Money Lender was Nashville’s leading money earner. He defeated some of the best sprinters on the West Coast during his five-year racing career. Although none of his offspring duplicated his success on the track, he still has a few descendants competing in racing, barrel racing and halter today!
Money Lender was foaled on February 28th, 1971. He was bred in California by Hall of Fame jockey and trainer John Longden. Longden won the 1943 Triple Crown abord Count Fleet. He later trained Majestic Prince, winner of the 1969 Kentucky Derby, which made Longden the only person in history to win the race as both a jockey and a trainer. Money Lender was by Nashville, a multiple stakes winning son of leading sire Nasrullah. Despite his reputation for being aggressive, Nashville became one of the most popular stallions in California in the 1960s. He sired several Thoroughbred stakes winners, including Ruken, Chiclero and Nasharco.
Nashville’s influence spread far beyond the Thoroughbred racetracks. Several of his Thoroughbred sons sired Quarter Horses, Paints and Appaloosas. His most prolific Thoroughbred son, Azure Te, was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame in 2015. Azure Te sired more than a thousand AQHA recognized foals, including Come Six, Azure Three, A Zure Request, Band of Azure and Twelve Five. Experteeser, Lotsaluck, La Crema, General Scott, Nashville’s Joy and Champsville also contributed to the large number of AQHA registered foals by Thoroughbred sons of Nashville. Towards the end of his stud career, Nashville also sired Quarter Horse stallions Ichibon and Assured Ville, sires of more than 700 Quarter Horse foals.
Gale Velvet, the dam of Money Lender, was an unraced daughter of Royal Coinage, the sire of Venetian Way, winner of the 1960 Kentucky Derby. Royal Coinage also sired stakes winners He’s a Pistol, Indulto and Royal Exchange. Water Flood, the dam of Gale Velvet, was a half-sister to multiple stakes winners Sunrise County and Terra Firma. Gale Velvet produced six Thoroughbred foals for John Longden, including race winners Absolute Monarchy and Doc Ward. She was later purchased by Spendthrift Farm where she produced the graded stakes placed stallion Rejected Suitor. Money Lender was her most successful son on the track and at stud.
In 1973, Money Lender won five of his ten starts for John Longden and his wife Hazel. He won the El Camino Stakes, Gr. 2 Norfolk Stakes and Gr. 2 California Breeders’ Champion Stakes. His final start as a two-year-old was in the 34th running of the California Breeders’ Champion Stakes at Santa Anita. Money Lender was the even-money favorite in the field of eight. He scored a 2 ¼ length victory over Jo Moses and Stardust Mel. Three weeks later, in his first start as a three-year-old, Money Lender won the Gr. 3 San Miguel Stakes. Unfortunately, he did not keep up his winning form. After a second-place finish in the Gr. 2 San Felipe Handicap and third place finishes in the Gr. 2 San Jacinto Stakes and Gr. 2 California Derby, Money Lender took an extended layoff.
Money Lender returned to the races in 1975 where he placed third in the Premiere Handicap at Hollywood Park. He did not hit the board in any other stakes races until he won the 1976 Portland Meadows Mile Handicap. He then won four more races that year, including the Space Needle Handicap, San Joaquin Handicap and San Francisco Handicap. His final stakes win was in the 1977 Arizona Downs Handicap at Turf Paradise in Pheonix. When Money Lender retired from racing at the age of six, he had defeated nearly every top West Coast sprinter of his day. His final race record was 54 starts, fourteen wins, ten seconds and ten thirds, with $442,165 in earnings, which is the equivalent of about $2.3 million today.
Money Lender stood at Rio Vista in Atascadero, California. His first foals were born in 1979. Borrowed Maid, a bay Thoroughbred filly, became his first stakes winner when she won the 1982 Buttons and Bows Stakes at Exhibition Park. Bill’s C. D., winner of the 1984 Master Fairmount Stakes, was his only other Thoroughbred stakes winner.
His first Quarter Horse foals were born in 1980. In 1984, Money Arrived, a Texas-bred gelding by Money Lender and out of Little Arrive, by Leo Hope, won the Hillbilly Holiday Futurity at Trinity Meadows. Money Lender’s best Quarter Horse starters were out of Easy Jet mares. Lenders Easy Fanta, winner of the 1984 Old West Racing Association Futurity at the Central States Fair, and Slash V Ranch, winner of the 1985 Boardwalk Sale Futurity at Vale Verde Downs, were both out of Easy Jet mares. Other notable Quarter Horse racehorses by Money Lender included Good Lender, winner of the 1985 First Chance Futurity, and Superior Race Horses Credit Union and Coronados Gold.
Shared Gold, a bay gelding by Money Lender and out of Sharletta, by Le Cinder, made two starts on the track before he began his show career. He placed fourth in Youth division of Equitation Over Fences at the 1996 AQHA World Show. He earned Performance Register of Merits in the Open and Youth divisions. Ranchero Bay, a bay gelding by Money Lender and out of Mitoetta, by Mito Paint, also earned a Performance ROM. Its Money, Note Lender and Eighteen Percent earned Performance points. Lender Go was another son of Money Lender that had a racing and show career. After Lender Go made seventeen starts without winning a race, he went on to earn money in the National Reining Horse Association!
In total, Money Lender sired 394 registered Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse foals in thirteen foal crops. They included 109 race winners, 64 ROM earners, six stakes winners, six stakes finalists and two Superior Race Award earners. Collectively, they earned $1,252,224 on the track and 159.5 points in the arena.
Lends a Lot, a bay Quarter Horse stallion by Money Lender and out of a Goer mare, sired 57 AQHA registered foals. Nine of his foals earned Performance ROMs. Turn Money Man, a bay gelding by Lends a Lot, was a 1D barrel horse with professional rodeo earnings. He placed in the Top Ten at the American Quarter Horse Congress and the NBHA Youth World Championships. Three For Money, a black stallion by Money Lender and out of a Three Chicks mare, sired 39 AQHA registered foals. His daughter Lady Pacific Lender produced Spirit of Indalea, a two-time AQHA World Show qualifier in barrel racing and pole bending. His sons Nashville Cash, Hesamoneychanger, The Loan Shark, Solvency, Missles Loan Shark, Blobs of Money and Monte’s Cool Money also sired a few AQHA foals.
Daughters of Money Lender produced 322 Quarter Horse foals that earned $356,260 on the track and 46.5 points in the arena. Espejo Carioki Cash, a brown gelding by Raise the Cash, was the only stakes winner out of a Money Lender mare. He was the 1996 Mexico Champion Three-Year-Old Colt and High Point Three-Year-Old Gelding. Confident Angel and Shawnes Gold earned Performance ROMs. Beautiful And Easy, Presage, Air Jordan, Carries Back and So Long Jane earned performance points.
Money Lender’s last foals were born in 1989 when he would have been eighteen years old. He died under the ownership of Tom C. Hoshall of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Some of his descendants include Perrys Runaway, winner of the 2012 Gr. 2 LA Champions Day Juvenile, and Deputy Dash To War, an AQHA Grand Champion Stallion.
Sources: Equineline, Equibase, The American Quarter Horse Association, Speedhorse Magazine, All Breed Database
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