Equus – August 2019

88 EQUUS 498 AUTUMN 2019

Driftwood (1932, 14:2 hands) was by Miller Boy by the

Hobart Horse by John Wilkins (1905) by Peter McCue,

out of the Comer Mare by Barlow by Lock’s Rondo. The

Comer Mare’s dam was a Thoroughbred from Kentucky.

Driftwood was handsome, smoothly and correctly

conformed, and fast. Standing 14:2 hands, he was first

raced and then was purchased by Ab Nichols of Arizona,

who also owned Clabber. Driftwood beat Clabber in a

famous match-race, and then Nichols’ son trained him

as a rope horse. He could also cut, and his speed helped

him to outmaneuver ducking and diving calves. Driftwood

became the most famous sire of rodeo arena competitors,

both headers and heelers, and his descendants continue

to be highly sought-after.

RANCH-BREDS AND SHOW HORSES

Hollywood Gold (1940, 15:0 hands) was by

Gold Rush who traces in sire line to Swedish

King, a chestnut horse of the Herod family. He

is out of Triangle Lady, a dun mare who was

part of the remuda on the Triangle Ranch,

probably sired either by Yellow Jacket or by

Yellow Jacket’s son Yellow Boy. Hollywood Gold

sired 263 foals in 23 seasons. Horses by him

have been champions in cutting, and he is the

great-grandsire of Tim McQuay’s famous mount

Hollywood Dun It (1983, 14:1 hands), an all-time

champion reining competitor.

DRIFTWOOD

HOLLYWOOD GOLD

in which they held it as not only their

means of livelihood but as a lasting

gift to them from the Great Spirit.

Goodnight preserved one of the last

buffalo herds on his property and was

instrumental in preventing the species

from being hunted to extinction; their

descendants today roam in Caprock

Canyons State Park and in Yosemite

National Park. He was also the fi rst to

get the idea of covering buffalo cows

with Durham bulls to create “cattalo”

or “beefalo.”

After John Adair died in 1885,

Goodnight continued to work in

partnership with Adair’s widow,

Cornelia, who insisted that if the ranch

was going to develop a horse remuda,

it must consist of all bays. Goodnight

eventually left the JA to pursue

business interests in Pueblo and

Denver. Ranch management was then

taken over by a succession of Adair’s

children and heirs but overseen from

1918 onward by experienced cowhand

Tom Blasingame, who worked there for

the next 73 years.

The JA raised horses primarily

for use by its own cowboys. Early on,

Blasingame bought the 1905 Peter