Barjo’s Bay was foaled on April 20th, 1970. He was bred by Clifford E. Stewart in Arkansas. His sire, Thermos, was by Kentucky Pride, a son of Bull Lea. Thermos sired 371 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse foals that earned over $1.7 million on the track. His most successful Quarter Horse starter, Miss Thermolark, was the 1978 World Champion Racing American Quarter Horse. Other Quarter Horse stakes winners by Thermos included Past Tense, Miss Thermodeck, Thurbun and Thermos Bug. He also sired Grey Lark, a very successful heading and heeling horse. Gray Lark won AQHA World Championships in roping at both ends.
Chance Pleasure, the dam of Barjo’s Bay, was bred by William Q. Muir in Kentucky. She was an uraced daughter of multiple stakes winner With Pleasure. Chance Pleasure produced nine Thoroughbred foals for Clifford E. Stewart, including race winners Big Red Hoss, Gray Pleasure, Big Bojo, Thermolena and Thermos Bomb, a full brother to Barjo’s Bay and the sire of 85 AQHA recognized foals. Chance Pleasure later sold to Ronny Schliep in Oklahoma where she produced Quarter Horse race winners Pleasure Alot and Alotalot. Schliep was also the breeder of Bertha Marie, a full-sister to Barjo’s Bay, who produced Miami Prince, a Quarter Horse gelding that won seven graded stakes races and set a new world record at Fairmount Park for 770 yards in 39.530 seconds. Chance Pleasure’s thirteenth and final foal, Ms. Chauncey, was born in 1984.
In 1972, Barjo’s Bay made his debut in a four-furlong maiden race at Hazel Park near Detroit, Michigan. He won the race decisively over Treasure Mist and Sweeping Prince. He chalked up two more wins in allowance races, defeating stakes winner Luv Nancy and stakes contender Meadowgoer. A victory in the 1972 Freshman Derby over multiple stakes winner Sunny South marked the end of his undefeated two-year-old campaign.
As a three-year-old, Barjo’s Bay won four of his five starts. His most impressive victory was in a handicap at Beulah Park where he outran stakes winner Man of Parts to set a new track record for six furlongs in 1:09.20. He also won two allowance races at Oaklawn Park and a handicap at Hazel Park. As an older horse, he won six more races and defeated multiple stakes winners Eager Wish, Grand Action, Broadway Lullaby and Babingtons Image. He retired at the end of his five-year-old season with a final race record of 23 starts, fourteen wins, two seconds and one third, with $71,655 in earnings, which is equivalent to about $430,000 today.
Barjo’s Bay was owned by Joe K. Bass of Bonnerdale, Arkansas and he stood at Fourwinds Farm in Muskogee, Oklahoma. At nearly 17hh, he had beautiful conformation and substantial bone. His first foals arrived in 1977. His first foal crop included Thoroughbred stakes contender Sue’s Holme and Quarter Horse Racing Register of Merit earner Miss Monty Bay. His first stakes winner, Barjos Boy, was foaled in 1979. Barjos Boy was a bay Quarter Horse stallion. He won the 1983 Garfield Downs Wheat Capital Stakes in Enid, Oklahoma.
Barjo’s Bay’s best Quarter Horse starter, Barjos Buttercup, was a brown filly bred by T. G. Hodge in Oklahoma. In 1984, Barjos Buttercup won three stakes races at Blue Ribbon Downs – the Belle Starr Stakes, the Miss Oklahoma Handicap and the Fall Fashion Handicap. Altogether, Barjos Buttercup won thirteen races and earned $44,017 on the track. She went on to produce two AQHA registered foals – Bridget Buttercup and Benjamin Buttercup. Neither won a race.
In 1994, Rays Bay, a dark bay Thoroughbred gelding by Barjo’s Bay, set a new track record at Blue Ribbon Downs for 4 ½ furlongs in 51.580 seconds. He later lowered that record to 51.330 seconds. Other Thoroughbred race winners by Barjo’s Bay included Holmemaid Angel, Sue’s Holme and Barjo’s Return. Speck O Barjo, Barjos Type, Doodlin Doll, Barjo My Man and Regal Act were some of his more successful Quarter Horse runners.
Plan On Jo, a brown gelding out of a daughter of Alamitos Bar, was the only son of Barjo’s Bay that earned a Performance Register of Merit. Vans Barjo Bay, Barjos Go Getter and Barjos Blaze earned performance points.
Altogether, Barjo’s Bay sired 202 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse foals in seventeen foal crops. They included 66 ROM earners, 64 race winners, nine stakes finalists, two stakes winners and two Superior Race Award earners.
Barjos Type, a bay Quarter Horse stallion by Barjo’s Bay, sired 31 AQHA registered foals. His only other son to sire any AQHA foals was Mister Bar Jo Chick.
Daughters of Barjo’s Bay produced 162 AQHA recognized foals that earned $235,756 on the track and 136.5 points in the arena. Barjos Ringer produced Hot Steel Ringer, the highest racing earner out of a Barjo’s Bay mare. Barjos Ringer also produced Racing ROM earners Norma Jo Ringer, First View, Quick View, Quick Ringer, Royal Quick Blast and Barjos Begger.
Mr Sawbucks, a gray gelding by Bucksaw and out of Two Timin Woman, was the highest point earner out of a Barjo’s Bay mare. He qualified for the Team Penning World Show three times and earned Performance ROMs in the Open and Amateur divisions. Smokin Bar Lena, a half-sister to Mr Sawbucks, was a finalist for the AQHA World Show in Senior Barrel Racing. Barging Reject, a gray gelding out of a mare by Barjo’s Bay, was also a barrel racing money earner. Jeremiahs Bug, a brown gelding by Ole Gold Mine and out of Miss Monty Bay, by Barjo’s Bay, placed ninth and tenth in the Youth division of Stake Racing at the World Show in 1998 and 1999.
Barjo’s Bay’s last foals were born in 1992. He was reported deceased in 1996 when he would have been 26 years old. He died under the ownership of Ray McBroom and Harold Boos in Council Hill, Oklahoma. He has a few descendants still competing in racing and barrel racing today, but they are hard to find.
Sources: Equineline, Equibase, Speedhorse Magazine, All Breed Database
The Western Thoroughbred 