History of Paint Racing

1990: Race purses skyrocketed to nearly $1 million, and the second horse in Paint history to earn in excess of $100,000 was recorded when Treasures joined her brother Treasured in the elite circle.

1991: Treasured Too came into his own, winning nearly everything he entered. Also, a new kid appeared on the block—Judys Lineage. He was the runaway winner of the National Championship Futurity. The season also saw racing’s registration requirements change, allowing a solid-colored horse to compete in stakes races with colored horses.

1992: Paint racing saw the emergence of a cropout speedster. Miami Moon, a sorrel mare from Miami, Oklahoma, garnered all the racing awards within her grasp. She was named World Champion Running Horse, Honor Roll Mare and Champion Running 2-Year-Old.

1993: Paint racing was approved in Europe, and the first approved Paint race was held in Germany. A 9-year-old gelding named Charlie Dee Lux won the 330-yard race. During the 1993 and 1994 racing seasons, Texas Hero, owned by Herbert Graham of Gardendale, Texas, made his mark in the annals of Paint Horse history, winning back-to-back world championships as well as topping the $100,000 mark in winnings. The loud-colored bay tobiano stallion, by Raise A Jet and out of Breakaway Baby, was only the third Paint running horse to top that figure. He also won both the PSBA and Pot O’ Gold Futurities.

1994: Easy Jet Too continued to prove his greatness and was named 1994 Lifetime Leading Sire of Paint Horses by Money Earned. He was the sire of 39 stakes horses, including world champions Treasures, Treasured Too, Awesome Jet, Number 1 Honor Roll Mare Echo Dian and All-Time Leading Paint Money-Earner Treasured ($143,046).

1996: Easy Jet Too’s progeny passed the $1 million mark in earnings. As the American Paint Horse Association marked the 30th anniversary of official Paint Horse racing, more races were recorded than in any other year, with purses totaling well over $1 million.

Izzy Legal

1997: In another record-breaking year, Paint purses reached an all-time high of $1,383,000. Izzy Legal, Oyana Wilson’s sorrel gelding, followed in Texas Hero’s and Fair Look’s hoofprints by becoming only the third horse in APHA racing history to win the World Champion Paint Running Horse title two years in a row.

1998: The Graham Paint Futurity at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, capped off another successful year. Offering a record-breaking purse of more than $84,000, the Futurity became the richest APHA-recognized race to date. The color and excitement of Paint racing brought about increases in total purse money offered by the tracks. A total of 328 recognized Paint races were held, with 417 starters breaking from the gates. Total purse distribution for the year was $1,811,987, with races held at 32 pari-mutuel tracks in 12 states and Canada. Two-time World Champion Texas Hero was back, this time making his mark as a leading sire of American Paint Horses with 29 get earning a total of $233,292. Six-time leading sire Treasured, winner of more than $143,000 on the racetrack, sold for $85,000 at the 1998 Heritage Place Fall Mixed Sale. Treasured was the first American Paint Horse to bring the high-selling price at a racing-bred sale.

1999: Paint Racing registered a total purse distribution of $2,072,996, with 361 races offered at 39 racetracks for the year. Easy Jet Too followed in his son’s hoofprints at the 1999 Heritage Place Fall Mixed Sale by becoming the second American Paint Horse to top the sale, bringing $54,000. The Graham Paint Futurity remained the richest race in Paint history, while Izzy Legal became the first Paint Horse to win the World Championship Paint Running Horse title three times.

Illegally Smashed

2000: California’s Los Alamitos Race Course began offering Paint racing and hosted the richest Paint race ever—the $125,000 Masterpiece Futurity. Real Easy Cash, sired by all-time leading sire Easy Jet Too, won the race for trainer Connie Hall and her eight partners in Watercolors Racing. Also at Los Alamitos, D. Wayne Lukas, who has trained four Kentucky Derby winners, purchased his first Paint racehorse, a yearling, and named it All The Buzz. Dr. Ed Allred, Los Alamitos’ CEO, paid $54,000 at the Ruidoso Super Select Yearling Sale for the embryo transfer Paint colt Speedys Meteor, with an eye on winning the 2001 Masterpiece Futurity. News outside of California included the new rules adopted at APHA’s Workshop for determining running champions, Michigan authorizing Paint racing and Oklahoma-based stallion Texas Hero returning as the leading sire of money earners. In addition, the Texas Racing Commission ruled that double-registered horses must race as a designated breed at each meet. Izzy Legal became the lifetime leading Paint by wins (27) and by money earned ($159,879), and his younger brother, Illegally Smashed, was named the World Champion Paint Running Horse.

Texas Wildcat

2001: Real Easy Cash, 2000 Champion 2-Year-Old Stallion and winner of the 2000 Masterpiece Paint Futurity, again commanded the winner’s circle by winning the Masterpiece Paint Derby. This time, he also set a Paint Racing Track Record at Los Alamitos, running 350 yards in :17:66. The stallion by Easy Jet Too, Lifetime Leading Sire of Money Earners, was the leading sire of embryo transfers this year.

Texas Wildcat rose to fame after winning six of his eight starts and becoming only the second Paint racehorse to earn more than $100,000 in his 2-year-old year. Texas Wildcat, sired by Texas Hero and out of Savona AQHA, was owned and bred by Herbert Graham, leading owner and breeder for 2001, and was trained by 2001 Leading Trainer Lewis Wartchow.

Overall, Paint racing realized a successful year, with 578 starters in 514 races competing for a grand total purse of $3,186,014. In addition, this was the first year of Paint stakes racing in Michigan.

2002: Paint purse money reached $4.1 million in 2002 and starters totaled 641.

Texie Two Step, owned by Merlin Collins Jr. of Okarche, Oklahoma, set a new race record in the Graham Paint Futurity, posting a time of :17.81 for the win.

Cha Cha Chickie, owned by Connie Hall and Robin Moraga of Cypress, California, was the first filly to ever win the Masterpiece Paint Futurity. She finished with a time of :17.88. The filly was also named the 2002 Regular Registry World Champion Running Paint Horse, Champion 2-Year-Old and Champion 2-Year-Old Filly.

2003: There were 743 Paint races held in 2003—the highest number ever.

Boy Of Summer was named the 2003 World Champion Breeding Stock Running Horse, Champion Breeding Stock 2-Year-Old and Champion Breeding Stock 2-Year-Old Gelding. The bay gelding owned by John and Neva Downing of Rifle, Colorado, posted a perfect record as a 2-year-old. The gelding also set a Los Alamitos track record with a time of :17.50 in the 350-yard Starburst Futurity.

Treasured Judy, a sorrel tobiano filly owned by Dena Todd-Richie of Wheelock, Texas, won five out of six starts this year. She was also selected as the 2003 Regular Registry World Champion Running Paint Horse, Champion 3-Year-Old and Champion 3-Year-Old Filly.

Herbert Graham was recognized as the 2003 Leading Breeder of Money-Earning Paints for the sixth consecutive year. Sammy Hester of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Charles Trochta of Oklahoma City were named the 2003 Leading Owners of Money-Earning Paints, taking the honor from Graham for the first time in six years.

Paul Harber received the first-ever APHA Racing Distinguished Service Award.

Calista Corona

2004: Money-earning Paint racehorses sired by Texas Hero helped the legendary sire reach a major milestone when their collective earnings totaled $2,245,515. The all-time leading sire of Paint money-earners since 1998, Texas Hero became the first Paint Horse ever whose get have topped the $2 million mark in earnings.

Two Paints made history by becoming only the third and fourth 2-year-olds to have earnings totaling more than $100,000. Linda Lajolla, owned by Tom and Marie Denham of Glenpool, Oklahoma, earned $104,109. Calista Corona’s earnings totaled $103,565. The gelding is owned by Sammy Hester and Charles Trochta.

Linda Lajolla

The Graham Paint Futurity, held on October 23 at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, Texas, offered $191,233—the largest purse ever for a Paint stakes race.

State Question 712 was passed in the November 2004 election in Oklahoma. The gaming bill will increase racing purses for all breeds Oklahoma tracks by about $30 million beginning in 2006.
 Read more about the history of racing