Smoke On The Water earned a ticket to the Bank of America Challenge Championships.

© Coady Photography

Q-RACING JOURNAL—OCTOBER 7, 2014—What a busy weekend in Quarter Horse racing. From the double-digit gains at the Los Alamitos Equine Sale to the great racing performances around the country, we had a lot to enjoy. And for those of us that enjoy the exploration of pedigrees, it was a regular smorgasbord.

First of all, let’s give props to Moonist. Ron Hartley’s sophomore gelding is quietly going about his business of being a winning machine. On Friday, he added the $149,760 PCQHRA Derby to his record. With nine wins in 10 starts and $357,358 in 2014, he is the winningest horse of the year….and it sounds like he’s not done yet.

Speaking of winning machines, JRC Callas First picked up his fourth stakes win of the year (and sixth win out of seven starts) and first Grade 1 in the $75,000 Refrigerator Handicap on Saturday at Lone Star Park. Racing for Dana and Brian Stroud of Sutherland Springs, Texas, the son of Winners Award is out of the Dirty Coup mare Calla Missy Jane. The Grade 1 winner’s fourth dam is Savannah Lynn, who showed up in the June 30 Pedigree Analysis as the fourth dam of Alabama Futurity (R) winner Kwik Version ($35,885). Savannah Lynn’s only stakes winner was the filly Savannah Joyce, whose only foal was the Master Hand (TB) filly Missy Joyce, dam of Calla Missy Jane.

But this week we are going to delve into the pedigree genius of the late Robert Gentry, who could create a successful Quarter Horse sprinter from no less than the immediate family of a Belmont Stakes winner. Gentry’s breeding program was exemplified this week by the $32,130 John Deere Turf Paradise Juvenile Challenge winner Smoke On The Water. The gelding owned by Norma Reyes of Tucson, Arizona, is by Spit Curl Jess out of the Thoroughbred mare Smokin, a daughter of Smoke Glacken.

The race was the third stakes win of the year for Smoke On The Water, who also has won the AQRA President’s Open Spring Futurity and Four Corners Futurity (G3). He has earned $91,825.

Gentry, who died last year, bred horses in his own name as well as with his late brother, Bruce. Among their equine gifts to the industry were champions Deelish ($604,153), Fredricksburg ($369,304), Fredaville ($325,321) and Cash Legacy ($263,871); as well as top runners and/or producers such as Such An Easy Effort ($496,127), Flomont ($286,213), Fearless Freda ($262,121), Zipuino ($230,080), Zip Dash ($211,522), Deeheiress ($127,057), Fodice ($119,841), Da Edge ($117,076), Dasha Freda ($111,741), Easy Kiss ($101,022) and Fearless Fritz ($100,085).

The brothers also raised Thoroughbreds, and were known for outcrossing their Quarter Horses on Thoroughbreds. Just a few recent examples of this genius include Fovee ($380,385), a daughter of the Carson City stallion Cuvee (TB); stakes winner Rollickin Red ($332,042), a son of Roll Hennessy Roll (TB); and Grade 1-placed Scatmandu ($268,256), a son of Scat Daddy (TB). Smoke On The Water is another example of this.

Smoke On The Water’s sire Spit Curl Jess is a 13-year-old son of Mr Jess Perry out of the On A High mare Lil Spit Curl. He won five of 16 career starts, with four placings, and earned $141,719 in his racing career. His wins included the 2004 Heritage Place Derby (G1), and he was also a finalist in the Grade 1 Heritage Place and Texas Classic futurities.

Spit Curl Jess stands at Louisiana Center for Equine Reproduction in Opelousas, Louisiana. From seven crops to race, he has sired the earners of more than $3.4 million, headlined by champion Spit Curl Diva ($829,353). He is also the sire of this weekend’s Two Rivers Stakes (G3) winner Eye A Spit Curl Girl ($140,523), as well as fellow John Deere Juvenile Challenge Championship (G2) invitee Jess Curl My Prize ($105,974).

Smokin is a 2004 chestnut mare bred in Kentucky by Johnny T.L. Jones and H.Smoot Fahlgren. Smokin herself won one of 14 starts and earned $15,088.

She has three registered Quarter Horse foals, including the winning Ocean Runaway filly Valentine Runaway ($6,189) and the yearling colt Ocean Smoke (by Ocean Runaway).

Her sire, Smoke Glacken, was a champion sprinter during his racing career. Perhaps the most successful racing son of Two Punch, Smoke Glacken sired the earners of more than $50 million in Thoroughbred racing. He is also a successful damsire with several Thoroughbred champions to his credit and was pensioned in 2013.

Smokin’s dam is Swift Storm, by the swift sprinting Thoroughbred sire Hennessy. The unraced mare also produced the stakes-placed runner Pumkin Cat (TB, by Repriced). Her second dam, Ceron, is a daughter of Miswaki, but her third dam is a very familiar name in the Thoroughbred racing world. Hennessy, of course, is a sprinting influence and is the sire of Grade 1 winner and sire Check Him Out ($418,528) and stakes winner and sire Masters Call ($108,757), as well as the sire of the aforementioned Roll Hennessy Roll and second-generation tail-male sire of Scat Daddy.

Ceron is out of Bought Twice, a daughter of In Reality out of the Dr Fager mare Killaloe. This makes Bought Twice a half sister to Fappiano, one of Thoroughbred racing’s most influential modern sires. She is also a half sister to Grade 3-placed runner Lambros and stakes winners Torrential, Portroe, Jedina and Royal Troon.

Bought Twice is the dam of Commendable ($907,470), who won the 2000 Belmont Stakes. From this immediate family as well is English stakes winner Primary and stakes-placed runner Saint Aggie.

Hopefully, we will see Smoke On The Water next at the Challenge Championships, where he might meet fellow Spit Curl Jess-sired Jess Curl My Prize in the Juvenile Championship on the track where fellow Gentry-bred Fredaville conducted her swan song with a victory in the 2012 Merial Distaff Challenge Championship (G1).

AQHA News and information is a service of the American Quarter Horse Association. For more news and information, follow @AQHARacing on Twitter, watch the AQHA Racing Newscast and visit www.aqharacing.com.