Breeding


Grade 1 Winner Heza Ramblin Man Dies
Heza Ramblin Man, under champion jockey G.R. Carter, Jr., returns to the winner's circle with champion trainer Blane Schvanevldt after the 1998 Los Alamitos Invitational Championship.

© Scott Martinez
Grade 1 Winner Heza Ramblin Man Dies

AQHA RACING—SEPTEMBER 16, 2020—The 27-year-old Supreme Race Horse Heza Ramblin Man was humanely euthanized on Monday, September 14, 2020, due to complications of old age.

He was bred by Ellen Kennedy and was purchased as a yearling by AQHA past president Walter Fletcher of Lakin, Kansas. When "Ramblin Man" retired from racing, he spent the remainder of his life at the Fletchers’ ranch, grazing with his companion horse and being spoiled by the family.

The chestnut gelding was sired by Takin On The Cash and out of the Kiptys Charger mare Kiptys Kisses.

The perpetual fan favorite raced 51 times over the course of six years. He would win 16 career starts, with 13 seconds, four thirds and earned $750,907.

His career began with a fifth-place finish in the 1995 Oklahoma Futurity (G1), followed by runner-up finishes in the Remington Park Futurity (G1) and Kansas Jackpot Futurity (G1). He closed that year with a victory in the Juvenile Challenge Championship (G1).

As a sophomore, Heza Ramblin Man ran second in Winalota Cash’s All American Derby (G1).

In his 4-year-old season, he’d win the Midwest City Stakes (G3), was second in the Eastex Handicap (G2) and won the Oklahoma Championship Challenge (G1). He traveled out to California where he was third in the Go Man Go Handicap (G1), won the Los Alamitos Invitational Championship (G1), was second in the AQHA Challenge Championship (G1) and third in the Champion of Champions (G1).

The following year he would again win the Los Alamitos Invitational Championship (G1) and light the board in the Grade 1 Go Man Go and Remington Park Championship.

In his final two seasons, he lit the board in the Grade 1 Go Man Go Handicap and Remington Park Championship, and won the Two Rivers Stakes (G3).

"Ramblin Man meant so much to us and our family," Pat Fletcher said. "It wasn’t the fame and the money, it was the joy he brought all of us. The kids loved him, everyone loved him and we miss him."