Bull Bar was foaled on April 16th, 1954, in Arizona. He was bred by AQHA Hall of Fame member Melville H. Haskell. Bull Bar was by Spotted Bull, a Kentucky-bred stallion that made nineteen starts and won four races on official Thoroughbred tracks. Spotted Bull was purchased by Dink Parker and Ed Echols and brought to Arizona where he entered Quarter Horse races a Rillito and earned an AQHA Racing Register of Merit. He was later syndicated. Haskell bought shares of the stallion and stood him at Rincon Stock Farm. Spotted Bull is best-known for siring champions Arizonan, Table Tennis and Panama Ace. He famously appears in the pedigrees of Streakin Six and Bully Bullion.
Mama Bar, the dam of Bull Bar, was a Thoroughbred daughter of Three Bars. She was out of Atoel, a stakes-placed Thoroughbred mare that set a World Record at three furlongs. Atoel was a leading Thoroughbred dam of Racing ROM earners. Like her mother, Mama Bar was also a noteworthy producer. Bull Bar was her first foal. She then sold to L. E. Patterson in California where she produced four Thoroughbred foals, including race winners Spotted Mama and Senor Win. Patterson also bred Mama Bar to the Quarter Horse stallion Clabber’s Win. The resulting foal, Triple Win, was a race winner. Mama Bar produced her last three foals for J. E. Reimers & Son. They bred race winners Moolah Mama and The Butler. Mama Bar produced her ninth and final foal in 1968.
As a two-year-old, Bull Bar made nine starts and won three races. He also placed second in the 1956 Turquoise Futurity and ran second against Quarter Horse company at Rillito. At age three, Bull Bar won one of eight starts. He won five more races as an older horse. Bull Bar retired from racing at age five with an official race record of 34 starts, nine wins, nine seconds and six thirds, with $6,776 in earnings, which is the equivalent of about $75,000 today.
Bull Bar covered his first mares while he was still racing. His first foal, Pappa Bar, was foaled in 1959. Pappa Bar had no show or race record, but he did sire 40 AQHA registered foals, including Racing ROM earner Bar Ko Way. Pappa Bar was also the sire of Mamas Bar Girl, the matriarch of a family of halter and performance horses. Mamas Bar Girl was bred to The Continental, Sonny Dee Bar and Impressive. Lucky Girl Bar, one of her Impressive daughters, produced Tulloch, a sire of 134 AQHA registered foals. Impressive Mama, a full sister to Lucky Girl Bar, was the second dam of AQHA Champion Zips Famous Amos.
After Bull Bar left the track, he stood at Philip and Jeamie McKee’s McKee Ranch in Lamy, New Mexico. His second foal crop included Mae’s Bull, a bay gelding that set a new track record at Mohave County Fair for 350 yards in 18.560 seconds. Racing ROM earners Lucyetta, Spotted Bar, Bar Jet and Now Or Never were also among his second crop of foals.
Bulldust became Bull Bar’s first stakes winner when he captured the1964 Portland Meadows Derby. That same year, Flyingbar Bull, a chestnut stallion by Bull Bar, set a new track record at Utah State Fairgrounds for 350 yards in 18.600 seconds. Flyingbar Bull went on to sire 65 AQHA registered foals, including race winners Mary’s Bull Bar and Tigers Kid.
In 1968, Bull Bar Hancock, another chestnut stallion by Bull Bar, won the 1968 Dixie Derby at Sandy Downs in Idaho Falls. Two years later, Powerstrike, a chestnut gelding by Bull Bar, set a new track record at the Central Wyoming Fair for 330 yards in 17.270 seconds. Other notable Quarter Horse runners by Bull Bar included Bull Bard, Tiny Trix, Creschendo, Pure Copper, Bar Quick, Tropic Isle, Bull’s Choice, Bull’s Amelia and Diamond Shasta.
In total, Bull Bar sired 63 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse foals in nine foal crops. They included 20 ROM earners, seventeen race winners, nine stakes finalists, two stakes winners and one Superior Race Award earner. They earned $62,779 on the track and 14.5 points in the arena.
Sons of Bull Bar sired over 200 AQHA registered foals. The biggest contributor to that number was Mauldin’s Boy. After he earned a Racing ROM and 3.0 halter points, Mauldin’s Boy sired 75 AQHA registered foals. Worthy Master was one of his best performers. The aforementioned Flyingbar Bull, Pappa Bar and Bulldust also sired AQHA registered horses, as did Wagon Travler. Victor Bull, a Quarter Horse son of Bull Bar, sired a handful of Paints.
Daughters of Bull Bar produced 94 AQHA recognized foals that earned $247,686 on the track and 340.0 points in the arena. His daughter Guitar Plunker produced Moon Flyer, a Superior Race Horse and the highest earner out of a Bull Bar mare. Guitar Plunker also produced Rapid Flight, the only stakes winner out of a daughter of Bull Bar. Guitar Plunker was also the dam of Racing ROM earners Bull Flight, Sky River, Nuther Flight, The Flyer, Tarbo, Spy Flyer and Naturally Foxy. Notably, Guitar Plunker was the third dam of Dash of Blonde, a 1D barrel horse, and the fourth dam of Snow Flyer, a multiple graded stakes winner.
In 1970, Triple Rapid, a sorrel mare by Triple Money and out of Miss Ann Day Bar, by Bull Bar, earned a Superior Halter award. Triple Rapid was shown by Kay Penzien. She also earned Performance ROMs in the Open and Youth divisions and an AQHA Champion title. Blue Ticket, Bulwyn and Paradoxical were the only other horses out of Bull Bar mares that earned performance points.
Bull Bar’s last foals were born in 1966 when he would have been twelve years old. He still appears in the pedigrees of some racehorses and halter horses today.
Sources: Equineline, Equibase, American Quarter Horse Association, The Quarter Horse Journal, All Breed Database
The Western Thoroughbred 