Ariel Ace was foaled in 1943. He was bred by Walter J. Salmon, Sr. at Mereworth Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. Ariel Ace was by Ariel, a son of Eternal, the 1918 Co-Champion Two-Year-Old Colt. Adana, the dam of Ariel, was a stakes-placed daughter of Mannie Himyar, a full-sister to the legendary speedster Domino. Ariel won six races, including the 1927 Youthful Stakes and Saratoga Special. Although he covered few outside mares, Ariel became popular with Quarter Horse breeders after his Thoroughbred son Piggin String was named the AQRA Champion Quarter Running Stallion in 1944 and 1946. Piggin String was a leading sire of racing Quarter Horses. Ariel’s sons Thoroughbred sons Ariel Game, Ariel John, Arrive, Black Sambo, Education, Fag, High Breeze, Indel, Just Again, Marcabala, Pondariel, Remolino and Tarry Long also sired Quarter Horses, Paints and Appaloosas.
War Swept, the dam of Ariel Ace, was an unraced daughter of the legendary Man o’ War. She was a full-sister to National Show Hunter Hall of Fame inductee Holystone. War Swept produced thirteen foals for Mereworth Farm, including race winners Go Again, Clivia, Parla and Goddess Gold. Her best starter, Roman Bath, won three stakes races. Roman Bath later sired Thoroughbred stakes winner Andrew Road, as well as eight AQHA recognized foals. Music Man Fox, anther black-type stakes winner out of War Swept, sired Some Kinda Music, another Thoroughbred sire of Quarter Horses. Air Cobra, a full-brother to Ariel Ace, also sired 47 AQHA recognized foals. War Swept produced her last foal, General Quarters, in 1958 when she was 22 years old.
In 1945, Ariel Ace made fourteen official starts and won six races. As a three-year-old, he won two races and placed third in the Arkansas Derby. He had his best season of racing at age four. That year, he won nine races and placed third in the 1947 Phoenix Handicap. Ariel Ace continued racing until he was seven years old. During his six-year racing career, his jockeys reportedly commented that he broke faster from the gate than any Quarter Horse they had ridden. His final race record was 64 races, 19 wins, 10 seconds and 6 thirds, with $36,960 in earnings, which is the equivalent of about $500,000 today.
Ariel Ace was owned by Charles E. King and stood in Wichita Falls, Texas. His stallion advertisements described him as a heavily-muscled horse with a beautiful head and short ears. His first foals arrived in 1952. Early Dawn, one of his first Thoroughbred race winners, ran against both Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse company. Other early Thoroughbred race winners by Ariel Ace included Oak Cliff, Spring Dawn, Singing Ace, Aces Wild, Mr. Naylor, Country Delivery and Ace’s Fedora. Ariel Manda was his first Quarter Horse race winner.
War Ace, the best Quarter Horse starter by Ariel Ace, was foaled in 1962. He was bred by Mrs. Jane Mayo in Oklahoma. War Ace won 22 races, including the 1965 Michigan Derby. He also set new track records at Midway Downs for 300 and 330 yards in 15.710 seconds and 16.920 seconds respectively. War Ace went on to sire Jim Sonnett, the 1976 World Champion Senior Barrel Horse. His other Performance Register of Merit earner, Ace’s Brandy Kay, produced accomplished halter horses Sonny Go Clown and Impressive Ovation. Warquita, a Racing ROM earner by War Ace, produced Racing ROM earners Top Moons George, That Dennis, Kraig Oh War, Warquita Too, War Rocket Go and My Favorite Coin. Other performance horses out of War Ace mares included ROM earner Jujo Miss and NCHA money earner Honey Document.
Altogether, Ariel Ace sired 49 registered Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse foals in fourteen foal crops. They included eleven race winners that earned $86,642 on the track.
War Ace was the most successful son of Ariel Ace at stud. His sons Holiday Ariel and Ariel Duece also sired a handful of foals. Daughters of Ariel Ace produced 67 AQHA recognized foals that earned $21,576 on the track and 42.0 points in the arena. Hasty Dream, a bay mare by Ariel Ace, produced Miss Lady Jo, a Superior Race Horse award earner. Notably, Miss Lady Jo was the third dam of Ed Grimley, the 1990 AQHA Racing Champion Two-Year-Old Gelding. Miss Lady Jo was also the third dam of Keep On Turning, winner of the Gr. 1 Bay Meadows Futurity and the damsire of Shazoom. She was also the fourth dam of APHA stallion The Specialist.
Sue Ariel, a sorrel mare by Ariel Ace, produced Blue Wonder, a Performance ROM earner. That particular bloodline seems to have died out, but Ariel Ace lives on in several western disciplines through his other daughters. Bar Boogie, a bay mare by Ariel Ace, produced an entire family of cutting horses. She was the dam of performance point earner Joe Boogie, who in turn sired Miss Bar Boogie, the dam of NCHA money earner Barbi Tari. After a successful career in cutting, Barbi Tari produced the dams of Mr Dillon Dunit, a Superior Working Cow Horse, and Pepto Rio Playboy, NCHA money earner of $105,632.
Ace’s Ebby, a black Thoroughbred mare by Ariel Ace, was the third dam of The Harder They Fall, the sire of 65 AQHA registered foals, including stakes winners Wheely Fast and Wheely Quick. Wheely Quick went on to produce many successful racing and barrel racing horses. She is the dam of stakes winners VF Wheely Favorite and VF Wheely Cute, as well as barrel racing money earners VF Storm Chaser, VF Wheely Famous, VF Quick Release, VF Freaky Foose and VF Wheely Cool. Ace’s Ebby is also the fifth dam of Ashley Castleberry’s great rodeo mount, Skyy Blue.
Ariels Diamond, a brown Quarter Horse mare by Ariel Ace, produced Miss Diamond Leo, the dam of AQHA sires Spook Cat and Cent Bars. Spook Cat was the damsire of Twoeyed Diamond Jack, sire of 151 AQHA registered foals, and Cent Bars was the damsire of ApHC sire, Absarokee Marko. Ariels Diamond was also the third dam of Diamond Eyes, an APHA Superior Halter Champion and sire. Through Ariels Diamond, Ariel Ace can be found in the pedigrees of several other APHA sires, including Citanbilling Magic. Ariel Ace had at least one APHA registered daughter, Aces Wild, and she can be found in the pedigree of APHA sire Qts Tuff N Nuff.
Finally, Black Sprite, a Thoroughbred daughter of Ariel Ace, was the third dam of ApHC sire Mighty Grand Ace. He appears in the pedigrees of many successful Appaloosas show horses, such as Stolen Flirt.
Ariel Ace’s last foals were born in 1966 when he would have been 23 years old. Although he sired a limited number of foals, he persists in the pedigrees of racing, halter, reining, cutting and barrel racing horses of four different breeds. He is so persistent, even in Thoroughbred bloodlines, that Bentornato, winner of the 2025 Gr. 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, can trace his damline directly to Ariel Ace.
Sources: Equineline, Equibase, American Quarter Horse Association, The Quarter Horse Journal, All Breed Database
The Western Thoroughbred 