Good Bird was foaled on May 11th, 1956. He was bred by C. B. McNeill of Oklahoma. He was by Papa Redbird, winner of four stakes races including the Arlington Classic and Ocean City Handicap. Papa Redbird sired numerous Thoroughbred sprinters and a few Quarter Horses. Papa Bird, his best Quarter Horse starter, earned $33,239 on the track. Goody, the dam of Good Bird, was an unraced daughter of Menow, the 1937 Champion Two-Year-Old Colt. She produced thirteen registered foals including race winners Cardinal Hill, Good Cap and Miss Goodbird. Her sons Rapid Rascal and Eye Good sired Thoroughbreds, Quarter Horses and Paints. Good Bird was her most successful starter and her most prolific son at stud.
As a two-year-old, Good Bird won four of five starts, including the 1958 Colorado Silver Stakes. He did not make any official starts at age three. As a four and five-year-old, he made nine starts and won one race. He retired from racing with an official record of fourteen starts, five wins, two seconds and four thirds, with $18,819 in earnings, which is the equivalent of about $200,000 today.
After Good Bird left the track, he was purchased by Johnny T. L. Jones Jr. to stand at his breeding operation in Texas. One of the first foals that Good Bird sired was Bird Man, a chestnut Thoroughbred stallion that ran primarily against Quarter Horse company. Bird Man set two new track records and won races at distances from 220 to 400 yards. His biggest wins were in the Magic Empire Winter Futurity, Clear Fork Futurity and Magic Empire Spring Futurity. Bird Man went on to sire 207 Quarter Horse foals. Stakes winners by Bird Man included Cloud Master, Folly Bird and Homra.
Good Bird covered his first Quarter Horse mares in 1964. Laico Bird, a brown filly by Good Bird and out of Paula Laico, was foaled the following year. Remarkably, she became not only his best Quarter Horse starter, but the highest-earning Quarter Horse racehorse in history. Laico Bird won seventeen races and earned $435,653 on the track. In 1967, she won the All American Futurity, Los Alamitos Futurity, Raton Futurity, Texas Futurity, Columbus Futurity, and earned every accolade for which she was eligible. She was voted the AQHA Racing Champion Two-Year-Old Filly, World Champion Mare and World Champion Racing American Quarter Horse. Laico Bird went on to produce two foals – stakes winner Fly Laico Bird and stakes placed Laico Bird 2. She died from colic in 1971.
In 1966, Jones went to work for Walter Merrick. He took Good Bird with him. Merrick purchased a share of the stallion and stood him alongside Three Bars at his 14 Ranch in Sayre, Oklahoma. “Johnny had always had a good eye for a horse and he was a serious student of Thoroughbred bloodlines and performance,” Merrick said of Jones, the eventual founder of Walmac Farm in Kentucky, in his biography, Wire to Wire: The Walter Merrick Story by Frank Holmes. “Like Three Bars, Good Bird was a stakes-winning racehorse and had excellent Quarter Horse conformation. He was an above-average sire of early speed, and I stood him to the public for a number of years.”
Merrick limited Good Bird’s books to 50 mares every year, but thanks to the success of Laico Bird, those mares were some of the best in the country. For over a decade, Good Bird was a leading Thoroughbred sire of Quarter Horses. He sired stakes winners Good Bird Bars, Pine’s Birdie, Mystery Bird, Cinder Bird, Trim Bird, King Bird, Baby Red Bird, Shubird, Good O Jo and Good Baldy Bar.
Good Bird’s final track superstar, Byou Bird, came from Merrick’s breeding program. Byou Bird was out of Delta Rose, a stakes placed daughter of Lena’s Bar. She won the 1972 Kansas Futurity, Oklahoma Futurity and Blue Ribbon Futurity. Byou Bird also set a new track record for 330 yards in 16.620 seconds in the West Texas Futurity at Sunland Park. For her accomplishments, she was named the 1972 AQHA Racing Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. Byou Bird retired after her three-year-old season with thirteen wins and $309,965 to her name. She went on to produce I Get By, winner of the 1979 Raton Futurity.
In total, Good Bird’s 297 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse foals won 532 races and earned $1,521,252 on the track. They included 130 winners, 81 ROM-earners, 28 stakes finalists, fourteen stakes winners, seven Superior Race Award-earners, two champions and one World Champion. In addition to racehorses, Good Bird sired performance ROM-earners Lady Good Bird, Rare Bird, Dianna Bird, Aguila Rojo, Betty Bird and Phillip’s Queen. Other performance point earners by Good Bird included Rulee’s Bird, Ground Bird, Field Master and Good Coat. He also sired halter point earners Wanna Bird and Navy Bird. Altogether, his offspring earned 116.0 points in the arena.
Good Bird’s sons Better Bird, Chief Red Bird, Cincos Flashy, Doodle Bird, Going Bird, Good Baldy Bar, Good Bird Bars, Good Bird Too, Lani Bird, Last Bird, Like a Bird Leo, Miss Diana Bird, Nuthin Nu, Shubird and Six Bird sired Thoroughbreds, Quarter Horses and Paints. Notably, Good N Cold, a Thoroughbred stallion by Good Bird, sired multiple stakes winner Miss Angel Good. She went on to produce Mr Jet Moore Jr, sire of numerous halter and performance point earners.
Daughters of Good Bird produced 530 Quarter Horse foals. His grandget included 163 ROM-earners, 147 race winners, sixteen Superior Race Award earners and sixteen stakes winners, with earnings of $2,123,185 on the track. Good N Gorgeous, a sorrel mare by Dash For Cash, was the highest earning racehorse out of a Good Bird mare. She won nine races including the Gr. 1 Kansas Derby and Gr. 1 Heritage Place Derby. Other stakes winners out of Good Bird mares included Smooth Speed, I’m Easy, Ridgewoods Charger, Kiki Tyson, Revolutionary, Viking Anne, Song O My Heart, Pajaro Chico, Ichi Jo, Miss Boom N Go, Make Mine Easy, Comets Chip and Weekend Mystery.
In the arena, his grandget earned over 800 points. Miss Social Streak, a bay mare by Brio and out of Lady Good Bird, by Good Bird, was the 1983 Reserve World Champion in Junior Western Riding. Pride of Brio, a full brother to Miss Social Streak, earned a Superior Western Pleasure award. Lady Good Bird also produced Performance ROM-earner Nickys Mark and Performance point-earners Fancy Nicky and Ms Goodbird.
Horses out of Good Bird mares were extremely versatile. In addition to western pleasure and western riding, they also excelled in halter, barrel racing, pole bending and cutting. Larks Impressive, a sorrel stallion by Sir Impressive and out of Good Bird’s Lark, earned 33.0 halter points. Hesa Formula, a gelding by Jet Too and out of Speedbird, competed in Pole Bending and Barrel Racing at the World Show. He also earned Superior Barrel Racing awards in the Open and Youth divisions. Dox Excitement, a sorrel mare by Dox Sox and out of Good Excitement, qualified for the Cutting World Show and earned $7,763.80 in the NCHA. Freddie Franco, a bay gelding by Pocket Coin and out of Bird Pal, won two All-Around titles and earned a Performance ROM. Other performance ROM earners out of Good Bird mares included Added Money, Birds Forecast, Chosen Star and Ima Special Bird.
Good Bird’s last foals were born in 1975. Merrick later said this about the chestnut stallion: “Even though Good Bird was an above-average breeding horse, he wasn’t as consistent a sire as Three Bars or Easy Jet. Still, he did me and a bunch of other folks some good, and I was glad to have had the opportunity to use him.”
Sources: Equineline, Equibase, American Quarter Horse Association, The Quarter Horse Journal, Wire to Wire: The Walter Merrick Story, All Breed Database
The Western Thoroughbred 