THE KING RANCH of Kingsville, Tex., according to its ad in the first volume of the AQHA Stud Book, had in mind the production of "an ideal horse for ranch, remount, polo, and pleasure purposes." From this program evolved a Quarter Horse who consistently has been successful in each of those fields. "These results were obtained," the ad continued, "by working from a superb individual that had perfect action and wonderful disposition."
That superb individual was a stallion we have come to know as Old Sorrel. His characteristics were enhanced and "fixed" by the application of scientific breeding principles and by careful selection of his descendents. These methods were so successful that every King Ranch Quarter Horse carried the blood of Old Sorrel (often in multiple crosses) by the time the AQHA was established.
Even today, more than 50 years later, his bloodline can be found in the winners of every working event for which the Quarter Horse is acclaimed. One still finds his name in the pedigree of many current winners and champions.
The King Ranch was founded when Richard King paid $ 300 in 1853 for 15,550 acres of a Spanish land grant recorded as the "Rincon de Santa Gertrudis. " There on the banks of the Santa Gertrudis creek, he established a livestock operation with a partner, Gideon K. (Legs) Lewis, who was later killed. By the latter part of the 20th century, the ranch occupied more land than the entire state of Rhode Island.
By the time of King´s death on April 14, 1885, he had accumulated 600,000 acres of land and thousands of cattle and horses. His widow, Henrietta, was determined to continue the success of the ranch. One of her first actions was to make her son-in-her first actions was to make her son-in-law, Robert Justus Kleberg, the ranch ´s full-time manager. For the next 40 years, this partnership followed the dream of Captain King by using more productive methods of managing the land and the livestock.
Kleberg, an attorney, had come to the attention of Captain King during a case when Kleberg trounced the attorneys who represent King. King hired the young attorney the next day. While becoming more and more involved with the activities of the ranch, Kleberg met and married the Kings´ daughter, Alice.
It was their sons, Richard M. "Dick" and Robert Justus Jr. "Bob", who took charge of the ranch in 1916 when their father became too ill to maintain the heavy schedule required to run huge operation. With the example of their grandfather and father before them, thy proceeded to use the most progressive methods available for ranch management.
Dick, who later served in the Congress of the United States, earned a law degree from the University of Texas. Then in 1911 he returned to the ranch to help manage the growing operation.
Bob, however, had completed only 2 years of study at the University of Wisconsin School of Agriculture when he was called home in 1916. Among the first tasks assigned to Bob was the continued improvement of the ranch ´s cattle. But he also turned his attention to improving the ranch ´s horses. Several Thoroughbred and Standardbred stallions had been used over the years. Some Arabian, Saddlebred, and Morgan stallions also had been placed with broodmare bands who traced back to the mustang stock running on the land when King bought it. Although improved, the horses still didn´t meet the standards set by the ranch. They weren´t sufficiently sound and hardy, and they weren´t even good cow horses.
The Clegg Horses
Ever alert for improved methods or livestock on other ranches, Bob particularly had an eye on the horses coming from the nearby ranch of George Clegg. Clegg´s particular pride was a band of broodmares carefully selected for both exceptional looks and ability. These mares, whom he called his "wax dolls," had to have both.
Clegg was equally astute in selecting stallions to breed to those mares. At the beginning of the century, he used Little Rondo, who was sired by Sykes´ Rondo. In 1905, Clegg bought the yearling Little Joe by Traveler. After a very successful racing career, Little Joe was put with Clegg´s broodmares for several years before being sold to Ott Adams, another neighboring rancher noted for his fast horses.
Next, Clegg turned to the promising young Hickory Bill, a son of the spectacular runner Peter McCue. Hickory Bill´s dam was Lucretia M, who was sired by The Hero (a Thoroughbred son of Iroquois, out of Ontario, a daughter of the freat fountainhead of brilliant speed *Bonnie Scotland). His second dam was another one of Watkins´ homebreds named Bird. She was sired by Jack Traveler and was out of Kitty Clyde.
Jack Treveler was a Texas-bred, sired either by Steel Dust (by Harry Bluff) or by a son of Steel Dust. His dam was Queen by Pilgrim (TB). After racing for A.W. Green in Texas, he became the property of Little Grove Stock Farm.
Kitty Clyde was a speedster who was raced from her home state of Kentucky to Texas and back to Illinois, where she eventually was given to Samuel Watkins. According to an early Thoroughbred stud book, which was the precursor to the American Stud Book (of Thoroughbreds), she was sired by Star Davis (TB) and was out of Margravine by the imported Thoroughbred Margrave. She proved to be as good a broodmare as she was a runner. In addition to Bird, she was the dam of Nora M – an accomplished half-miler who capped her racing career by producing Peter McCue.
Among Clegg´s "wax dolls" were four mares with an unusual background. Dr. Rose was a dentist in Del Rio, Tex., who owned and operated ranches in Mexico. Unsatisfied by the horses in his Mexican ranches, they lost their offspring retained the qualitiy he had been seeking. When the mares proved to be abundant producers, he found it necessary to sell off some horses – including a carload to rancher J. C. McGill, a partner of Clegg in the cattle business.
Clegg spotted four older mares in the group that he thought would fit into his herd. He got them by trading younger, fatter mares for them. One of those matrons, believed by some to be one of the original Kentucky-bred mares, foaled a promising-looking sorrel colt in 1915, sired by Hickory Bill. In the Pedigree of the sorrel colt, the mare is listed as a Dr. Rose mare having unknown breeding. That doesn´t mean, though, that she didn´t contribute her share of superior genes to his makeup.
El Alazan
At Klegerg´s suggestion, his cousin Caesar Kleberg went shopping among Clegg´s horses that year. Caesar, an excellent judge of horseflesh and active in managing th King Ranch, spotted the powerful looking Dr. Rose mare and her sorrel colt. After some dickering he bought the colt for 5 and borrowed the mare to lead the colt back to the King Ranch.
As this colt matured and developed into an outstanding hore, he was known simply as "The Clegg Horse" to the ranch owners. To the kinenos, he was El Alazan (Spanish for The Sorrel). As he aged, thy modified that name El Alazan Viejo (The Old Sorrel). When he was registered with the AQHA at a ripe old age, he had to be given a name. The decision was made to Anglicize his nickname Old Sorrel.
The King Ranch has a tradition of requiring their stallions and mares to earn their way into the breeding herd by proving their abilities through regular cattle work on the ranch. Old Sorrel was no exception. Bob Kleberg has written that "Old Sorrel proved to be outstandingly the best cow horse we had ever had on the King Ranch. He was exceptional as to beauty, disposition, conformation, smoothness of action, and fine handling qualities."
He has added that Old Sorrel was "the best cow horse I ever rode, but he was also a damn good running horse. He had that well-balanced look an the feel of a race horse."
A well-known anecdote illustrates Old Sorrel´s versatility and all-around athletic ability. When Mrs. Bob Kleberg become interested in Thoroughbred jumping horses, she had a regulation jumping course built on the ranch. Bob informed her that he had an old cow horse who could take those jumps. So, after tying Old Sorrel´s lead shank to his halter, the story relates that Bob rode the 14-year-old stallion bareback over the obstacles, including 4-foot oxers. Evidently Kleberg felt a horse who could readily jump prickly pear and mesquite as a part of a day´s work could handle the artificial barriers on a level surface as easily.
Old Sorrel also had two other attributes appreciated by the ranch management. First, he had a rich, dark sorrel or chestnut color. Being a recessive characteristic, this sorrel color is easy to breed true. In addition, he had no white on his feet. With the alkaline and sand soils of the ranch, which tend to cause sand burns, it was important to have as little white on the feet as possible.
Dr. J. K. Northway went to work for the King Ranch as a young veterinarian in 1916. His decades of service to the ranch were important factors in the development of the ranch´s superior livestock. Northway wrote, "Old Sorrel was a beautiful chestnut horse of medium size and weight. I would say maybe just a little long in the barrel, but otherwise a wonderfully balanced, versatile horse at all times." He stated that Old Sorrel stood about 14.3 and had a wonderful disposition.
"I saw Richard Kleberg and George Clegg rope off him and ride him all morning and then race him in the afternoon," Northway stated. "You could rope, cut, or do any other ranch work on him and he was not just adequate – he was superior in all his actions."
The Lazarus Mares
When used for breeding, Old Sorrel´s foals were watched and screened carefully. Fifty of the best-handling and best-riding mares on the ranch were selected for Old Sorrel´s harem. Mostly mares of considerable Thoroughbred blood, some of these were home-bred, and some were known as "Lazarus mares." Later, mares acquired from George Clegg and Ott Adams were added to the mix when it was discovered that Old Sorrel crossed very well on daughters of Little Joe (the son of Traveler who had been used in both herds).
In a striking parallel to the Dr. Rose mares, the Lazarus mares had been purchased from Sam Lazarus of Fort Worth. Lazarus, president of the Quanah, Acme, and Pacific Railroad Company, had put together a band of racing Thoroughbreds. When he became disillusioned with racing, he wanted to get out of the business, but find a good home for his horses. In 1910 he wrote and offered them to the King Ranch, but was informed that the ranch didn´t need them. When he persisted, Caesar Kleberg again made a major contribution to the ranch´s breeding program.
Going to Fort Worth on other business, Caesar decided to have a look at what Lazarus was offering. Impressed with what he found, Caesar decided the ranch might use these horses after all. Lazarus agreed to sell the horses for $!== apiece if the King Ranch agreed to two unusual stipulations. The new owners were not to race any of the horses or make known to the public the pedigrees of any of these well-bred horses.
Among them was a stallion named Martin´s Best. Northway recalled that Bob Kleberg believed that this horse was "probably the best in conformation an type of the early foundation Thoroughbreds that went into the great family of the Old Sorrel horses." His daughters were particularly productive addition to the broodmare band placed with Old Sorrel.
From the geldings in his first crop, two were carefully selected for the task of proving Old Sorrel´s ability to sire horses capable of meeting the ranch´s standards for cattle work. One of these was named Tino (not to be confused with his stallion full brother, also named Tino). Tino, the gelding, was produced by Brisa, a daughter of Martin´s Best who had been Bob´s favorite mount until she was put in the broodmare band. The other gelding was called Melon.
Tino then was ridden by Bob Kleberg and Malon by Lauro Cavazos, an exceptional horseman who was a foreman of the ranch at the time. These two riders tried those two geldings on every kind of word needed on the ranch and competed with each other in trying to prove his mount was the better of the two. Both geldings came through with excellent results and gave great hope for the prospects of Old Sorrel as a sire.
Bob Kleberg, with his knowledge of genetics learned at the University of Wisconsin and practical experience on the ranch, felt it was possible and necessary to preserve Old Sorrel´s attributes through future generations. He and the geneticist A.O. Rhoad wrote in The Journal of Heredity, " Having seen other stallions, even after they had proven their merits for breeding, carry on for only one generation, we determined, if possible, to perpetuate the wonderful qualities of this stallion."
Typical of the King Ranch´s progressive methods, one of the first steps was to round up 1,200 head of undesirable mares, geldings, and jacks and ship them across the river into Mexico. Northway reported that "We didn´t get anything back, but I believe it was the best day´s work we ever did." Room had been made for the horses of the future.
Old Sorrel was first bred to the best of his daughters from the original 50 mares. The ranch found these foals to be encouraging, but not exceptional.
A decision was made to practice less intense line breeding by breeding Old Sorrel´s daughters to his sons and also breed the sons´ daughter to other sons. This plan immediately began producing foals who not only were good performers but also maintained the type and other fine qualities of Old Sorrel.
From Old Sorrel´s first crop in 1922 only one son was kept as a stallion. This was Little Richard, who later sired Peppy and other fine horses. Because of these fine contributions to the breed, the AQHA gave Little Richard the registration number 17. This was one of 18 numbers reserved for outstanding foundation sires. Little Richard was mated with the ranch mares from 1927 until 1937.
From the second crop (1923) came two more top-quality stallions, Solis and Cardinal (sometimes spelled Cardenal). After proving themselves under saddle, they joined the stallion battery in the long-range program.
Cardinal and Peppy
Though they were very similar in type Cardinal had better handling abilities than Little Richard, but in disposition he wasn´t as even-tempered, and he wasn´t as big. An attempt was made to combine their attributes by mating each of them with daughters of the other. This paid off when Little Richard sired Peppy from a daughter of Cardinal in 1934.
Peppy was the first horse to be exhibited extensively by the King Ranch. It was reported that Peppy stood slightly more than 15 hands and weighed about 1,200 pounds. Shown throughout the Southwest from 1936 until 1942, Peppy successfully promoted both the King Ranch horses and the Quarter Horse breed.
In 1940, Peppy was the grand champion at both Fort Worth and Beeville. In 1941, he was judged champion stallion, champion cow-horse type, and best horse in chow at Tucson, Arizona. In addition, he had worked a quarter-mile in 22.2 seconds.
Peppy sired some of the finest horses ever produced on the ranch. Two of his early show winners were Peppy Jr. and Rosal. Peppy Jr. later sired Pepper Girl, the second dam of the spectacular cutting horse Peponita. The winner of two NCHA world championships in cutting.
Later, Peppy´s show-winning offspring were led by the AQHA Champion Peppy´s Pokey. This son of Peppy also sired arena ROM qualifiers after his own show career.
Peppy´s son Cuero became an important sire in California. He sired many working horses, including ROM-qualifiers, while his daughters added AQHA Champions and racing ROM foals as well as more arena ROM performers to the familiy.
Another son of Peppy who left the ranch but became an important sire in other hands was Tamo. The versatile Tamo sired racing ROM-qualifiers, working ROM performers, and halter champions. His daughter later were to make him a leading sire of AQHA Champions.
Solis and Wimpy
Although he wasn´t used for breeding until a couple of years after Cardinal, Solis probably had an ever more important effect on the King Ranch horses. He proved to be an important contributor to the line-breeding program by siring outstanding horses from daughters of Old Sorrel. One of these double-bred foals was the great Wimpy.
Wimpy quickly gained fame by being named grand champion stallion at the 1941 Fort Worth Stock Show. The AQHA had agreed to hold registration number 1 for the stallion who won that show. Wimpy then went on to prove that the number had been given to a truly worth individual.
His reputation was acknowledged by the AQHA when Wimpy was one of the four inducatees the first year horses were added to its Hall of Fame. Old Sorrel was added to that roster the following year, 1990.
Bred to daughters of Old Sorrel, Wimpy got such foals as Wimpy II, Lauro, Bill Cody, and Silver Wimpy (sire of the brilliant Marion´s Girl, the 1954 and 1956 NCHA World Champion Cutting Horse). Another son who became a leading sire was Showdown. Wimpy´s son Kp Mac was an early AQHA Champion.
Taken to Oklahoma and bred to John Dawson´s intensely Missouri Mike-bred mares, Wimpy II became a leading sire and a leading maternal gradsire of AQHA Champions. His get also included two racing ROM foals. In addition Wimpy III, who also was to become another leading sire and leading maternal grandsire of AQHA Champion.
Lauro also left the King Ranch before establishing his considerable reputation. Settled in west Texas, Lauro sired several AQHA Champions, including Sonora Sorrel and Sonora Monkey. During a career that made him one of the all-time leading halter-points in 1964 to be named Honor Roll halter horse. In 1959, Sonora Monkey was both the Honor Roll calf roping horse and reining horse.
The record books also show that Lauro was listed as both the paternal grandsire and the maternal grandsire of the mare Revision. This mare was the dam of Pass Over, the brilliant Champion Quarter Running 2-Year-Old Filly of 1973 and Champion Quarter Running 3-Year-Old Filly of 1974 who earned more than a half million dollars.
Ranchero and Rey Del Rancho
According to Bob Kleberg, the other major contribution made by Solis came when he sired Ranchero from an Old Sorrel mare. Ranchero was a favorite of the foreman Lauro Cavazos, who got his knowledge of the ranch´s horses from actually working them on the ranch.
Ranchero´s tradition was carried on by his son Rey Del Ranco. This younger stallion, who had five crosses to Old Sorrel in the first four generation, was out of a Babe Frande mare. He became a favorite of Dick Kleberg Jr. and the cowboys on the ranch. They appreciated the early speed and intelligence of his foals. Bob, however, was not as fond of the forse because of his smaller size. He described Rey Del Rancho as a "well-balanced horse that stood 14.3 hands, but light behind; a trim horse that was very quick."
Rel Del Rancho left his mark in the breeding herd through his daughters and sons. He was sire of Anita Chica, one of the greatest show horses campaingned by the King Ranch. In rurn, she produced the ROM-quzalifier and NCHA money-winner El Pobre. Used extensively in the ranch breeding ranks, El Pobre proved to be quite successful.
Among the influential sons of Rey Del Rancho were Callan´s Man (an NCHA top 10 horse and sire of the good cutter Mr Linton) and El Rey Rojo, sire of El Bandido Rojo, a top show horse until his untimely death at 1 in a fire.
Another major contribution to the reputation of Ray Del Rancho as possibly the best King Ranch progenitor of cutting horses was made by his son Rey Jay (one of Rey Del Rancho´s three AQHA Champions). The sire of good performers himself, Rey Jay became best known when his daughters were bred to Jewel´s Leo Bars, better known as Freckles. The resulting foals included such stars as Colionel Freckles, Freckles Playboy, and Freckles Hustler.
Tomate Laureles
From Ols Sorrel´s 1927 crop came the fine stallion Tomate Laureles. Robert Denhardt wrote that Romate Laureles was "unexcelled as a producer of female stock." For instance, one of his daughters was the dam of the highly acclaimed show mare Gittana Chica. For his siring abilities, the AQHA awarded Tomate Laureles with the foundation sire registration number 19.
In 1928, Old Sorrel had another outstanding foal, named Babe Frande, out of a Hickory Bill mare. Babe Grande, as well as his sons and daughters, were exceptional for their cow sense and action. His daughters produced both Saltillo and Rey Del Rancho. Saltillo sired the very capable cutting mare Alice Star.
Among Babe Grande´s top foals was the stallion Brown Ceasar. His name appears in the pedigrees of horses prominent in both racing and shows. His ROM running daughter Lassie Caesar produced the famous runner Blonde Joan (the 1957 Champion Quarter Running Filly and dam of the race horse Brigand).
In 1932, the talented mare Brisa produced another Old Sorrel son named Tino. This Rino, however, was left a stallion and proved to be exceptionally prepotent. Something of an oddity in the King Ranch herd, Tino was a bay. Northway has reported that Tino "became a wonderful individual" and was "certainly an intelligent individual" with plenty of size.
Macanudo
The great Macanudo was from the 1934 Old Sorrel crop. He was out of the Hickory Bill and Texas Chief-bred mare Canales Bell. It was said than any other son of the old horse, and may have been the best cow horse from that generation. Macanudo´s conformation made him the grand chmpion stallion at the 1940 South Texas Livestock Show.
Macanudo´s combination of ability and conformation was passed on to his son Babe Mac C, one of the earliest AQHA Champions. Babe Mac C continued the line by siring four AQHA Chmpions and several working ROM foals. Macanudo also demonstrated considerable early speed.
Kingwood was another son of Macanudo who helped prove that King Ranch blood could have a beneficial influence even when taken off the ranch. Bred to mares with all kinds of pedigrees, Kingwood sired horses with conformation, with working ability (two ROM), and with speed (fourteen ROM). His AA daughter Old Folks produced seven ROM runners, including Klondike (AAA) and Tonto´s Time (AAA and sire of AAA).
Silver Kind and Water Lily
Old Sorrel´s son Silver King was foaled in 1937. Possibly because of his color, which was bay rather than the King Ranch uniform chestnut, this notable individual was allowed to leave the King Ranch. Silver King sired a large number of both running and working horses, including the AQHY Champion Baldy Silver.
Silver King´s sons further enhanced the family reputation. Possibly the best known was the ROM racer Double Diamond, who sired the AQHA Champion Two D Two and other ROM working horses.
Two D Two gained immortality by siring the great Two Eyed Jack, an AQHA Champion and all-time leading sire of AQHA Champions. Two D Two also sired Tookie´s Two, the 1967 Honor Roll Reining Horse.
Silver King´s daughter also didi their share. They produced many well-known horses – including AQHA Champions Eternal Sun and AAA racers Mr Magic Bar, Sugar Nicky, and the stakes-winning Miss Davril.
Water Lilly was said to be the best mare on the King Ranch by the time the AQHA was formed. This mare was shown in pedigrees to be a daughter of the Waggoner Ranch´s Yellow Jacket, but some claimed that she was actually a daughter of Peter McCue´s son Buck Thomas.
Water Lilly lived up to her reputation by producing the good stallion Little Man in 1941 and the great stallion Hired Hand in 1943. Both were sons of Old Sorrel and both were top show horses. At the 1948 State Fair of Texas, for instance, Hired Hand was the grand champion stallion and Little man was named reserve champion. In 1942, Water Lilly Chicaro-sired daughter, Delicatesa De Texas, produced Tejano, another son of Old Sorrel who was to sire many good horses for the King Ranch remuda.
Hired Hand
With the aid of Water Lilly, Old Sorrel had sired, at the end of his breeding career, what many people believe was his greatest son, Hired Hand. Dr. Northway described Hire Hand as being about 15 hands, well balanced and wonderfully muscled in his forearms and hindquarters, with good, straight hind legs. He went on to state that Hired Hand came equipped with a particularly good disposition and temperament and could do anything that was desirable of an all-around Quarter Horse.
Hired Hand was just as good in the breeding herd. For example, though only 32 of his foals were exhibited in AQHA- recognized shows, 3 earned their AQHA Championship. He and his foals were so exceptional that the decision was made to build the ranch´s entire breeding program around him. This was done by using him in a program very similar to the one designed for Old Sorrel.
First, Hired Hand was mated with mares who were several generations removed from Old Sorrel. These foals and their descendants then were crossed among themselves in such a way as to dondentrate the blood of Hired Hand and perpetuate his type and abilities.
Among Hired Hand´s many successful show horses were the AQHA Champions H H Dee, Henry´s Bullet, and Strawboss T. In addition, Fistful and Strawboss T were named Superior performance horses.
Some of Hired Hand´s sons used successfully in the ranch´s program were King Hand, Hired Hand´s Cardinal, El Shelton, Tipo De Norias, and Hired Hand II.
Based on the records of his foals, Hired Hand´s Cardinal must be judged one of the best in this group of outstanding horses. Out of a daughter of Peppy, Hired Hand´s Cardinal added luster to both branches of the family.
Among the noted foals of Hired Hand´s Cardinal was the AQHA Superior cutting horse Chick Jay. With a grand total of more than 250 points in AQHA events. Chick Jay also was an AQHA Champion.
Two top performing daughters of Hired Hand´s Cardinal proved tht his talents waren´t passed only to his sons. His filly Wax Doll was the 1962 AQHA High- Point Reining Mare and also earned a Superior in halter. The superb cutting mare Laura Felicis was the 1976 AQHA World Champion Junior Cutting Horse and the 1977 AQHA Reserve World Champion Senior Cutting Horse.
Pep Up
In the early 1940s, the Waggoner Ranch of Vernon, Tex., bought two young stallion prospects from the King Ranch. One was sired from the King Ranch. One was sired by Macanudo and the other was a son of Peppy named Pep Up. Years later, after the horse known to the Waggoner Ranch as Pep Up had become a highly successful sire, testimony was received by the AQHA the in the shipping of the two youngsters and their arrival in a rainstorm, their identities had been switched.
In those days before widespread blood or DNA testing, the association had to make a judgment based on the facts at hand. After due deliberation, it was decided to switch the breeding of the two stallions. So, the official records were changed to show that Pep Up was a son of Macanudo and the other horse was listed as the son of Peppy. In either case, of course, Pep Up was strong in the blood of Old Sorrel.
Although Pep Up sired many capable foals, his primary fame has come as a broodmare sire. Through such daughters as Shady Dell, producer of five AQHA Champions including Poco Dell and Peppy Belle, Pep Up will live in Quarter Horse history, regardless of his actual parentage. Peppy Belle earned her acclaim as dam of two of the greatest names in the cutting horse field, Peppy San and Mr. San Peppy.
Peppy San was not a King Ranch horse, but has helped continue the reputation of this family. Two of his outstanding foals, Peppy´s Desire and Chunky`s Monkey, were both out of the world champion Stardust Desire. Since she was sired by Stardust Red, by Macanudo Jr, these two cutters had two crosses to Macanudo.
Mr. San Peppy won the 1972 NCHA open Derby and then was named NCHA open world champion in both 1974 and 1976. He was the first horse to win, in 1976, both the NCHA title and the AQHA world championship in cutting. The first horse to win 0,000 in open cutting horse events, Mr. San Peppy was the youngest horse ever to be inducted into the NCHA Hall of Fame.
The King Ranch first leased this great competitor and then bought him to add to its stallion battery. In his way the ranch brought in some outside blood, but through a horse who had a direct link to Old Sorrel.
As a sire, Mr. San Peppy was equally as dominant. Among his foals were the 1976 AQHA Reserve World Champion Junior Cutting Horse, Beats Workin; 1982 NCHA World Champion Cutting Horse Tenino San; and NCHA Super Stakes Reserve Champion Miss Peppy Also.
Mr. San Peppy also sired the noted Peppy San Badger (best known as Little Peppy). An NCHA Holl of Fame member, Pappy San Badger won the 1977 NCHA Futurity, the 1978 NCHA Derby, and became the 1980 NCHA Reserve World Champion. Bred by Joe Kirk Fulton of Lubbock, Tex., Peppy San Badger also was acquired by the King Ranch to add to the ranch´s dynasty. He, too, became an eminent sire of cutting horse.
So, the blood of Old Sorrel lives on. Every new generation finds more talented horses who can trace back to this immortal horse, who died at age 31 in July 1946.
