Again Supreme Heir - Fifteenth Annual World’s Champion Sire Rating
Thursday, January 8, 2004
by Bob Funkhouser
In the 15 years Saddle Horse Report has tracked the world’s champion sires a Supreme Sultan son has been the number one sire an incredible 12 times. This year Supreme Heir tied Sultan’s Santana for the all-time lead with five years apiece. Sultan’s Great Day also twice represented Supreme Sultan as the number one sire of world’s champions.
Early in his career Supreme Sultan was knocked for being predominantly a futurity sire. The quality that people are paying dearly for today was largely put into the breed by Sultan and his sire. It took many years before the contributions of this illustrious son of Valley View Supreme and Melody O’Lee (by Anacacho Denmark) were truly appreciated, however, he left a legendary mark on the breed as the leading sire of futurity and performance horses for a number of years. Now several of his sons, including four in this year’s Top 20, have continued the traits of a long line of superior breeding stallions beginning with Bourbon Genius, to Genius Bourbon King, to Valley View Supreme to Supreme Sultan and his sons, namely the three mentioned above.
Ruxer Farms and Supreme Sultan produced the finest show horses in all divisions for several years. He remains today the only stallion in history to sire an open Five-Gaited, Three-Gaited and Fine Harness World’s Grand Champion (CH Imperator, CH Sultan’s Starina and Sultan’s Santana). Not bad for a horse some said didn’t have enough substance. The success of this family has been well documented, but it is still quite astonishing when you see the dominance on paper.
With most of the headlines going to Supreme Sultan and his sons, what has gone quietly unnoticed by many is the influence of Wing’s Fleet Admiral on today’s top breeding horses. Foaled in 1959, Wing’s Fleet Admiral was a son of CH Wing Commander and The Genius’ Queen by King’s Genius. He was reserve in the 1963 Junior Five-Gaited Stake at Louisville and went on to sire a host of grand horses including Courageous Admiral, Princess Blanchita, Superior Odds, Atlantic Fleet, Fleet Victory, The Spoiler and Standing Ovation.
The percentages of Wing’s Fleet Admiral were great as he was credited with only 96 registered get. It is through Wing’s Fleet Admiral’s sons Courageous Admiral and Grape Tree’s Fox that he is represented with five sires in the Top 20. Courageous Admiral is the sire of Periaptor (#7), Top Spool (#14) and Desert’s Supreme Admiral (#17), while Grape Tree’s Fox is represented by Family Jewels (#16) and Fox Creek (#19). Another son of Wing’s Fleet Admiral, CH Superior Odds, is the broodmare sire of the number five overall sire, Catalyst.
There was much more variation in the broodmare sires than the stallion sires with 16 different stallions represented in the Top 20 dams. Vanity’s Sensation Of Crebilly (Sensation Rex x CH Meadow Vanity Meadow Majesty) was the leading broodmare sire with three with different daughters producing Top 20 sires (CH Caramac, Santana’s Charm and Family Jewels). Stonewall Supreme and Denmark’s Bourbon Genius had two daughters each.
Stonewall Supreme (Stonewall King x Mamie Peavine) was the sire of CH Supreme Airs the World's Grand Champion Fine Harness performer and dam of number one sire Supreme Heir. She is also the second dam of number four sire Harlem Globetrotter. Stonewall Supreme also sired the dam of twice former number one sire Sultan’s Great Day, who was ranked ninth this year.
Denmark’s Bourbon Genius (Anacacho Denmark x Reverie’s Bourbon Princess by Bourbon Genius) sired many great show horses in his day including Monti Scott, Dear One, Lib Sharp, Saucy Mamselle, Gala Affair, Rare Decision, Chantilly Rose and Hide-A-Way’s Wild Country. He was represented by two daughters among the Top 20 dams. The above world’s champion show mare, Chantilly Rose, was the dam of number 14 ranked World’s Grand Champion Man On The Town (by CH Yorktown). Another Denmark’s Bourbon Genius daughter was Sentimentalist, dam of the 13th ranked I’m A New Yorker (by New Yorker).
Points for the World’s Champion Sire Rating were tabulated from the winning entries at the 2003 World’s Championship Horse Show in the five-gaited, three-gaited/park, fine harness, pleasure and in hand divisions. A higher set of points was awarded in the championship classes and Kentucky County Fair classes received “qualifying class” points. A total of 253 stallions received points, down three from last year. Of the 253, there were 70 stallions with just one point, meaning they had one offspring which had placed somewhere between fourth and eighth in a qualifying or County Fair class.
Twelve different stallions produced the Top 20 World’s Champion Sires and age was a common factor for most all of the stallions. Twenty-one was the average age of the Top 20 again this year. CF First Night Out is the youngest in the Top 10 at 16, while Top Spool is the youngest in the Top 20 at 15.
It continues to be a remarkable run for Mary and Greg Fisk’s Hallston Manor and the nation’s number one sire Supreme Heir. Standing under the direction of Joan Lurie at Willowbank, Simpsonville, Ky., the former Two and Three-Year-Old Three-Gaited World’s Champion has enjoyed a sensational breeding career and the reason for his great success has been he is represented by offspring in every division. As Joan Lurie said before, “Even if they don’t turn out to be stake horses they are pretty and want to be somebody so usually there is a place for them.”
This is much the same pattern his half brother Sultan’s Santana and their sire Supreme Heir had. Although they sire beautiful horses and get the reputation of siring three-gaited type horses, there have been many wonderful gaited horses from this family. Supreme Heir had the advantage of starting his breeding career at an early age so he has many offspring in the show ring but he has proven his superiority time and time again and as Hallston Manor showed last fall at the ASHAV Show, there is another group of top young horses sired by him on the way.
It doesn’t always work out this way, but Supreme Heir was bred to be a grand horse as he is a son of Supreme Sultan and the highly regarded Fine Harness World’s Grand Champion CH Supreme Airs. Not only was she a superior performer, but this Stonewall King granddaughter produced Supreme Heir as well as Putting On Airs, the dam of Harlem Globetrotter and Yorktown Magic. Another daughter of Putting On Airs, Yorkshire Pudding is the dam of the breeding stallions Castle Bravo, Reedann’s Top Gun and Northern Blues. The blood of Supreme Airs has been far reaching to say the least.
Again what set Supreme Heir apart from the other sires, the closest of which finished 142 points behind, is his ability to sire winners in all divisions. The Overall Number One Sire for the fifth time with 247 points, Supreme Heir was seventh among five-gaited sires, number one in the three-gaited/park division, number one in harness, number one in pleasure and tied for fourth among in hand sires. For the second consecutive year he sired both the Three-Gaited and Fine Harness World’s Grand Champions as An Heir About Her and Callaway’s Copyright repeated their titles respectively. In the gaited division he was represented by the illustrious Swish as well as My Teddy Bheir. Other walk-trot stars included world and reserve world’s champions The Super Nova, Callaway’s Buttons and Bows, Callaway’s Sunday Edit, Amelia Heir Cat, Callaway’s C. Thomas Reynolds, and She’s The Bess. Besides Callaway’s Copyright, Metro Heirea, Dances On Air and Romanov won the majority of points for Supreme Heir in the harness division. The pleasure division also had a host of world title holders including Riva Diva, Sweet Virginia, CH The Shadow Knows, Nurse Goodbody and The Bess Yet. Stonecroft Ring Leader was his world’s champion representative from the in hand division.
While the masses have flocked to Supreme Sultan and he in turn has produced an unending list of world’s champions, Betty Weldon has single handily carried the load with her Callaway Hills line up of stallions for a number of years beginning with her beloved 1976 Five-Gaited World’s Grand Champion Will Shriver. With unyielding belief that the son of Callaway’s Johnny Gillen (by Wing Commander) and Fine Harness World’s Grand Champion Kate Shriver would be a great horse, Mrs. Weldon saw her dreams come true. The influence of Will Shriver and Callaway Hills has been tremendous as former five-gaited world’s champions Callaway’s Blue Norther (Will Shriver x Royally Blue by Royal Rambler) and CH Caramac (Will Shriver x Stonehedge Vanity by Vanity’s Sensation of Crebilly) placed second and third on the rating for the second consecutive year.
With 105 overall points Blue Norther was number one among five-gaited sires in 2003 as well as finishing fourth in the three-gaited/park division and fifth among pleasure sires. How proud Mrs. Weldon and the entire Callaway Hills operation, including Bob Brison and Kenda Benn, must be that he sired not only the Five-Gaited World’s Grand Champion Callaway’s Forecaster, but also the Reserve World’s Grand Champion Adelita. Add to his credit Ladies Five-Gaited World’s Grand Champion Callaway’s Born To Win and Five-Gaited Amateur Gentlemen’s World’s Champion Callaway’s Weatherman. Among the three-gaited/park stars there was Juvenile Three-Gaited World’s Grand Champion Aurora Borealis and the multi-titled Callaway’s Sugarplum. Callaway’s Blue Agate was a world title holder in the pleasure ranks.
Blue Norther’s stablemate at Callaway Hills, CH Caramac was the Number One World’s Champion Sire in 1999 and he continues to stay in the top three or four year after year. Number three overall with 97 points, Caramac was second behind Blue Norther in the gaited division where he was represented by Amateur Ladies’ Five-Gaited World’s Grand Champion Callaway’s Arbitrator, Caramac’s Capital Gain, Caramac’s Big Ticket, Callaway’s Where There’s A Will, My Chanel and Callaway’s Lloyd Stark. In the three-gaited/park divisions Blue Norther had Made Ya Look, Caramar and Caramac’s Norma Rae in the top ribbons. Callaway’s Rockaway, Callaway’s Newscaster, Callaway’s Cassandra, Cecile and Callaway’s C. H. Hardin once again amassed several points from the pleasure divisions.
Also a former number one sire (1995 and 1997), Harlem Globetrotter moved up six places this year to hold down the number four position with 87 overall points. A triple crown winner as a three-year-old gaited colt, winner of the 1984 Junior World’s Grand Championship, and twice winner of the Five-Gaited Stallion World’s Championship, the black son of New Yorker and the Mr. Magic Man daughter, Putting On Airs, Harlem Globetrotter was shown by Larry Hodge for Kalarama. Standing at the famed Kalarama Farm in Springfield, Ky., Globetrotter has sired such standouts as Five-Gaited World’s Grand Champion Garland’s Dream. This year’s stars from the World’s Championship Horse Show included Royalty In Black, Holy Fruit Salad, Blacklisted, Pleasure Driving World’s Grand Champion Harlem’s Proud Mary, Reserve World’s Champion Harlem’s Strong Will, World’s Champion Sweet Intention, World’s Champion Harlem’s Half Moon, World’s Champion Hollywood Gentleman and Harlem For President.
The biggest move up the charts went to the number five ranked sire Catalyst. The flashy son of Manhattan Supreme and the CH Superior Odds daughter, Lakeview’s Captured Angel was 18th last year. Dick Kearney showed Superior Odds to a World’s Champion Five-Gaited Stallion title and he is the owner/breeder of Catalyst. His best showing came in the fine harness division in which he ranked second. Catalyst was also fourth among pleasure sires. Going towards Catalyst’s 62 overall points were such stars as World’s Champion Long Vue’s Sophisticat, Reserve World’s Champion Lesley Anne, Reserve World’s Champion A Magic Spell, Reserve World’s Champion Big Show, Carolina Cat, Breathe, Pretty Well Armed, Catastrophic and The Perfect Storm.
Long a mainstay of the top half of the Top 10 sires, former Three-Year-Old Fine Harness National Futurity World’s Champion Merchant Prince continues to put his expressive stamp on world’s champion performers and garnered 59 points in the process to rank number six. Owned by and standing at Marion Hutcheson’s Happy Valley Farm, Rossville, Ga., Merchant Prince is the only stallion in the Top 20 to rank in four different divisions. Only Supreme Heir ranked in all five. Shown to his three-year-old world’s championship by Nelson Green, this son of Mountain Highland Memories and CH Buck Creek’s Precious Princess, was the third leading sire of harness world’s champions with Amateur World’s Grand Champion CH A Sweet Treat leading the way. Merchant Prince was the sire of the most exciting young horse of Louisville 2003, Two-Year-Old Three-Gaited World’s Champion Marching Orders. Adding to the total were world’s champion Nightly Affair, world’s champion The Great Gaspar, world’s champion The Bachelor Prince, world’s champion Merchant Melody and Rejoice among others.
Moving up two places from last year, the former five-gaited stallion champion Periaptor was the number seven overall sire with 56 points. Owned by the Loose family and standing at King’s Row under the direction of Rob and Jackie Tanner, this son of Courageous Admiral and Eliana (by Classic Stonewall) was most productive in the three-gaited ranks where he sired Ladies World’s Grand Champion Lady Periana, Over 15.2 World’s Champion and Reserve World’s Grand Champion Royal Messenger, Reserve World’s Champion I’m A Hot Ticket, Sue She and The Woodsider. In Touch won a world’s champion for Periaptor in the harness division.
The youngest sire in the Top 10, CF First Night Out has enjoyed an impressive list of offspring in the winner’s circle. Residing at Blythewood Farm under the direction of owners Sam and Anne Stafford, the son of World’s Grand Champion Night Prowler and Happy Twenty-First by New Yorker tallied 51 overall points and he ranked in the top 10 of three different categories. Leading the way for First Night Out was twice Amateur Three-Gaited World’s Grand Champion and former open world’s grand champion Yes It’s True. World’s Champions I’m First and CF Burn Out also added to the cause as did Reserve World’s Champions Performing Nightly and Night Sight, and ribbon winners Lady Maya, CF Private Night Out, Night At The Castle, Ah! What A Night and At First Sight.
Former number one sire Sultan’s Great Day also stayed in the Top 10 with a ninth place finish. The son of Supreme Sultan and Supreme Cassindra by Stonewall Supreme garnered 47 points and landed a number five finish in the gaited division. Representing Belle Reve with many great world’s champions over the years, Sultan’s Great Day’s top offspring this year was the Junior Five-Gaited Mare World’s Champion Along Came A Spider. Great Day Rising, Red Hot and Bothered, Turn Of The Century, and Manhattan Day were also ribbon winners.
Rounding out the Top 10 was the horse with the fewest number of get in the Top 20, CH Harlem Town. A multi-titled world’s champion performer himself, Harlem Town has an impeccable pedigree as he is sired by World’s Champion Harlem Globetrotter out of World’s Champion CH Town Dance who was by World’s Grand Champion CH Yorktown. The pride of the Tim O’Brien family stands at their Brookhill Farm and placed among the Top 10 sires in three different categories. Amateur Three-Gaited Park World’s Grand Champion Ninety-Eight Degrees was among the top offspring showing this year as was Junior Fine Harness Reserve World’s Grand Champion Harlem’s Santa Fe. From the pleasure division there was world’s champion Kool Tyme BH, reserve world’s champion Prince Town BH and Harlem’s Town Princess.
Former Amateur Five-Gaited World’s Grand Champion Santana’s Charm moved up a notch into 11th place with 36 points Bridget Parker heads this athletic stallion’s career for Laura Cunningham. He is by the five-time number one sire of world’s champions Sultan’s Santana out of the Vanity’s Belle, herself a winner in the three-year-old five-gaited division at Lexington and Kansas City. Charm ranked third among fine harness sires and his daughter Sass With Class won both the Fine Harness Mare Stake and the Kentucky County Fair Fine Harness Championship. He was also represented by reserve world’s champion I’m A Lucky Charm, reserve world’s champion My Southern Charm, reserve world’s champion CH Belleavanti, Amusing, Mercer Raceabout and Supernatural Charm.
In at number 12 with 33 points was Sultan’s Collector’s Item, the third Callaway Hills stallion to place in the Top 20. This son of Supreme Sultan and Georgie’s Miracle by Duke Of Stonewall finished seventh among three-gaited sires with reserve world’s champion Callaway’s Merry Go Round, Callaway’s Abigail Adams and Callaway’s Dubbonet. He was also represented by gaited reserve world’s champion Callaway’s Independence Day and Callaway’s Misha.
Also a former show star, reserve world’s champion I’m A New Yorker moved from 20th to 13th with a total of 32 points. Owned by George and Linda Nash, now of Harrodsburg, Ky., the son of New Yorker and the Denmark’s Bourbon Genius daughter Sentimentalist was eighth among the five-gaited sires and ninth among three-gaited/park stallions. Freaky Links and My New Year’s Eve both won world’s championships in the gaited division for I’m A New Yorker. In the three-gaited/park division The Perfect Blind Date was the Junior Three-Gaited World’s Grand Champion, while Naughty was a reserve world’s champion in park. Laguna Niguel, Downtown Strutter, New York Showtime and Got The Ticket also scored points. I’m A New York stands under the direction of Fred Sarver and Jones Mountainview Farm.
There was a tie for 14th between two former gaited world’s grand champions. The royally bred CH Man On The Town (CH Yorktown x CH Chantilly Rose by Denmark’s Bourbon Genius) has sired a number of champions since his three Five-Gaited World’s Grand Championships. In fact, he was the number three sire of three-gaited/park world’s champions for Jean McLean Davis’ Oak Hill Farm. His stars there included world’s champion City Lady, Bayou Belle, Rich Woman as well as Man and Mystery. In the gaited division we found Man To Man and Man Of Conquest and in the fine harness division it was He’s The Man earning points.
Also at number 14, former Amateur Five-Gaited World’s Grand Champion Top Spool (Courageous Admiral x Top Billing HVF by Supreme Sultan) has come on strong with the next to fewest registered get among the Top 20 sires. Owned by Golden Creek Farms, Top Spool was the sire of Amateur Five-Gaited Ladies’Mare World’s Champion Summer Sweet as well as Green Top, a world’s champion in the adult pleasure division. Also earning high marks were reserve world’s champion I’m The Real Deal, Top It Off, Top This, and Spool’s Top Star.
Moving into the Top 20, former Five-Gaited Stallion World’s Champion Attache’s Liquid Asset was represented by his world’s champion heritage. The son of Attache and Mona Denmark by Oman’s Desdemona Denmark is a full brother to The Mean Machine and Attache’s Spun Gold. Juvenile Pleasure World’s Grand Champion Undulata’s Jimmy Hollywood, Mahvalous Asset, Assets and Attitudes, Unclaimed, Triple Asset, Another Asset, She’s An Asset, and Mr. Revere were among his stars for owner Susan Vuinovich. Attache’s Liquid Asset stands at Selwood Park Stable under the direction of Gareth Selwood.
Next on the rating was number 16, Family Jewels. Also a former five-gaited world’s champion performer, the son of Grape Tree’s Fox and Priceless Gem by Vanity’s Sensation Of Crebilly was again the third leading sire of gaited horses with Five-Gaited Pony World’s Grand Champion Jewels For A Lady, Tigerlee, Bourbon and Jewels, and Jewels Teton scoring all the points. Family Jewels stands under the direction of his owner Lorrie Floyd.
Walter Bush has studied pedigrees for years and his Desert Oasis breeding program has certainly gained success. Desert’s Supreme Admiral (CH Courageous Admiral x Desert’s Queen Anna by Sultan’s Santana) was the 17th ranked world’s champion sire for the second consecutive year. He had a group of exciting titleholders including Juvenile Five-Gaited World’s Grand Champion Chandler, and the popular open five-gaited stallion Desert’s Supreme Memories. In addition, Desert’s Supreme Lady, Take Me Away and Pernickety picked up points.
Another newcomer to the Top 20, former fine harness and five-gaited champion The Irish Connection is the pride and joy of Sue Nifong and Silverlin Farm in Winston-Salem, N.C. The illustrious son of Supreme Sultan and Miss Blarney (the dam of Santana Lass and Shamrock Santana) was the number one rated sire from the in hand division and finished 18th overall with 24 points. His big winner there was world’s and reserve world’s champion Silver Harbor. He also sired pleasure world’s champion Cloverleaf’s Pocketful Of Miracles, Irish Tribute, Bugsy Siegel and Londonderry.
One point behind, Fox Creek rounded out the Top 20 stallions dropping a few places from last year. A son of Grape Tree’s Fox and Gold Star’s Ballerina by Stonewall’s Main Event, Fox Creek is owned by Virginia Dulworth and stands under the direction of Joe T. Smith. He is best known for the three-gaited sensation world’s champion To Die For as well as the multi-titled juvenile five-gaited world’s champion Fox de Jour. Other winners include Hayden Fox and Cadillac’s Notta Clue.
This wrapped up the top living sires of American Saddlebred world’s champions today. Besides the strong influence of a couple of different bloodlines the one thing an overwhelming majority of the Top 20 sires share is the fact that they were outstanding show horses in their own right.
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