Feature Film was foaled in 1941. She was bred by Wiley Brothers in Midway, Kentucky. Feature Film was by Okapi, a multiple stakes winning son of Eternal. Okapi was owned by Isabel Cleves Dodge Sloane, the heiress of the Dodge Brothers Motor Company. Mrs. Sloane said that Okapi was her favorite horse. She said that he was so small that he could “jump under horses” to win. Okapi won thirteen official races, including consecutive victories in the 1933 and 1934 Toboggan Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack. He went on to sire stakes winners Vantage, Bated Breath, Okana, Kewey Dee and Kopla.
Elteebe, the dam of Feature Film, was by Wise Counsellor, the 1923 Champion Two-Year-Old Colt. Wise Counsellor won ten races, including the Harold Stakes, Cincinnati Trophy Stakes, Jennings Handicap and Capital Handicap. During his four-year career, he defeated the great French speedster Epinard, Kentucky Derby winner Black Gold and stakes winners Mad Play and Chilhowee. Despite his success, Wise Counsellor did not have a fashionable pedigree and did not attract top mares. Nevertheless, he was listed among the nation’s top-twenty leading sires ten times. Nelson C. Nye wrote in Champions of the Quarter Tracks that Wise Counsellor was “a gallant horse who made good against almost insurmountable odds, the last outstanding representative of the once-great Glencoe line.”
Elteebe made six starts and won races as a two and three-year-old. She produced at least on foal for the Bacharach Estate before she joined the Wiley Brothers broodmare band. Her race winning foals included Wise Play, Cabanisi, Red Corona, Little Viv, First Belle and Argan. Her last foal, Dark Royal, was foaled in 1950 when Elteebe was eighteen years old. Her last known owners were R. J. & J. E. Burke in California.
In 1944, Feature Film made fifteen starts at six-furlongs against Thoroughbred company. In eleven of those races, she was first at the quarter pole, but she only won one race. Her race record was similar the following year. She made sixteen starts and was first at the half-mile pole thirteen times, but she only won five races. Feature Film often had the unfortunate luck of running in poor weather conditions on sloppy tracks. But she proved her brilliance when she twice outran Civil Code, who was thought to be one of the fastest-breaking Thoroughbreds in America.
Feature Film was purchased from H. R. Finley by J. Rukin Jelks, the owner of legendary Thoroughbred Piggin String. Jelks brought Feature Film to the southwest where, like Piggin String, she ran against Quarter Horses. The extreme speed that she showed in Thoroughbred sprints was put to the test on the short tracks. In 1947, she earned a Racing Register of Merit from the A.Q.R.A. when she ran third to Pay Toll and Roper at 440 yards. She had a peculiarity for outrunning nearly allcomers at 550 yards. She defeated Pay Toll and Snip II at that distance. She also beat she beat Jap, Quick Bubble and Blue Gray at 660 yards.
In total, Feature Film made 42 official starts against Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse company. She won eleven races, placed second in ten starts and was third eight times.
Feature Film was short like her sire. She stood about 15.1HH and weighed 1,050 pounds when she was in racing shape. She was heavily muscled with Quarter-type conformation. Her big, soft eyes alluded to her excellent disposition. Feature Film was described as easy-to-train and well-behaved in the gate.
Her first foal, Road Show, was a Thoroughbred mare by Piggin String. Road Show was unraced. She produced three Quarter Horse foals. Her daughter Feature Wagon was a race-winner and ROM-earner. Feature Wagon produced AQHA Champion Feature Breeze. She also produced Feature That, winner of the 1965 Sunland QH Derby. Feature That was the dam of Truckle Feature, the 1973 World Champion Racing American Quarter Horse. Truckle Feature went on to sire 820 AQHA registered foals. Some of his notable offspring included Bad Motorscooter, Frosty Feature and Sgt Pepper Feature. Truckle Feature was the damsire of Feature Mr Jess.
Feature Film’s second foal, Cinemoo, was a Thoroughbred mare by Spotted Bull. Cinemoo was unplaced in ten starts. Spadie Bailey, the only foal out of Cinemoo, was a Quarter Horse mare by Gold King Bailey. Spadie Bailey made 26 starts and won seven races. She produced thirteen Quarter Horse foals, including Spadie’s Angel, winner of the 1974 Rutland Ranch Futurity. She also produced High Stakes, an AQHA Champion.
Featurable, Feature Film’s third foal, was a full-sister to Cinemoo. Featurable was unraced. She produced three foals – Expectabull, Deductabull and Explosibull. Expectabull and Deductabull were race winners.
Feature Film had her last foal, Spotted Film, in 1956 when she was fifteen years old. Spotted Film was unraced and had no registered foals. Although she only had three producing daughters, Feature Film left her mark on Quarter Horse racing. Anytime you see a Quarter Horse with “feature” in their name, this mare is probably somewhere in their pedigree!
Sources: Equineline, Equibase, American Quarter Horse Association, Champions of the Quarter Tracks, All Breed Database
The Western Thoroughbred 