover with you. Uh, you know, you've got a writing career, you got a financial planner career. You also have a podcast I want to get into later in the show. But let's start with your race riding career, is where us in the racing world became familiar with Billy Peterson. Give us your origins in the racing world. Where did it all come from, Billy?
SPEAKER_16Wow, well, it goes back to my days just growing up with my dad on his ranch. He owned a well still does. He has a mink farm, so he raises mink. And that was what he and my uncle and my cousins, kind of a lot of people in my dad's side of the family. That's the business they were in. Now it seems strange to a lot of people, and even to me, sometimes I think, couldn't my dad just have a normal, a normal career. Uh days off on the weekends, and you know, no nothing to do in the evenings, but you know, it was round the clock work, non-stop. I mean, we're talking thousands, so I think at one point I got up to having owning nearly 20,000 make.
SPEAKER_15Wow.
SPEAKER_16It was a lot of work, just work, work, work. And but we always had the horses. So you see, the horses were the the fun stuff that we got to do on the side. And my dad was a jockey himself. I mean, he never rode recognized races, but he rode a lot of match stuff. And back in the day when it was just, you know, one guy against another in the in the town, or take him to a fair or something like a county fair when they did a lot of that. Back when match races were, I think, legit. Okay. Right. Today that's a that's a bad term, I get it. But it wasn't always that way. Anyway, my dad was always small and and he rode horses and then trained some, and and he always had that bug. So that was the thing that they they had as their enjoyment, is the horses. Well, I was naturally small, and also naturally hated mink. I don't I'd never liked the mink farm. I I really liked the horses. So when he'd give me jobs to go do, feeding mink or hauling manure or cleaning out water cups or bedding mink, whatever. I would do that for a while. This is back when I'm about 11 or 12 years old, and then I'd kind of slink away and go off into the barn and find something there, whether it was working with the horses or uh even just cleaning stalls. I enjoyed that way better than doing anything on the mink side of it.
SPEAKER_08Where was this mink? Where where are we talking about, Billy?
SPEAKER_16Oh, in Morgan, Morgan, Utah. Yeah, it's pretty very common career path here in my hometown. A lot of the kids worked on mink farms in high school, you know, it's you know, in different towns, I'm sure Texas is probably has a lot of cattle stuff, but here in my hometown is more mink. There's more mink. And from about the time I was 12 years old, I started to really thinking about the racehorses and becoming a jockey. I started implanting that in my mind. I wanted to ride racehorses. So becoming a jockey became my passion. And I started watching all the other riders, even the guys who were galloping horses for my dad or for my uncles. And we'd go to the racetrack here in Utah, down here in Ogden. It's weaver downs now. It's still going. But we'd go there and they'd throw these riders up and they'd gallop the horses, or sometimes breeze them, or we'd go to the gate and let them break them out of the gate. And boy, did I just fall in love with it. I just I watched every move they made, every every detail. I studied and studied and watched. And and then at night, back in those days, they had Los Alamitos racing on a certain channel, and I'd watch all those races. And oftentimes I'd record the big races, and especially the jockeys that I really admired, and I'd run those videos over and over again. It was back in the days of VHS tapes. Um, people won't even know what that is, these young kids anymore. But I had to do what I had to do, and I really wanted to watch that. And for some reason, that just became a passion of mine, and that's that's all I could think about.
SPEAKER_08Billy, the you mentioned watching those riders early on and watching those riders that were taking the horses to the gate there at we what is now Weber Downs. Who were some of those riders that you were kind of looking at and and starting to model yourself after?
SPEAKER_16Oh man, there's Randy Kim was an old guy around here. Vaughn Maxfield um rode here many years. These guys are not names who you really recognize. There was a guy right here from my hometown named Val Tonks, who was actually unfortunately killed in a race accident at Los Alamitos. He was an up-and-coming kid. He was only 19 when he died, but he was getting on some really good horses. Luke Proctor was another guy that came out of this area, pretty well known for this area. John Crager uh grew up right here in my hometown of Morgan, Utah. He he came from here. So between him and Luke, Val tonks, Morgan, Utah guys, and then myself, just because I watched and wanted to be one of them. And then one day I decided to get my rope horse. I we always had rope horses. I roped a lot, my whole family was into that too. Threw an exercise saddle on one of my rope horses. I don't know, I was probably 13, and I decided I'm gonna figure out how to gallop standing up. And that was an experience, you know, um trying to learn how to balance and not pulling on the reins for balance and uh just learning how to rest my hands on the neck and keep my my feet forward in such a way that I could control a horse. But learned a lot about just getting balance, riding around in an arena. No one was teaching me these things. I was learning on my own, on the fly and watching other people do it.
SPEAKER_08I'm getting ahead of myself, Billy, when I'm talking about this, but in on Equibase, you have just about as many mounts on the quarter horse side as you did on the thoroughbred side. Growing up there in Morgan, Utah, was it the notion that you were going to be a quarter horse rider, or was it the you were just looking to be a race rider, it didn't matter what breed?
SPEAKER_16I was always thinking quarter horses because that's all I knew. I had never seen a thoroughbred or been aboard one for that matter. But the first time I went to ride races, it was uh they had a race day where I don't even what they they call this, it's like a fair meet or something. And so not recognized, but back in those days, there was a pretty big deal. A lot of people showed up for these races, and I think there were maybe eight races on the card that day. And I had a guy that I had galloped a little bit for, and I'm 15 at the time, and so I'm going to ride my very first races. I'd only busted out of the gate maybe four times before that. And I'm going to ride my first races, and I I know I'm gonna ride this at least one for a guy I'd been galloping for. I rode that quarter horse and for very first race, and we won. And in the winter circle and getting my pitcher, and I'm thinking this is the greatest thing in the world, and I get off and up comes this this guy and asked me if I could ride his horse in the next race. Well, you bet. And I first of all I looked at my dad and he looks this guy, sizes him up, and says, All right, yeah, you can ride the horse. Because he was pretty uh big on watching who I was riding for. He he knew that things could go bad in a hurry if you're getting on the wrong horses, the wrong people. But he let me he said, Yes, this looks like you'll be alright. So he got let me get on this horse, and and that horse ran second, I think. And then another guy comes up and says, Hey, I need a rider for a horse I have in the fourth. And he says, Thoroughbred race. I said, Okay. He goes, How many throwbird races have you won? I said, I I lost track. I've never even been on a thoroughbred, but of course I didn't like telling that because I didn't want to scare him away. So he puts me on this horse, and I'm thinking to myself, what have I gotten myself into? Because I'm looking out the track and they had the gate set up right in the front in front of the grandstand. And I'm going, what is happening? I gotta go all the way around the track on this horse. And he said, Look, just get this horse out, try to hustle him to the front. He'll know how to get around there. Get him in front, and they won't catch you. So that's exactly what I did. I wrote I rode him away from there like a quarter horse, and we were five lengths in front going into the first turn, and uh the horse just kept on going easy, and I'm doing my best just to not screw him up and turn him for home. I could kind of sense that there's a couple horses coming up to my outside, and I reached back and hit him a couple times with the whip and off he went again. And we won that race going away. And oh man, from that moment on, I th I just thought the thoroughbred riding was extremely fun, and I wanted to do as much as I could. You know, I had to learn how to ride. I it took me a while to figure it out. Even my first year when I'm 16, I had my license to ride in Utah and Idaho and Wyoming and you know, all these local intermountain tracks, and I got a my share of thoroughbred mounts, and I got my share of quarter horse mounts, more so the quarter horse side, and then I'd ride a lot of 870s, and I found that I was pretty successful with the 870 races because I don't know, I just I just had a feel I wasn't nervous about being in tight quarters, I wasn't nervous going in on that turn, and I just let them go wide open into that turn. And I won quite a few races, and then they started noticing that the thoroughbred guys would put me on some better horses in the in the longer races, six furlongs, seven and a half furlongs here at Wyoming Downs. And once I learned how to just let the horse run and not try to ride the horse, so to speak, you know, because I'm thinking quarter horse, I gotta get down and ride. And you know, the backside, I finally learned how to just relax and more like sitting still and just let the horse take me. And I was always a big believer in holding a horse together. Unlike a lot of jockeys you'll see today, even you'll see those reins just flopping or you know, trying to just go to the whip, and that's how they ride. They're just they they think if they can switch sticks and go right to left to right, that's how they're guiding the horse, and they need to just keep whipping and going one side or the other. They never pick up the reins. And that's one thing I learned and from these guys that taught me here is to pick up the horse's head. Pick up and also look up. I mean, if you if you don't looking where you're going, how you figure you're gonna stay in a straight line. And too many of these guys today, this is disappointing because they're trying to look pretty rather than be a horseman. And they half of them aren't even looking down the track. They got their heads stuck down looking at the main, trying to pose for a pitcher. Um, yeah, I I they wouldn't survive in the jocks room like we had to back then.
SPEAKER_08Billy shifting gears when you decided it was time to take that step up into the next level, talk about that journey and talk about why what was the decision you made to go where.
SPEAKER_16Well, that was the whole key to me getting gaining the success that I that I had in my career is leaving this area. And it wasn't like I was the premier jockey in this area at the time. I mean, I there was some good guys that you know had better stables. I had just broken my way into riding for a big stable. Lee Giles was the trainer that I had first call for. So, you know, when you ride first call for a barn, you're expected to gallop all those horses every day, work them. You're sure even in the offseason, you're the guy breaking the horses, you're doing all of it. So you know those horses intimately, very well, every single one of them. And we had a lot of success when he gave me that chance. And he he took a chance on me. I was young, I mean, I was only maybe 17 at the time, and he gave me first call and everything. And there's some pretty high-dollar horses in his barn, and we did really well. And I knew that I wanted to keep riding, and at the same time, I I was not going to give up on my education. And I'm glad about that. Um, it could have easily been put behind. I mean, I could have just said, forget the the college degree because I'm doing so well riding. I'm gonna focus on that. But that was one thing I I wanted to have is that degree. It's almost like hey, it was a badge of honor. So it was kind of my thing is I wanted to go to a place where I could ride and continue my degree at a university close. I ended up looking at two different universities um that offered both. One was Long Beach, California. I could go there and I could ride obviously at Los Alamitos, and that was right there on top of my radar. And I thought that's my first choice. Second choice I looked was UTEP, Texas El Paso, and Summon Park was right there. And I applied to both schools. I also applied for the AQHA scholarship, and the AQHA gave me that scholarship to attend schools. So basically they're paying me a pretty good chunk every quarter uh from that foundation. And Long Beach never responded to me. So UTEP responded and gave me um a full ride scholarship to attend. So I had money left over uh going to school with the AQHA scholarship, and then that's the choice I made and why I made it. But it it all happened for a reason, and I'm grateful for it. And the experiences I had going out there to Sumlin Park, it was the big leagues to me. And I know some people don't look at it as the big leagues, but to me it was that that step from Wyoming Downs type tracks to Sumlin Park was eye-opening. And I remember I had just gotten married, and there was a there was a race meet at Laurel Brown racetrack right here in South Jordan, Salt Lake, and we were having races there, and I won the Breeders' Cup classic race that day, and I had it all planned out. Um, my wife and I had just gotten married a few weeks prior to that, and we left the very next day, so loaded up and headed for El Paso. And I had already enrolled in school. I didn't know anyone. I know I knew one trainer over there, someone, who I had ridden for at Casper, Wyoming, by the name of Ray Carlisle. He is more of a thoroughbred trainer. I had a few quarter horses, he's the only guy I knew. We get there um like one in the morning, and I'm up at five hitting the track, and I'm just hustling. And this is just my attitude back then. It's just I need to outwork everybody, and that's that's my way to where I want to go, is just outwork everybody. And I didn't again, I didn't know a single trainer uh other than Ray, and I'm just going from barn to barn to barn, introducing myself. Hey, I'm Billy Peterson, I just got here. I'd love to gallop anything for you today. Do you have anything I could take for you? You know, obviously doing everything for free, and that first morning, I think I got on one horse, or like one guy let me get on one. The next morning I'm out there again, I'm hustling around, and up comes Ray Ann Holland on her golf cart. I didn't know who she was. And she said, Hey, are you the boy from Utah? Yeah, that's me. I've heard I've heard a lot of good stories about you. She said, Well, I'm Ray Ann Holland and I'm a jockey agent. Would you like me to work for you? Absolutely. You bet I would. I didn't even know what a jockey agent was, Greg. I mean, that's how that's how raw and um uneducated I was about the whole deal. But because back when I grew up here, there was no such thing.
SPEAKER_15I mean, you just figure out on your own. Yeah.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, you find your own mounts, you know, you you hustle on your own. But once I met her, everything changed. I mean, from that moment on, she's taking me to barns, everybody's meeting me, and all of a sudden I'm credible. I have credibility. Brianne's working. And yeah, you need to you need to talk to this kid, you need to find some horses for this kid. So hell, I go from nobody wants to talk to me to I've got five horses to ride this weekend in races. And uh the first horse I won on out there was a thoroughbred. But then she introduced me to Fred Danley. Um, he started putting me on some horses to gallop and work, and then one thing leads to another, he's putting me on his best horses. And so things just started to click, you know, and I have to give her a lot of credit for that. I don't know if I'd have been able to do it on my own.
SPEAKER_08You know, I've known a lot of jockeys, you know, known a lot of their stories, and they've told me a lot of their stories. I don't I'm I'm failing to see a parallel between someone that made a decision of where they were going to go and begin their race riding career at a higher level based off of what college they were going to be accepted into. I'm see it. I'm not saying that uh I just your story's very unique, Billy. I I uh this is the first time for me for sure.
SPEAKER_04And we'll be right back after these words. When summer has arrived here in late June, the consignments for most of the yearlink sales have already closed, and plans most undoubtedly have already been made for the 2026 yearlink sales, which means it is time to focus on consigning your fall mixed sale prospect or even your January winter mixed sale prospect with one of the industry leaders in the sales prep business at Dunn Ranch. It's the care and it's the attention given that makes the difference. It's the preparation all the way down to the promotion of the prospect, as well as the overall presentation and sale time that makes consigning with Dunn Ranch a no brainer. If you're serious about managing your equine investments, go with the top of the line services offered for sales prospect at Dunn Ranch. You can find us at Dunn Ranch.
SPEAKER_08October 17th is the date in Albuquerque for the AQHA Championship Challenge Finals. You can visit AQHA.com forward slash racing to see the schedule for the upcoming regional races. And then you can read the recaps on stallionesearch.com in the challenge section of all the challenge races that have transpired leading to the finals on October the 17th at the Downs at Albuquerque.
SPEAKER_05All right, back to the show.
SPEAKER_08Speaking of Fred Danley, I would say your first real taste of success at like the graded stakes races. That's where that was where it came with Fred. Uh one of the first ones that jumps right out on the page for if you're looking through your list of horses that you've been on is Andrew's Easy Effort when you won the Grade One West Texas Futurity. So talk about talk about Andrew's easy effort.
SPEAKER_16Well, so got through my 1994, that was the fall of 1994 when I arrived at Sumlin Park and started to meet people and get acquainted and making my way. And then in in the spring, spring of 94, you know, we start the babies. And my dad had a colt that was by Chick-spedueno. And he wanted to send down there to Sumlin. And he's like, all right, you know, he went, he's asking me, who do I like? Who should we send this horse to? And I said, I think Fred Danley's really good. So I get talking to Fred and introduce my dad to him. And when thing was nice, he sends this cult down there for Fred to train. Andrew was a horse I started working for him. And it was great because I don't know how this all came about, but I've always felt like the grooms, they don't get enough recognition. They're not treated with enough respect by a lot of guys. And I noticed that with some of the jockeys. They just come like, don't even say thanks, don't ask them what's going on, don't talk to them. And I always thought that was disrespectful for the amount of work they're putting in and time they spend with those horses. So I was very much aware of that. And when I go to barns, I talk to those guys the best I could and ask them how they were doing and what horses were doing what. And anyway, I I really kind of got to be friends with the grooms at Fred's barn, and they started looking out for me. So when the time comes to work, horses, well, these guys know they kind of have a feel for what's going on and what horses can do what. And they start telling me, hey, get take this one, take this one. And so, you know, Fred doesn't know he's got five or six riders standing around at all times over there. He's got so many horses, and so he's just saying, get on a horse. I don't care. Everybody, you know, I'm taking him out. But they're helping these grooms are helping me get on the horse that they think have the best chances. And they started the singling him out, and Andrew Z. Effort was one of the first ones they told me, get this horse. And they get on him, and that first time I worked him, I knew he was something pretty special. And and since I'm working him, well, guess what? Fred's putting me on naming me to ride him in the race. Because he named several riders to ride him in those first set of trials at West Texas, and they're they're maiden races prior to that. But I happen to have him and a handful of others that he named me on. And we qualify and we we enter it, we get back for the finals, and I think we're in the five-hole in the finals. And I remember that day, and he didn't he didn't break great. He he broke just half step slow. And the was it the I think the four-horse came over on me. I think that was one of Jack Brooks's horses. Can't remember who was riding him, probably Jackie. But he he comes, he comes out, drifts out immediately. And so I have to pull up and go back inside that horse. That's how far I'm behind him, at least, and probably several others. And I remember just switching to my left hand and hitting that horse a couple times, and he flew by those horses. And we were only going 330 yards, but he made that look pretty easy, and and won going away at the end. And that was the highlight of my career up to that point, you know, grade one, and of course, getting that recognition, and then you know, people start taking note when you win a big race like that, especially for a high-profile trainer.
SPEAKER_08That was in '94. The next progression, of course, is your big year of 1995.
SPEAKER_16Big race, yeah, big, big deal there. And I was going into that story about my dad's horse because that set up the whole thing with win a lot of cash. And Fred had Fred got my dad's horse, Willow Bedichik, and we qualified him to the West Texas fraternity. And I qualified uh two to that race, but I hadn't even seen one or heard of one a lot of cash up to that point. I qualified Fred's my dad's for Fred and one horse for Tim Gidry. And that horse isn't he was a beautiful kind of a buckskin horse named Run Hem Up. And I thought that horse might be the better horse, but I rode my dad's back. Anyway, we ran we ran third. I wanted to say run em up. He either ran first or second. I ran third. Then we go to Rio Dosa for the Riodosa trials, and and we have my dad's horse. And by then, Rayanne had received a call from Greg Sanders, and he says, Hey, uh, I've got a pretty nice colt. I'm wondering if Billy can ride him in the trials of Riedosa. She said, Yeah, yeah, we'll we'll put it down. He's just got one other colt that might take priority, and that was my dad's. And so, you know, just running third in the West Texas, he getting a pretty nice horse. So my dad runs in the trials of the Redosa, wins his trial, qualifies. I ride with a lot of cash. He wins his trial and qualifies. And I liked him. That was the first time I've been on him. And I told her and I said, This this horse of Greg's is a pretty nice horse. But, you know, and this is enough fence to Greg. I I mean, Greg had never had any real great horses himself. And I'm thinking, you know, maybe Fred, stay with Fred, plus it's my dad. How am I gonna take off my dad's horse? And so I ride my dad's horse back in the finals. Greg flies Larry Payne in to ride Win a lot of cash. And I remember specifically that race. Win a lot of cash probably wins that race if he doesn't drift. And I think Nancy Summers ended up winning that race.
SPEAKER_08Tommy, she won't mean Tommy Green won uh real sixth time. Yes, for Sam Sandoval.
SPEAKER_16So I run third, Winnowed Cash ran second. I think grace of God he ran second because if he wins with Larry, I might never got it back on the horse again.
SPEAKER_08Yes.
SPEAKER_16And so Greg tells Ryan, look, we want Billy back on him. We're going to Remington to run heritage place. Back then that you know that worked out that way.
SPEAKER_08It was weird how it is that because it's the Ridos of Fraturity was run on May the 28th, and then a month later you're in the trials at Remington uh for the Heritage Place Fraturity, and all of this is happening in the middle of the of the of the summer there, uh up on the mountain when this has historically been everybody kind of just stays up there. And and Remington, of course, it running during the summer was just a weird thing back then.
SPEAKER_16Exactly. Now the first time I'd been to Remington to go over there to the trials, and of course she qualifies for the final and come back and got wiped, flipped completely out, like seriously spun sideways, hit so hard out of the gate, and still comes flying and runs second and didn't get beat very much. And I'm telling you, if he if he only breaks and has a clean start, he wins that race by daylight. But by then, people are starting to take notice this horse is for real. And same here. And I told Rand, don't ever take me off this horse ever. I don't care who it is, I don't care if my dad has another one. This horse, I'm not taking off. So he goes back for the all-American trials and easily wins his trial, and then you know the rest is history. But that just kind of a it was just such a comeback from my and to be a culmination of my dreams, especially the year before you probably recall I rode in the All American in '94 and ended up having my horse break down in the finals. Um there was a disaster, a big investigation. The trainer and the owner were banned up there for life. That horse was named was Do Dominate. There's been some misconception. There was a story, an article written in Speedhorse last year, and they named Kenny Hart was the jockey of that horse, but I'm here to set the record straight. That was not Kenny Hart, that was me. Yes. And I was the one that went down with that horse. And that was my dream. That I ended up laying in the dirt wondering if my dream had just ended, you know, if I was permanently done riding. And you know, it was just physically I was okay, grace of God, but mentally that messed me up. That pretty much messed me up for a while. I started the feeling like things that weren't even there anymore, like or weren't really there. I started worrying about horses' soundness that I shouldn't have. It was like a traumatic, like a brain mind thing. It took me a while to process all that, get it out of my head. But I finally came to grips with it and overcame that. It was it was almost a fear. Yes. That I wasn't wanting to push hard to win. I was just mostly sensing, is this horse okay? Is this horse traveling okay? You know, should I ride hard? And I realized after a little bit of that, like if I if I'm not riding to win, I might as well hang it up. I'd be done. Because I can't do any good if I'm not trying to win. Then I was back. And by the time we got back to Sunland, I was back, you know, 100% all in. I I was leading jockey by a lot at that Sunland meet that next that fall and spring. And then, you know, the next year at Riyadoso, it was magical.
SPEAKER_08You know, speaking of that, it's I I've already told you that your story is fairly unique. I don't have another example of all the writers that I've had discussions with that had such a traumatic event on Labor Day in the race and then come back and be victorious in the next following year. And you you've skipped over, I'm gonna tell you, Billy, you skipped over to the meat of the on the bone there. So I'm not gonna let you do that. We're gonna have to drop, we're gonna have to go back to Labor Day of 1995 for sure. Greg Sanders up to that point. I mean, how did you know Greg Sanders? Is you he would if you look at when a lot of cash is uh races up to that point to where you first rode the horse there in the in the Riyados of Futurity trials, he had plenty of other riders that he was riding at the time. And and uh what made him is it was was it a relationship you had prior to that you knew Greg as a friendship-wise, or is it how what what was it drawing Greg to say, hey, call this agent and I want this guy on him?
SPEAKER_16Greg, the best way I can describe that or explain it is the power of the universe. And I know that sounds weird, but I truly believed and and dreamed and wanted so badly, going all the way back to my time watching those jockeys and watching those races and those videos and watching Casey Shadow hundreds of times, just watching it and just being so enthralled with the whole the whole deal, the whole game, the all-American. It was just so much a part of my mindset. That's what I wanted so badly that it had to come together somehow. I did not know Greg Sanders, period. I did not, we were not friends, we weren't, we weren't buddies, I didn't talk to him. I'd go to the track, I'd gallop, I'd run to school, I'd be at UTEP, I'd I'd take at least one class on race days. On non-race days, I'd be there for five or six hours. On race days, I'd have to hustle back to get to the jox room, ride the races, back to school for night classes. I didn't have time to socialize or mess around or go out party. I didn't know any of those guys that way. Ray Am knew him, and he somehow he had enough witnessing uh of experience watching me ride that he came to me. He he sought me out. It wasn't the other way around. It wasn't that, oh, I saw that horse on the track and went and asked him if I could ride it. He found me, and we found each other in a way. And I just say that's the power of the universe and the power of putting your mind to something, because so many things had to happen and transpire for all that to come together, and you don't even know where to start. You don't even know where the first domino fell. But I give all that to God and they give it to the universal mindset of believe. I think it's the most powerful force in the world, is when you believe in something strongly enough, just let it happen and get out of the way and quit worrying about when and how it's going to happen. So no one could have predicted that. No one could have predicted it would be me, it would be Greg Sanders, it would be these guys from Odessa who'd never owned horses before. It would be Winel Out of Cash who had zero breeding, you know. It would be the horse with the brand of a heart on his hip that they decided they wanted to own just because of the brand, because the wife fell in love with that. You know, how does all that come together?
SPEAKER_08The uh other great part of the story is that, you know, up to this point, Greg Sanders is another, you know, God rest his soul, but Greg Sanders is another success story of uh a kid that hitchhiked it all his way to Lubbock Downs and you know met Leo Wood, and Leo gave him the opportunity, uh, all the above, and and then to be in that scenario where he's got a once-in-a-lifetime horse and he's going towards the all-American and and trying to fulfill his lifelong dream at that point in time. So, but let's go.
SPEAKER_16Only his family, and he did so well with that horse. He believed in that horse from the moment he had him. And uh, you know, he's he spent the rest of his life trying to find another one. I know he never really did, but yeah, you know, those kind of horses are so rare. They're just so rare. But that horse was a freak of nature.
SPEAKER_08Go back to that labor day of 1995, something that many riders have ridden their entire career and and just never were able to accomplish. And I'm talking about Hall of Fame level riders that never got that opportunity. Here's this kid from Morgan, Utah. Hadn't been riding for too terribly long, uh, hasn't made the jump to New Mexico too terribly long ago, uh, had a devastating scenario in 1994 in the All-American Fraterity, but now you're going forth with a horse with a real shot. Said, here you are rubbing shoulders with the greats in their sport, Jackie Martin's, all those riders are there. So talk to me about that.
SPEAKER_16I mean, like just seeing all these guys in the jox room preparing for the race and ESPN crews and everything going on, you know, it could have really rattled me. The the year before, I think, had to happen in order for me not to just get carried away and get too far ahead of myself. And I think a little bit that happened the year before because I was just so excited about the moment and thinking about the outcome and how if I have to win this race, you know. And in '95, there was none of those feelings. I was I was so present. It was just so much in the moment. I I it was surreal. I could I don't know what other word to describe leading up to the actual race. Because I look back and I think to myself, even after, like the day after, I kept saying to myself, why wasn't I nervous? Why wasn't I shaking and just unable to control myself? I had no nerves, no fear, no concern. I was just so calm. I mean, I'm just I remember just sitting there on the bench in the jocks room, just looking around, just enjoying the moments, listening to guys talk. And I'm just sitting there chewing on a piece of gum. I'm like, this is just another day. And there I am set to ride the morning line favorite in a two million dollar race and and all my dreams, you know, again, have the chance to bring them all together. And I should have been freaking out, but I had nothing. I had no nerves. I I read a lot of books and autobiographies and sports stories, and I I I follow a lot of good athletes, and I hear so many stories that are so similar when the moment was the biggest for them is when everything slowed down. It's like time standing still. There was no rush. There was you you're just so present in your mind that there's no fear whatsoever. There's no nerves. And I just remember going out, getting on the horse, warming him up. I remember looking at Greg, he's more nervous than I am by a long shot. And he was ponying me, and I just kept thinking, I'm cool. This horse knows what he's doing, you know, we're fine. And just rode into the gate. And I mean, I like to relive that every so often, just watch that video because you know, if if you're having a bad day, just watch that for me. You know, put a smile to your face every time.
SPEAKER_08Take me from the gate to the wire.
SPEAKER_16Oh well, in the gate, it's more there's more tension than normal. Of course, you'd expect that. The headers sometimes they want to do such a good job. They know the all the stakes. Is that this is the whole in everybody's whole year right here. Everybody's wanting to win this race. This is the Super Bowl of horse racing. And so I think sometimes they're trying too hard. And they make things um sometimes the the energy, you know, you can just feel that energy. They're screaming, they're yelling, they're everybody's tense, trying to get that perfect start. And you just want everybody to calm down, just be quiet. You know, I think everything's gonna work out better if we're just everybody's okay, we're all quiet. But for a moment there, when a lot of cash decided he's gonna come up because he was he was sick of being pointed, you know. It it was taking too long, and everybody's yelling, too many people yelling, and he starts to come up and he goes back down, thankfully. And I remember my assistant saga who had him, Scotty, I can't remember his last name, but he grabbed the tip of his ear and put it in his mouth and just bit it. And I remember that that was the only time I'd ever had a guy do that, especially in a big quarter horse race. I'd seen him do that in throwbird race because they usually don't mind too much, but uh never had a guy bite a horse's ear. And for whatever reason he did. And the horse just kind of stopped and just pointed. And then for about three seconds, everything went quiet. And he just kind of felt, okay, I'm in the motion, I'm in the zone. Like, here we go. And bam, the gates came open, and he broke a little bit in, he broke just on his left lead, and he kind of drifted. He wanted to drift in just a little bit, that third jump. I just remember kind of picking him up a little bit, pulling him back, straighten him out. I don't want to interfere with anybody, but he was he broke in the third jump, he was in front or right with him. The only other horse that was maybe right there at this at that time was Shake the Bank. She was hanging in there with us for a little while. But I had zero worry. Like there was absolutely never a moment in my mind where I thought this race is in question, or you know, we have we have work to do. I just wrapped up and made him run into the bit, and he just he just loved it. He pulled through without me ever cocking the stick. Um, I just pumped pumped reins at him down there 300 yards a few times, kissed at him a few times, re-wrapped, run. He he loved to run into the bit. So the more you kind of pull and keep him collected and balanced, the better he would run for me. And it would just at the end, it was just like the most euphoric feeling, knowing that we crossed the finish line in front. And I'm never a guy to celebrate a lot or show off or do anything like that. I don't like the attention drawn to myself. But I remember it's the only race in my career I ever raised my whip in the air and kind of pumped my hand, and just like this moment was meant to happen. And that's how I felt. When I pulled up on the backside, I just thought to myself, my life just forever changed. And it was just that powerful.
SPEAKER_06And we'll be right back after these words.
SPEAKER_04The legend getting it done once again. The son of Corona Cartel, Royalist, posting the fastest qualifier in the Rotama Park Derby, as it just adds to the list of accomplishments of one of the industry leaders still producing world-class runners at Lazy E Ranch.
SPEAKER_0331 Grade 1 winners from the number three all-time leading Sire of Money Earners. And he's got plenty of yearlings heading to auction this summer. Be on the lookout at the sales for the next huge runner by the legend Corona Cartel.
SPEAKER_04Also check out the styre roster of Grade 1 Super Derby winner Big Lou, the Grade 1 producing Coronado Cartel, the all-time leader first down dash, the grade 1 winning Kempton, the Grade 1 winning and grade 1 producing stire Kiss My Hawks, another leading stire, PYC Paint Your Wagon, new for 2026, Unrelentless, and the Grade 1 producing Valiant Hero, all standing in Guthrie, Oklahoma at Lazy E Ranch. Did you know that 15 of the 30 qualifiers into the Grade 1 Rainbow Futurity, Derby, and Oaks are Riadoso sales graduates? Well, now you do. See you on the mountain to purchase your next Grade 1 runner from the New Mexico sale on August 15th and the Riodoso Select sale on September 4th and 5th.
SPEAKER_05Alright, back to the show.
SPEAKER_08Capped off that year in 1995. Not only was he champion two-year-old Gelding, he was champion two-year-old, the the champion two-year-old, as well as the world champion that year.
SPEAKER_16So world champion, yeah. Got the world champion ship. The race at Trinity Meadows was the most impressive of his career to that point. I felt like the finals of the Texas Classic. Um got out really badly. Bang. I mean, we we did not we were not even being pointy. He got into the gate and the header was kind of like turning him, kind of climbing him up, climbing up on the pontoon. Still had him turned, gates come open. And I never felt ever from that up to that point or after an acceleration like that in my life. Because it felt like I'd just been strapped to a rocket. And he just, I mean, he mowed them down, and by the time we hit the wire, we're pulling away, daylight in front. And we were at length, maybe more length and a half behind him to start that race.
SPEAKER_08And also to go off and win the world champion as a two-year-old, which is very rare air, as anybody that follows quarter horse racing knows. But he also bounced into that three-year-old campaign, started out winning the West Texas Derby grade three event, and then of course rattled off grade one wins. Uh he went won the Remington Park Derby, you won the Heritage Place Derby, and then you went back up on the mountain there, Billy. Uh, another Labor Day weekend with him. Talk about that all-American Derby win.
SPEAKER_16I flew in because I by then I'd moved my tack and everything to California. I wanted to move out there and try my hand. Big part of that reason was Jerry Nicodemus, who became a good friend of mine, and he encouraged me to go to California and try my hand out there. He's he really thought I could make a name for myself on the throwbred side of things. And he introduced me to Dick Mandela, who happened to be at R. D. Hubbard's branding. I remember when R.D. had that big cattle ranch out in in New Mexico, and Don Ferris was his kind of ranch manager. And anyway, they had that branding every year. And I went up there with Nick and Dick Mandela was there, and Jerry Nicodemus introduces me to Dick and said, Hey, this kid, he knows how to ride. I think you ought to give a look, give him a look if he comes out to California, put him on some horses because he's gonna be all right. So that kind of started the wheels turning up for me. It's like, wow, I can go out and ride at Santa Anita in Hollywood Park and maybe get the ride for Dick Mandela. So one thing leads to another. I I think all right, I'm gonna move to California. I got my degree from UTEP, moved to California. I'm riding there at Santa Anita and all those, trying to break into the thoroughbred scene, which is way harder than I thought. But long story short, I I still have the mount on and win a lot of cash. So, you know, thankfully. And so I fly in for all these races the Remington Park, the Heritage Place, the All American. And luckily, by the way, I made that first derby. Uh well, I won the West Texas, and then at Los Alamitos in between, so like right around in April, I had a horse flip over backwards on me at Los Al going into the gate, and that was the worst injury I ever had. It tore all the ligaments around my pelvis, like smashed everything, completely separated my upper and lower half of my body. I couldn't sit up, I couldn't roll over. It was scary because I thought I was paralyzed. The doctors thought I was paralyzed when I got to the emergency room. I couldn't feel anything, couldn't feel my legs, couldn't wiggle my toes. They said, Hey, there's a chance you're gonna be paralyzed. Oh my god, the feeling, the thoughts that rushing through my mind. And you know, I I can't imagine what it's like, what what that kind of news is like when that actually happens and the reality of it all. And there's so many of my friends and people I rode with had that happen. It was for real. But I remember calling my dad and saying, Dad, I'm in the hospital. I don't know, I might be paralyzed. And he's like, Oh god, doc, what have you done? You'll be okay. And he's trying to console me and tell me, and it just splashes back to the days he told me don't get on horses for people that are not horsemen. It's one of those things. I got on a horse, I shouldn't have gotten on to work it out of the gate in the morning. Never been on this horse before. Click over backward telling me before I could get away, and seriously injured me. They told me I'd need six months to get better, and I probably wouldn't be riding for the rest of the year, if I ever did. And this is we're talking April. Win a lot of cash, he just wins the West Texas. He's got around in the Firmington Park Derby. I think it's in May. I don't have six months, I don't have very much time at all. I have six weeks. And you know how riding is. If you don't ride, somebody else is gonna ride. They're not gonna they're not gonna hold the race up because you're hurt. So I just put it in my mind, I'm going to get better. I'm riding that horse. No one's riding that horse for me. And I started doing everything I could, started trying to to walk. So it was like for for a good ten days to two weeks, I couldn't walk, I couldn't get out of bed. I made myself get better. I just willed myself to get better. And I rode a horse at Lo Sal just to kind of test everything out the day before the Remington Park Derby trials. And I remembered when they legged me up on that horse, oh, the excruciating pain of it. Oh. But I drew I lowered my stirrups down. Look looked like um, I don't know, it looked like I might as well bend in the stock saddle.
SPEAKER_08But yes, probably like you were going over the the hurdles in a uh steeple chase race.
SPEAKER_16In a steeple chase, yeah.
SPEAKER_08Yes.
SPEAKER_16But anyway, it was a a little bit easier to get my legs up, you know, bend my bend my legs up to get him in, and I won the race. And then I flew to Remington and I said, I am not gonna look like that in these trials. I I raised my stirrups back up, you know. I still still dropped him two or three notches from normals, but we won the trial, and um from from then on, and and it was it was not pretty. I mean, I'm not saying I did anything spectacular in the trials. It was all that horse. I mean, anybody could have won on the horse if just get out of his way and try not to override him, just break, stay up, stay out of his mouth, wrap up. I mean, I just maybe hit him once, tapped him a couple times, um, wrapped up. He does the rest anyway. But flying back in for the All-American Derby, uh, being in like the thoroughbred side of things at that point in California, and then trying to switch back because I hadn't been riding a ton of quarter horses, but enough at Los Al that I still had the rhythm. I still had I knew what I was doing. But and it was muddy that day, real muddy at Los at Lake uh Riodoso that day. And so had the mud gear on, it didn't phase phase them a bit. I remember just walking into the gate just like it always was. And GR Carter tells me to this day, is like, I get so sick of chasing you and that horse. So I'm doing everything I can to outrun you, and I can't figure out how to do it. You know, those are just a great memories. You never can um, they'll never they'll never go away.
SPEAKER_08With win a lot of cash, he was unfortunately in '96, there was also another big runner named Dash and Folly that was also almost unbeatable there in California. And uh even though win a lot of cash up to that point when he won the All-American Derby, he had already won the grade three West Texas as mentioned, and then he won three grade ones in a row. And usually that's enough to to really put you in serious contention to get there uh and the and be up there on the stage during world champion presentation. And of course, he goes on there into the champion of champions of 96 and he runs a six. It says in the chart that it was an altered course. What do they mean by altered course? I guess I would have to look at the race again, but uh what what happened in the champion of champions?
SPEAKER_16It wasn't a wasn't a beautiful, clean trip. Um got jostled around a little bit, had to had to kind of pull him out of a spot that wasn't staying open, and we got out a little bit late. But at the same time, I feel like even warming up, I knew the horse wasn't totally ready. He wasn't he wasn't himself. I could just tell he wasn't focused, he wasn't as sharp. Um lots happened in between that loss at with Tama, I guess. I a lot of the stuff bleeds together as far as where we were. But he we got beat over there, and then he he moved the horse to KC Cardin and took him to Los Alamitos. Casey Cardin had never seen the horse before or trained him before. And nothing against KC, he was a great guy. He actually stayed at my apartment over there. But he didn't know the horse. He didn't know what he liked, didn't like, didn't know you know the best way to get him in shape and train him. So he had quite a bit of time off in between that race and the champion champions. And he just wasn't he just wasn't the same horse right then.
SPEAKER_08Horse went on, and it was the last time you were on the horse as it pertains to his last start. Of course, the horse went on and ran a multiple multitude of other times, never really r returning to the grade one level. Won several races with Blaine Schwanneveldt and Joe Badia was on the on the horse. But uh that was hard to watch.
SPEAKER_16That was hard to watch, Joe. You know, I was I was proud of the the success of the horse, you know, because I wanted the horse to win. And Blaine told me himself, even this is after I retired, I felt like it was it was time. But he said, This is one of the fastest horse I've ever trained. Not saying something coming from Blaine.
SPEAKER_08Yes, probably one of the um most underrated runners in quarter horse racing, doesn't get mentioned enough in the at that level. And uh but that transitions me over to the next direction I wanted to discuss with you. You were only in race riding for nine years, according to your biography that I read. Uh give me to the point where you decided to hang up your your tack and to go in a different direction.
SPEAKER_16Well, I'll tell you some of the downsides of writing, and very very few people understand this part of being a jockey. And back in my day, and years before even I came into the sport, the weight assignments on jockeys was very severe. It was it was extremely limiting on what you could weigh in order to meet the required limit, the assigned weight, and especially on the throwbred side, where I I wanted to do well and I wanted to be known for both sides. You know, I wanted to be what's called a race rider. I want to be able to ride anything and win and be respected for that. But when you're trying to make that weight, I saw some of the terrible things in that jox room. Guys that were throwing up just bulimic, just nonstop puking, uh, sitting in the sauna to the point where they're nearly passing out. Lasix pills, um, you know, so unhealthy, so many things that are so devastating to a physical body, and watching guys do it who aren't normal normally the weight that they're being assigned to ride, but they have such a passion to do it, they're they're gonna do it. And good friends of mine and good guys, and I remember watching so many guys that struggled so hard. Todd Fincher would think you're six feet tall, and he'd he he was a he was a stick man. Uh he'd have one bag of P M's a day. That was his that was his uh nutrition. Um Glenn Murphy, another great guy I wrote a lot with out there, and it just you know just looked, and and Glenn, if you listen to this, I love you, buddy, but just look so unhealthy. All these guys that did so well, had such great careers, but were in terrible shape help-wise. Well, I fell into that same trap. I started looking at that scale as if it were my enemy. I I was gonna dominate that scale. Can getting on that scale so many times a day, you despise that thing, and you don't want to let that thing win. It's like you're in competition with it. And I wanted to be lighter and lighter. I got anorexic. I I actually and I know what it means to be anorexic when when people say, Oh, this person is an anorexic, and they laugh about it. Well, just start eating, like I mean, it's a it's a weird like mental condition when you were trying your best, and you don't the only thing that gives you any satisfaction is to go lighter on the scale, is to be less than you were yesterday. And so to be riding thoroughbreds and especially going to California, I just kind of made it my mission. I'm gonna I'm gonna be able to tack whatever I want. I'm I'm going lighter. It's like a competition with yourself. And so I started, I was tacking 116 at Sunland Park, you know. So that means hey, you gotta be about 112 when you're stripped. Get get it get there, get yourself showered, you know, get on the scale. All right, I'm 113, I'll pull a pound. I can do that. Or I'm get there, I'm fine, I'm 112, I'm I'm good. And that's kind of how I wanted to have every day. But as I get to California, it became it became a whole new animal. I started to get lighter and lighter and lighter. So that I get down to the the lowest point in my career, I'm I'm at 106. I'm tack I'm 106 on the scale strip. And I'm thinking that's a good thing. I'm thinking proud of myself for that. Like, what the hell am I doing? So I can tack 110. Why would why would I ever want to tack 110? Looking back, I see how how absolutely ridiculous my mindset was. But I never wanted to be announced as an overweight writer. Like it terrified me. For what reason? I don't know. I don't know what traumatic event that was in my life. Like, I don't like the light on me in a negative way. And so I didn't want to be announced as oh, Billy Peterson's overweight. Oh my god, imagine it. So I just kept going lighter and lighter and lighter, and it got to this point where I was physically sick and getting to the track in the mornings early, you know, get out there six, galloping horses, and then rush to the brokerage firm because by then I was starting to think about my second career. I had an opportunity to work at a brokerage firm. That was all lined up, by the way, by a guy named Mike Mongi, who was the at the time was the assistant GM of Hollywood Park. He kind of took a liking to me and started saying, Why are you still riding? You know, you got a degree. What the hell are you doing being a jockey? Well, I don't, I mean, I don't know what else to do right now. What do you like? Well, I have a degree in finance. I I really like finance, economics. I'm really good at that stuff. I know all about it. I've been investing my own money, been helping other guys invest their money. So let me introduce you to he had a friend that worked at a brokerage firm in Long Beach, Payne Weber. He gets me an interview. This lady, she's the branch manager secretary. She gets me an interview with the branch manager. I go in there, all 108 pounds, whatever I was that day, and probably looking at me like, what is this kid wanting to do? But they got talking to me and they're kind of fascinated with my career, my story, and what I wanted to do with my life. And they were more interested in the horses. They they wanted to go bet on the horses, so they wanted me to tell them what horses to bet on at Hollywood Park or that night at Los Alamitos. So that all those guys from the brokerage firm started coming to the races at night. And I'd tell them what I got to bet on, and of course I'd win several, and they'd they'd be betting and getting drunk and having a hell of a time. And I became kind of like this little office uh celebrity where I was the guy they all want to talk to and pat on the back when I'd come in. What what I was getting to here is the whole lifestyle just caught up with me. The night racing, the up in the morning early, the starving myself to death, that finally took its toll enough to the point where I couldn't handle it anymore. And you know, I might have kept riding. I it was just getting started. Los Alamitos was it was like uh just getting started for me. I was going to get a bunch of good horses. Paul Jones was he wasn't Paul Jones when I quit. He was just starting, but he was just on the cusp of getting going, and he wanted me to ride all his horses. My agent, Monty Olomacher, and Paul were really tight, and he had me riding his horses. I had several other good barns, and I just said, I'm done. And I made that announcement that no one expected it. No one thought that I was going to stay retired. Matter of fact, Dr. Allred and R.D. Hubbard made a bet that I was coming back. I can't remember who bet what. And I wasn't back, you know. I yeah, usually when I say something, I'm gonna do it. And I said, No, I I've done all I wanted to do in quarter horse racing and and riding in general, and I'm gonna make a career out of something I I want to do now long term.
SPEAKER_04And we'll be right back after these words. You want to get the most out of your feed, whether it be for a consigned yearling going through the sales ring or the mare and foal out in the pasture, or your futurity prospect prepping for a big win, it's simple. Feed your horse Purina.
SPEAKER_02Go to Purinamills.com forward slash horse feed to view all of the available products for your equine investment.
SPEAKER_09As you really will see the difference. Feed Purina.
SPEAKER_08And Royal Vista Ranch. There's a superstar tire in the making that's just finished its first year standing at stud, and that's the Grade 1 multiple derby winner, Just Dolce, the son of just good candy out of the tempting Dash Mayor Pristy Stentacha, who was the A2HA champion racing three-year-old Colt before retiring to the stud barn, and was also the winner of the Texas Classic Derby, a Grade 1 event. And he also pulled off a big victory in the Grade 2 Dash for Cash Derby as a three-year-old. He's one of those tires you don't want to miss out on once his first crop starts hitting the cells ring as well as the racetrack. So take a look at Just Dulstein there at Royal Vista Ranch in Wayne, Oklahoma. Also standing at Royal Vista Ranch, the son of a political jest, a political J Street, the already legendary apolitical jest, the AQHA Champions Fire FTD going grand, the industry-leading flying cowboy 123, the royally bred heart of the cartel, all standing at Royal Vista Ranch in Wayne, Oklahoma.
SPEAKER_05All right, back to the show.
SPEAKER_08And you since have written two books, at least that I know of, Billy. You've certainly you're also one of the guys that helped a lot of these riders kind of avoid the pitfalls that you saw. And I've heard on one of your podcasts that you have done that you try to avoid the put the pitfall that you know there was multiple riders that you knew of that you had ridden with that if they only manage their money correctly, they wouldn't be in the financial status they are in there later in their life after the race riding career is over with. And you've sought out kind of rectifying that with a lot of the modern day riders of taking their money and investing it properly.
SPEAKER_16Right. It's just it's sad for me to watch all these guys that have made so much money and have such exciting careers and and they're on the top of the world in our sport, horse racing, and then they they fade into nothing. And they really literally do. Um their careers after, who knows what they're doing, but they don't have the life that they should have had. If they had just been a little smart, sacrifice a little bit today for tomorrow, you know, put it away. And I mean, that's what I try to teach these guys is quit trying to think about what you're gonna buy with that right now. Like put some away. That's your number one priority. Take 15% off the top. That's gone. Don't even think about that. We're investing that, and you're gonna leave it for later in life. And if you just do that for several years and get a good return, invest it wisely and not always play around with it and tamper with it. It it's amazing how quickly that'll compound. But it takes discipline to let it go and not want to grab it every time you feel like there's a little bit of money there. And believe me, I had some of the biggest. When I retired, I knew all those thoroughbred guys. Eddie Delahusa was a client of mine, Alex Solis was a client. I had all those guys, the big names, right? Chris McCarron, all these guys were good friends of mine and had given me money. Um, Kent DeSormo was a client of mine. Like, all you got to do is leave it alone. Um, there's only been a few that have been really, really intelligent with their money. And I can count them on one hand. And most of them are in the third side. There've been some quarter horse guys that have been smart, but there's just not enough of them. And I hate to say that and use that like it's a derogatory statement. Smart. I mean, there's a lot of smart guys, just in in different ways, right? And they can be smart in doing other other things and getting into business after the fact. So you don't always have to do things what I'm how I'm suggesting, but there's what I consider to be an easy or a passive way to be wealthy without having to continue to reinvent yourself and to work harder. I think it's just getting comfortable with letting your money work for you. And that's what our capital markets are all about. That's investing, like letting the businesses do it for you, investing in great companies and letting them do the work for you.
SPEAKER_08You also have your own podcast as well. You know, you you also sprinkle in a lot of racing in them uh when you're doing the podcast with your son Cade. Uh talk to me about uh the success of your podcast.
SPEAKER_16Well, uh I appreciate you saying that. We we started that out a few years ago, just thinking that's a good way to um connect with people, to give them stories, to maybe inspire people that are thinking about starting a business, or maybe needing a little push, or needing some self-confidence of somebody who's done it before them. So the idea was to showcase folks who have done great things, who've become successful in whatever career path they chose, and who have a story to tell. And so it's supposed to be about money and the financial accomplishments there, but it doesn't always have to be about money. It can be about just a story. You know, you had an idea, you know, you wanted to do something and you ran with it. And that stuff inspires me is the people that Are willing to take a risk and and do something and be unique and try something. And then of course we bring in a lot of horse racing folks who have good stories to tell, careers. Um I love talking to people about good horses and about just their careers and how they got to where they're at, what it took going back in time and just hearing all those the stories about how racing was 20, 30 years ago is it's just neat. And I hope that we never get away from that completely. I know things have changed so much, but I I respect a lot of the guys over the years who I watched and had to work hard for it, um, had to be great horsemen and women to get it done. Um and that's what I that's what I want to talk to them about. That and then just success stories in general. So all walks of life. Like it could be anybody, it could be a cop, it could be somebody running a charity, it could be a guy who started a a business selling metals or uh badges. Um it doesn't matter, but how did you get that idea? Why why is it unique? How did you make it work? Why are you successful? What would you have done differently? We can all learn a lot from people who've just gone before us. Right.
SPEAKER_08I thank you so very much for coming on our podcast here. Uh it's you've you've given we've gone off in several different directions, but it was just a great time, and I I appreciate your story and sharing it here on Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly.
SPEAKER_16Well, I sure appreciate you having me on. I wish everybody out there a great and successful year. Um I appreciate being involved in the industry, and I'm sure I'll see everybody around at the sales. Thanks again, Billy.
SPEAKER_06And we'll be right back after these words.
SPEAKER_00There's lots of things happening for the sire, Uncle D, the grade one winning son of Corona Cartel, who's also the sire of the grade one winning Heaven's uncle, and Mr. Master Bugstak's winner, Uncle Redheads, who also has qualified into the Prairie Meadows Gold Derby.
SPEAKER_17Uncle Redhead's moving best of all, far outside, flying Rebo 123, Uncle Redheads. Uncle Redheads won it.
SPEAKER_00And if you are in the market for yearlings this summer, take note of the free Uncle D yearlings going to the sales ring in Texas at the TQHA yearling sale later this month. Uncle D, standing at Prestige Equine in Roswell, New Mexico.
SPEAKER_08All right, we're back here on Quarter Horse Racing Talk, ready to jump into the recap section, and that takes us out to Very Hot, Venton, Louisiana, for the 4th of July big Firecracker Futurity, the grade 2 event. Open breads going 350 yards for $270,000. And here's the call from Don Stevens.
SPEAKER_11And they're off in the Firecracker Futurity and Mucho Man Lady shot out of the gate with the lead. On the outside, just Diamonds Are Wild is up close right between. CT Cybercrime. Also, the King Marfa is coming on to make it close late. Mucho Man Lady has a lead, trying to hold on. The King Marfa! Those two hit it together. A photo finish in the Firecracker Futurity.
SPEAKER_10The King Marfa is a two-year-old gelding by the Marfa Lights out of the BV Travelin' Soldier Mare, BV Heavenly, read by Bella Vista Farms LLC, owned by Alfonso Ranhill, trained by Santiago Vieseca, and written by J.R. Ramirez.
SPEAKER_08Next up, Iowa. Out to Prairie Meadows for the Prairie Meadows Gold Futurity, a $263,000 futurity, 350 yards for two-year-olds, and here's the call.
SPEAKER_17And they're off. And it was a good start for A Political Dreamer from the inside gate. Isaac Chick Magnet is there. And up on the outside, B Iconic is starting to storm home. It's a political dreamer. Here comes B Iconic fast on the outside. B Iconic closing a driving finish. Blanket finish. B Iconic there with encourager or a political dreamer. Those three in a photo for all the dough.
SPEAKER_10A Political Dreamer is a two-year-old gelding by Apolitical Jess out of the He's Relentless Mare, One Cool Dreamer. Owned and bred by Brenda Riswig, trained by Jason Olmsted, and ridden by Ramiro Garcia.
SPEAKER_08We go back to Delta Downs for the $149,000 Firecracker Derby. 350 yards for three-year-olds going down the racetrack in Vinton, Louisiana. And here's the call from Don Stevens.
SPEAKER_11And they're off in the firecracker derby at Delta Downs. A good start for Simpson Tacha. Up and on the outside, AJ Big Cash digs in at the rail. ISO Gray putting in a bid behind the ho, shiny cowgirl, trying to run late Ocho Rojo, but it's too late. On the outside, AJ Big Cash wins the firecracker derby.
SPEAKER_10AJ Big Cash is a three-year-old gilding by Apolitical Jess out of the Teller Cartelmare Teller Baja. Read by Rantu Cabresto, owned by owned by Jimmy Harrell, and Ryan Terry, trained by Vivian Hill and ridden by Francisco Calderon.
SPEAKER_08Now down to Texas, the TQHA sale futurity trials happened and took place. Was look at the fastest qualifier coming out of the trials.
SPEAKER_18And they're off. Hitting first on the outside. That's the nine cowboys flying down towards the rail. Jet one is armed to the center of the track. That's our favorite cowboy. They spring towards the finish. Cowboys flying doing just that. Nestor Duran's third win of the night. It's second goes to number eight. The Venetra Trace Saints will wait for the photo for third.
SPEAKER_10Cowboys Flying is a two-year-old gilding by Flying Cowboy 123 out of the Carter's Cartel Mare Cartel's Lady, owned by Double J Racing, read by Tommy Hayes, trained by Ramiro Vilireal, and ridden by jockey Nestor Duran.
SPEAKER_08Alright, we'll stay down in Selma, Texas for the Rotama Park Derby trials, looking at the fastest qualifier going into the finals.
SPEAKER_18And they're off. Next Royalist in the center track with a great freight down towards the rail. A cowboy's chick. In the middle next FTTLFA. They sprint towards the finish. And the next Royalist now that's just scooting away and is gonna win it. Royalist and Luis Vavanco is gonna win the first trial. It's like it goes to number five. MW Bulletrain.
SPEAKER_10Royalist is a three-year-old cult by Corona Cartel out of the one famous Eagle Mare, Zigfield Follies, owned by Hector Reyna, read by Veronica Kawana Nakoa, trained by Ben Oliveson, and written by Luis Vavanco.
SPEAKER_08Now let's head over to New Mexico. The Zia Futurity trials took place, a restricted grade one event for New Mexico Breads, and let's look at the fastest qualifier.
SPEAKER_12They're running. Even break, acrylic fast from the inside. Daddy's China is gonna go with him. And uh then let's see, we go back to Bedawee Cartel, followed up by my chocolate martini. Daddy's China battles out with acrylic! Acrylic surges back! Acrylic to beat Daddy's China, then Bedouin Cartel and Outpost.
SPEAKER_10Acrylic is a two-year-old gelding by Big Daddy Cartel out of the first Moon Flash Mare Paint Your Moon. Owned and bred by Pierre Amistoy and Leslie Amistoy, trained by Clink Crawford and written by Jacob Enriquez.
SPEAKER_08Staying in New Mexico, the Zia Derby trials, the restricted grade two event, and let's look at the fastest qualifier going into the finals.
SPEAKER_12They're running. Luxury outbroke King Dynasty. CQ Kyome Jesse's gonna move into second. King Dynasty's floating out a little bit, and then we go back to special polka and holiday luxury in command. Luxury King Dynasty's trying to make a run outside. CQ Guy Jesse at the rail surges! Luxury CQM Jesse in a photo for the win. King Dynasty couldn't catch them.
SPEAKER_10Luxury is a three-year-old gelding by Big Daddy Cartel out of the Jesse James Jr. Mare Astica. Owned by Triple R Racing LLC, Wallace Landrum, Ted Rushing, and Ranto L48. Bread by MJ Farms, trained by Rudy Viez, and written by Joseph Bellick Jr.
SPEAKER_08Alright, that's a recap section, and we'll be right back after these words from our sponsor.
SPEAKER_09Hey, you won't want to miss out on this. Get out your day planners and your pens and pencils to write this one down.
SPEAKER_01Hey, I'm Spence Kidney, the general manager here at Heritage Place in Oklahoma City. We can't wait to host you for the upcoming Yearland sale September 16th through the 19th.
SPEAKER_07That's Heritage Place, the place where champions are sold.
SPEAKER_05All right, back to the show.
SPEAKER_10And we're back this week on Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly, jumping into the preview section, and we have a very big weekend of graded stakes races in New Mexico and Louisiana, and we're gonna start out discussing the rainbow races that are happening in Albuquerque, which we're gonna start with the grade one Rainbow Oaks, which is gonna be a super tough race. Yancey, who do you have picked on top?
SPEAKER_14I mean, there's definitely three standouts in this race. You have beautiful, GFC Sinful, and Toby Sayes. I think these are the best three-year-old Phillies there is right now, but I have Beautiful on top, the eight. This horse is three for three this year. She she already won the Los Almidos Oaks. Uh she looked good in her trial. It's her first start at Albuquerque. And Rodrigo Vallejo, which is her main rider, is back in the irons.
SPEAKER_10Yes, Yancy. I'm excited to see her running this weekend as I'll be there. And I also think that the five and the six hole are gonna be super tough. Toby Sis and GFC Sinful, they ran in the same trial and Toby Sis won. But I think that GFC Sinful is gonna come back strong in the final and maybe upset at uh Toby Sis. But Toby Sis ran fifth in the Heritage Oaks and then came back and won a rainbow trial. But GFC Sinful just won the grade one Redoso Derby. I think it's gonna be a great group of Phillies running.
SPEAKER_14Yeah, I agree. I mean if GFC Sinful breaks, they're gonna have to catch her. I think she's the fastest horse leaving the gates there is, so it should be a great race.
SPEAKER_10And then jumping to the million dollar grade one rainbow derby, going 440 yards in Albuquerque this weekend, and the reigning two-year-old world champion will be running in this race a political twist, which Yankee, I think we both probably have him picked on top. It's gonna be hard not to choose this horse.
SPEAKER_14Yeah, I mean, this horse had been off for seven months coming into the trials, and it looked like he hadn't been off at all. It comes and sets the fastest time. I mean, this is this horse is arguably the best horse running right now. It's gonna be hard to beat him.
SPEAKER_10Yes, Yancy, I agree. And another one that I really like in this race that just recently won the grade two heritage place derby is point blank range, who's had an incredible career so far.
SPEAKER_14Yeah, I I really like this horse too. I think after the heritage finals in D. Keener's interview, he said this horse was begging to go 440 and kind of looked like that in his child race. He it kind of took him a little bit to get going, but that extra 40 yards really seemed to help him. I think another one we have to talk about is the one horse, Jarvis V. This horse is always right there. He just ran second in the Riodoso Derby, he ran third in the winner derby earlier this year. He qualified to the low sal 2 million last year, so he's another one that's always right there. This should be super tough as well.
SPEAKER_10Yes, Anti, and another one that I want to talk about is Louisiana man. He's won over $400,000. Out of 13 starts, fourth is the worst he's ever ran, which was in the Oklahoma Derby this year. So I think that he's definitely one to keep an eye on. And then going to the $1 million Rainbow Futurity grade one event, going 400 yards. My eye is on El Huracano V, which is a son of Golden Boy, who's the hot freshman sire at the moment. And he just recently ran second in the Heritage Place Fraturity at Grade 1 event, barely losing to a really good horse as well, fall classic. So that's who I have picked on top in this race.
SPEAKER_14Yeah, barely. I think El Huracano V is definitely one of the main ones to outrun. I like Ask Her to Fly the Five. She just ran third in the Riodoso Faturity. She comes back and she sets his fastest time to the finals here of the rainbow. And this feeling continues to prove that she can run with the boys, so I like her a lot. For a long shot, I like Cartel Cowgirl 1, 2, 3. She had her first start in the trials and looks super impressive. So she's definitely fresh and hasn't had that many races on her yet. But I think she'll be a good horse for a long shot play in here.
SPEAKER_10Yes, Yancy. It's gonna be a great group of races at Albuquerque this weekend, and I'll be out there, so I'm excited to come back next week and recap it with you. And moving on to Louisiana, we have the Delta Downs Derby, uh $130,000 400 yards grade one event.
SPEAKER_14I think the five Valiant Heart Z is the horse to beat. This is the fastest qualifier. Uh he won the Louisiana Million Invitational last year. He's two for two this year as a three-year-old. Looked like he was the top horse in the trials. It's hard to bet against Jorge Garcia out there this year. He's winning everything in Louisiana, so I have Valiant Heart Z on top.
SPEAKER_10Yes, Yancy. I like that horse as well. Another one that I like in this race is San Lorenzo Bossman, a cult by a political blood. He didn't win his trial. He ran second, but he ran fourth in the Louisiana million dollar fraternity last year, and I think he's just knocking on the door for a big win.
SPEAKER_14Yes, that's another really good horse, Bailey. Uh I threw the eight staying in the fast land for a long shot. And this horse is two for two at Delta this year. Uh he won his trial, and I went back and watched all of his races, and it looks like this horse is getting better as he is turned a three-year-old. So I like where he drew, and he seems to be finding his best stride this year as a three-year-old.
SPEAKER_10And the big race of the night, the Lee Berwick Faturity, a grade one event, six hundred thousand dollar purse, going 350 yards. My top pick is gonna be vigilante. He is three for four on this year, and he just won the Louisiana Bred Laddie Faturity, a grade two event back in May, and he's ran second his first out, and he's won ever since. So I think it's gonna be hard to beat this horse.
SPEAKER_14Yeah, that's a super nice horse. I have him for second. I have the 10 man for cause on top. This horse, really, other than his last race, he kind of I don't know what really happened in the in the laddie, he ran ninth. But other than that, his horse is had three wins on the year, and one thing that jumped out to me big is Jorge Garcia qualified five for the finals of this race, and he chose to stay on Man for cause. So I'll put him on top, and then I have Vigilandy for second. And then another horse that I think we can't leave out is RDD Reasons for B, the three. Uh, this horse ran second in the lastie earlier this year. She has two wins on the year. Another super nice horse in this race.
SPEAKER_10Well, Yancy, it looks like it's gonna be a big weekend of racing and Yeah, I love this time of year.
SPEAKER_14It seems like every weekend there's a grade one fraturity that we can try and analyze and pick and watch. So it's the best time of year for our sport for sure.
SPEAKER_08Alright, that's all we have for this episode here on Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly, and Bailey's got the huge rainbow faturity derby and Oaks Weekend staring her the in the face there in Albuquerque, and certainly look forward to all those reports you're gonna bring back.
SPEAKER_10Me too, Greg. I haven't been out to Albuquerque this season yet, so I'm excited to see some familiar faces out there in New Mexico and bring you the coverage next week.
SPEAKER_08Yes, we'll also be in Delta Downs covering the Lee Berwick Memorial Faturity and the Delta Downs Derby. And always here on stallionesearch.com. We strive to bring you what you want here on the podcast. And I'm Greg Thompson of stallionesearch.com.
SPEAKER_10And I'm Bailey Ivey.
SPEAKER_08And we'll see you next week here on Quarter Horse Racing Talk Weekly.