Like many sons of Native Dancer, Texas Dancer was hard to fault. He had a perfect pedigree and correct conformation. Texas Dancer sired an AQHA Racing Champion and his daughters produced numerous performance horses. His name certainly belongs in conversations about the most influential Thoroughbred sires of Quarter Horses.
Texas Dancer was foaled on April 16th, 1966. He was bred by Jack Dreyfus’ Hobeau Farm near Ocala, Florida. His sire, Native Dancer, was one of the most accomplished Thoroughbred racehorses in American history. Native Dancer won 21 of 22 starts. His only loss was in the 1953 Kentucky Derby, in which he placed second behind Dark Star. Native Dancer went on to win the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, as well as Withers, Dwyer, and Travers Stakes. He was a three-time champion and two-time Horse of the Year. Native Dancer never topped the American sires list, but he was inarguably one of the most influential sires of the 20th century. He sired 43 stakes winners, including Kauai King, winner of the 1966 Kentucky Derby. His sons Raise a Native, Mito and Dancing Dervish were extremely influential sires of Quarter Horses.
Lullah, the dam of Texas Dancer, was a Hobeau Farm homebred. She was by Beau Gar, the foundation stallion of the Dreyfus breeding program. Lullah’s dam, Marullah, was a stakes-winning daughter of Nasrullah. Lullah was unraced, but she was a full sibling to multiple stakes winners Handsome Boy and Blessing Angelica. She produced three race-winning Thoroughbred foals for Hobeau Farm. Her second foal, Lullah Lullah, was the third dam of multiple graded stakes winner sire Kelly Kip. Lullah produced her fourth and final foal – Royally Bred – under the ownership of business partners Morton Rosenthal and Ceasar Kimmel. Royally Bred was unraced, but he went on the sire race winners Kattie Louise, Bay Reason and Joycey Baby.
Texas Dancer was owned by Kermit D. Wade. He was unplaced in one start at two. As a three-year-old, he won a 6 ½ furlong Maiden race at Keeneland, defeating Hilario and Act to Win. He also placed second in a Handicap and an Allowance race at Florida Downs. His biggest race was the Stepping Stone Purse at Churchill Downs, in which he placed third behind the 1969 Kentucky Derby winner Majestic Prince. His final race record was seven starts, won win, two seconds, and one third, with $4,315 in earnings.
Although Texas Dancer had an unremarkable race record, he was the highest rated sprinter over a half-mile according to the Computer Horse Breeders Association, Ken and Fairlee Trimble’s original computerized horse-rating service. The Trimbles scientifically measured thousands of horses. They analyzed conformation and the balance between strength and stride. Their speed ratings and mating analysis were used by breeders from around the world to choose the best possible stallions for their mares. Texas Dancer scored a 97.8 out of a possible 98.0, which made him a great candidate for many mares.
When Texas Dancer retired from racing, he stood at the Wadewood Breeding Farm between Kilgore and Henderson, Texas. He stood 15.2 hands high and weighed 1,250 pounds. Despite his exceptional conformation and sweet disposition, Wade was the only breeder that really saw his potential. Texas Dancer only sired three AQHA registered foals in 1970. His second foal crop included six AQHA registered foals, three of which were Racing Register of Merit earners.
Wade bred the first Thoroughbred stakes winners by Texas Dancer – Dancing Whim and Dancer’s Chandar. Dancing Whim won the 1974 Friendship Stakes at Louisiana Downs and Dancer’s Chandar won the 1975 Victoria Lass Stakes at Jefferson Downs. Dancer Roan, a gray gelding by Texas Dancer and out of a daughter of Mr Meyers, became his first Quarter Horse stakes winner in the 1977 Brazos Futurity. After those stakes wins, Texas Dancer’s popularity grew. He went from covering about a dozen mares per year to more than fifty.
By 1980, Texas Dancer had been syndicated and moved to the Arrowhead Ranch near Ada, Oklahoma. His stud fee was $1,500 when Dr. Harvey Dale “H. D.” Hall and his wife and Margaret Joan “Peggy Jo” Hall brought Tall Cotton, a race winning daughter of Easy Jet, to the gray stallion. They were hoping for a magic outcross, and they got it. The resulting foal, Eastex, would hold the Quarter Horse racing title of leading money earning two-year-old for nearly three decades.
Eastex was trained by James McArthur. He won his debut, a 250-yard Maiden race at Manor Downs and set a new track record for 350 yards at Bay Meadows a month later. That was the beginning of one of the greatest two-year-old seasons in Quarter Horse racing history. Eastex rattled off wins in the Gr. 1 Bay Meadows Futurity, Gr. 1 Dash for Cash Futurity and Gr. 1 All American Futurity. He was the 1984 AQHA Champion Two-Year-Old Gelding, Champion Two-Year-Old and High Money Earning Horse. As a three-year-old, Eastex won the Gr. 1 Golden State Derby. Unfortunately, he injured his hind leg in a stall accident and never won another official race. He retired at the age of five with thirteen wins and $1,869,406 in earnings. He returned to the track in 1990 to lead the post parade at Remington Park for the race named in his honor.
Eastex sold to interests in Mexico when he was eleven years old. He was later found training for match races at a stable near El Paso, Texas. He was purchased for $10,000 by Andy Golden of Speedhorse Magazine. Golden made sure that the gelding lived out his days in dignity. When Eastex finally had to be euthanized in 2013 at the age of 32, he was buried at Dee and Betty Raper’s farm south of Norman, Oklahoma. The headstone that Golden had commissioned for the old gelding simply reads: Eastex ‘A True Champion.’ You can read his full story on the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Association website. He was inducted into the OQHA Hall of Fame in 2017.
Eastex was not the only record-setting stakes winner by Texas Dancer. Catcha Dancer set a new track record in the 1981 Blood Reserve Futurity. Master Dance won two stakes races and set track records at 350 and 440 yards. Big Bruiser won two stakes races and set a new track record at Blue Ribbon Downs for 870 yards. Native Deckie won the 1983 Medicine Hat Derby and set two new track records for 350 and 440 yards. Some Class Act was stakes placed and set a new track record at Bandera Downs for 250 yards in 13.310 seconds. Other Quarter Horse stakes winners by Texas Dancer included Texas Sugar Moon, Circle Easy Dancer, Astrodancer, Mr Black Dancer, Some Kinda Dancer, He Is a Dancer and Fancy Lika Lady.
His offspring excelled in other events too. In 1992, Midnite in Texas, a gray gelding by Texas Dancer, was the AQHA Amateur Reserve World Champion Working Hunter. Tonys Next Dance, another gray gelding by Texas Dancer, was the AQHA World Show Reserve All-Around Amateur in 1998 and 1999. Tonys Next Dance earned a total of 341.5 points competing in Working Hunter, Hunter Hack, Equitation Over Fences and Jumping. Other Performance ROM earners by Texas Dancer included Dangnabit, Beau Gar, A Private Dancer, Equisate Dancer, Texas Rockette, Texas by a Storm and Texas Easter Jet.
In total, Texas Dancer sired 1,152 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse foals in 22 foal crops. They included 396 race winners, 384 ROM earners, 73 stakes finalists, eighteen stakes winners, seven Superior Race Award earners, one Reserve World Champion and one AQHA Racing Champion. They earned $5,200,872 on the track and 699.5 points in the arena.
Sons of Texas Dancer sired nearly 1,700 AQHA recognized foals. Tex Wade, Dance for Joy, Go Texas Go, Native Texan, All Dancer, Sir Reign Dancer, Dance with Don, Dancing Okie, The Town Dancer, Texas Express, Black Gold Texan, Chinchitas Choice and Doyles Dance On By were the largest contributors to that number.
Texas Dancer was more impressive as a broodmare sire. His daughters produced 1,652 AQHA recognized foals that earned $4,511,392 on the track and 2,033.0 points in the arena. Dancer’s Queen, a stakes placed mare by Texas Dancer, produced Queen for Cash, the 1981 AQHA Racing Champion Three-Year-Old Filly. Dancer’s Queen also produced Superior Race Horse award earner Sexy Socialite and Racing ROM earners Eloquent Effort, Joyful Joanie, Streakin Winner, Queens Miss Dash, A High Winner and Queen High BP. The next best producer by Texas Dancer was Miss Texas Easter, the dam of My Mixed Emotions, winner of the 1989 Gr. 3 Florida Bred Futurity, and Ima Killer Yawl, the 1993 East Hi Point Aged Mare. Other stakes winners out of Texas Dancer mares included Sir Napalot, Roulette Doll and Nip Them in the Bud.
Topless Dancer was a great producer by Texas Dancer whose dynasty endures today. She produced Clipper Flight, winner of the 1981 Pie in the Sky Futurity and sire of 142 AQHA registered foals. She also produced White Tie, sire of 286 AQHA registered foals and the damsire of five-time AQHA Racing Champion Catchmeinyourdreams. Easy Hoofer, Beduino Dancer and Meadow Creek Dancer, daughters of Topless Dancer, were all great producers too. Easy Hoofer produced graded stakes winner Cash Is Easy. She was also the second dam and third dam of graded stakes winners Three Past Six and Fast Preacher Man. Beduino Dancer produced stakes winners Sambaso Dancer and Torrid Tango. Beduino Dancer was also the third dam of graded stakes winners HS Paul Walker and A Super Sonic Boom. Meadow Creek Dancer was the second dam of multiple graded stakes winner and sire, TF Featured Effort, and graded stakes winner Le Magnifique FG.
My Texas Dancer, a Quarter Horse daughter of Texas Dancer, produced two ApHC National Champions – Top Dancer, the 1997 National Champion in First Year Green Hunter, and Justa Native 2002 National Champion in Hunter in Hand. The Boston Stranger, a brown gelding by Boston Scotch Time and out of Dancers Final Fling, was the highest AQHA point earner out of a Texas Dancer mare. He earned 420.0 points competing in Hunter Under Saddle and Hunt Seat Equitation. Other Performance ROM earners out of daughters of Texas Dancer included Dancing Project, The DQ Kid, Firing Frisco, Lets Dance All Night, Dancin in the Dark, Rennbahn, Esquisate Stardancer, Dancing by the Truck, Disregard the Rules, Tiny Moon Dancer, Chapels Easter Jet, Dashs Ace and Brays Rockin Bug.
Texas Dancer appears frequently on the bottomside of barrel horse pedigrees. His daughters produced barrel racing money earners Carols Girl, Toby’s Next Dance, Lucrative Lark, Willies Mag Jet, Dancers Grey Poupon, Fantas Texas Dancer, Dance N Details, Dancers Weapon, Some Texas Dasher and Ready to Dash.
Texas Dancer’s final foals were born in 1991. He passed away in 1992 at the age of 26. Late barrel horse stallions Classic Stone, CEO and Six Up Top all had Texas Dancer in the third generation of their pedigrees. Accomplished barrel horses HR Fameskissandtell, Youaintseenfamousyet and Imafastrascal owe some of their speed to Texas Dancer.
Sources: Equineline, Equibase, American Quarter Horse Association, Speedhorse Magazine, All Breed Database
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