Jeopardy was foaled in 1973. He was bred by 3M corporation chairman William L. McKnight’s Tartan Farms in Ocala, Florida. His sire, In Reality, was by Intentionally, the 1959 Champion Sprinter. In Reality won fourteen races, including the Fountain of Youth Stakes, Florida Derby and Metropolitan Handicap. He went on to sire 1979 Hall of Fame inductee Desert Vixen, 1980 English Champion Miler Known Fact, 1986 Champion Sprinter Smile, and multiple graded stakes winner Believe It, as well as influential sires Relaunch and Valid Appeal. His Thoroughbred sons Desert Reality, Golden Reality, I Really Will, Liberalartsdiploma, Really Golden, Shananie, Traffic Breaker, Vuelo and Wabasha each sired a handful of Quarter Horses.
De Hostess, the dam of Jeopardy, was bred by Meadowview Farms in New Jersey. She was by Your Host, the sire of five-time Horse of the Year Kelso. De Hostess was out of Demolition, a stakes placed daughter of Foray. Notably, Foray was the sire of Foray Array, the damsire of Go Dick Go, winner of the 1966 All American Futurity. De Hostess made eleven starts, won one race, and earned $2,670 on the track. In 1960, she produced her first foal, a chestnut colt named Rolling Sea, for Mrs. Richard C. DuPont in Kentucky. De Hostess later sold to Tartan Farms where she produced eight more foals. Her most successful starter, Shelter Bay, won the 1970 Manhattan Handicap and 1971 Bougainvillea Handicap. Collectively, her foals won 49 races and earned over $580,000 on the track.
Jeopardy ran for Tartan Stable under trainer John A. Nerud. He made just one start as a two-year-old. On March 29th, 1976, won a Maiden Special Weight at Aqueduct in Ozone Park, New York. A few months later, he won an Allowance race at the same track. Jeopardy retired at the end of his four-year-old season with a race record of 24 starts, two wins, three seconds, and six thirds, with $36,300 in earnings, which is the equivalent of about $195,000 today.
When Jeopardy retired from racing, he was purchased by Bill Cummings, Steve Zamler and Dee Hubbard. He stood at Double BB Farms in Purcell, Oklahoma. His first foals were born in 1980. That first crop of foals included Jeopardys Fanny, his best Quarter Horse starter. Jeopardys Fanny was a bay filly out of a daughter of Little Dick Priest. She was bred John and Mary Ann Virant in Texas. Jeopardys Fanny won the 1983 Hill Country Derby at Rollie White Downs in Brady, Texas. She also placed second in the Brady Creek Summer Derby and the Silver Medallion Derby and third in the Brady Mountain Derby. In total, she won six races and earned $22,327 on the track. Jeopardys Fanny went on to produce Superior Race Horse Western Jeopardys, as well as Racing Register of Merit earners Jeopardys Girl, Jeopardys Chairlady, Pass for Victory, Cash All Checks and One Slick Sensation.
In 1992, Risque One, a dark bay Thoroughbred filly by Jeopardy, set a new track record at Arapahoe Park for 5 ½ furlongs in 1:06.20. Other Thoroughbred race winners by Jeopardy included Risque Zak, Ever Lovin’, Aztec Warrior, Roses Are Red, Flash and Cash, Doneje, Geostar, Jeopardy Bell, Empty Keg, Gypsy Rhyme, Jasons Fleece, Ima Reality Too and Top Gamble. His Racing ROM earners included My Ten, Go Nancy Lee, Real Jeopardy, Jewells For Fools, Hostess Two, Top Jeopardy, Ascot Gavot, Jeopardy Lad, Miss Double Jeopardy, High Risk Lady and Pardy in Reality.
In total, Jeopardy sired 107 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse foals in twelve foal crops. They included 27 race winners, fourteen ROM earners and one stakes winner. Collectively, they earned $228,642 on the track.
Jeopardy Rocket, a bay stallion by Jeopardy and out of a race winning daughter of Jaguar Rocket, earned a Racing ROM. After he retired from racing, he became Jeopardy’s only Performance Point earner. He went on to sire 42 AQHA registered foals. Jeopardy Rocket was the damsire of a few barrel horses, including Litas on Fire. Daddy Deezee, another Quarter Horse son of Jeopardy, also sired a few AQHA registered foals.
Daughters of Jeopardy produced 48 AQHA recognized foals that earned $144,036 on the track. Chicks Jeopardy produced I Know Jeopardy, the highest earning Quarter Horse racehorse out of Jeopardy mare. As A Rule, a bay gelding by Born to Rule and out of Dimples Too, a Thoroughbred daughter of Jeopardy, was his only point earning maternal grandson. Notably, Reddick Beau, a sorrel gelding by Mr Beaudash and out of a daughter of Jeopardy, was a barrel racing money earner. He earned $1,307 through the Barrel Futurities of America.
Jeopardy’s last foals were born in 1992 when he would have been nineteen years old. He passed away under the ownership of the Cugnini Land and Cattle Company in Ignacio, Colorado. He has very few living descendants, but he was a beautiful example of the type of Thoroughbred stallion that was once sought after by Quarter Horse breeders.
The Western Thoroughbred 