Splash Splash was foaled on January 28th, 1962. He was bred by Peter W. Salmen Jr. in Kentucky. He was by Lurullah, a son of Nasrullah, the 1942 English Champion Two-Year-Old Colt. Lurullah won eight races, including the 1960 Sheridan Handicap and Michigan Derby. Lurullah sired 377 Thoroughbred foals that earned over $7.2 million on the track. Gurkhas Band, Kathryn’s Doll, Mr. Door, Caribbean Lad, Carpenter’s Rule, Rulison, Turn To Rule, Rullation, Romanullah and Don’s First Bid were among his nineteen stakes winners. His sons Lurullah Mink, Sallisaw and Triple Lu sired Quarter Horses and Paints.
Claire Dauber, the dam of Splash Splash, was bred by A. G. Vanderbilt in Maryland. Claire Dauber was by Dauber, winner of the 1938 Preakness Stakes. She was out of Bright View, a daughter of Brilliant. Claire Dauber made 194 starts and won 37 races. She raced until she was ten years old. Claire Dauber produced her first foal, Another Take, for Murlogg Farm in Indiana. Another Take made 150 starts. Claire Dauber’s foals Oldman Time, Splashin Clara and Doc Cody also inherited her durability. They each made more than 50 starts and were race winners. In 1969, Claire Dauber produced her final foal for Warren Sloan in Illinois. She was 24 years old.
Splash Splash made fourteen starts and won four races as a two-year-old. At three, he made five starts and won two races. He continued racing until he was five years old. His final race record was 31 starts, 7 wins, 4 seconds and 7 thirds, with $23,940 in earnings, which is the equivalent of about $240,000 today.
Splash Splash was owned by AQHA Hall of Fame member Calvin Odell “Mac” McKerley. He stood at McKerley’s farm in Zachary, Louisiana. His first foal crop included Aintmuch, a Thoroughbred stallion that placed second in the 1971 Louisiana Futurity. Bar M Josey, a Quarter Horse mare bred by R. W. Mayronne Jr., became Splash Splash’s first stakes winner when she captured the 1972 Frem Boustany Futurity at Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, Louisiana. Bar M Josey also won the 1972 Gateway Futurity at L.I.F.E. Downs in East Laredo, Texas. Bar M Josey went on to produce six AQHA registered foals, including Racing Register of Merit earners Shame On Em, Egotrip, Lady Brickhouse and Bar N Cash.
Splash Splash sired several hard-knocking Quarter Horse geldings. Mr Splish Splash, a sorrel gelding, won 22 of his 80 starts, including the 1974 Delta Downs Championship Series #5. Fast Ruler, another sorrel gelding, won 16 of his 102 starts, including the 1976 Louisiana Breeders’ Laddie Futurity. Joe Taco, a bay gelding by Splash Splash, set a new track record for 440 yards in the 1977 Delta Downs Derby Classic. That record stood for nearly a decade.
By 1976, McKerley moved Splash Splash to Cottonwood Farms in Norman, Oklahoma. That year, he sired Rubys Gold, his winningest Quarter Horse daughter. Rubys Gold was a buckskin mare bred by Curley J. Granger. She won ten races and earned $101,398 on the track. Her biggest wins were in the 1978 Louisiana Breeders’ Lassie Futurity and the 1979 Delta Downs Derby Classic. Rubys Gold went on to produce ten AQHA registered foals, including Racing ROM earners Easily Gold, California Screamer, Quail Tail and Bad Buckaroo.
Oh Magic Lady was Splash Splash’s final Quarter Horse stakes winner. Oh Magic Lady was an impressive racehorse. She was undefeated in three starts, including the 1982 Louisiana Breeders’ Lassie Futurity. Unfortunately, Oh Magic Lady had no recorded foals. Splash Me Later and Mystery Maker were Splash Splash’s only Thoroughbred stakes winners.
Splash Boy, a sorrel gelding bred by Angelo Cavaretta Jr. in Louisiana, was the leading point earner by Splash Splash. Splash Boy earned a Performance ROM in the Youth Division. Splashs Love and Like a New Key also earned Performance ROMs. Splash for Tara earned performance points.
Altogether, Splash Splash sired 181 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse foals in fifteen foal crops. They included 59 race winners, 48 ROM earners, 10 stakes finalist, 8 stakes winners and 7 Superior Race Award earners. His offspring earned $1,317,929 on the track and 62.0 points in the arena.
Sons of Splash Splash only sired about 100 AQHA registered foals. Oh Black Magic Man was the largest contributor to that number. Oh Black Magic Man sired 60 AQHA registered foals, including race winners Oh Miss Daylight, Jet Magic Man, Oh Dat Marylou Magic, Sure Nough Magic and Pour on the Magic.
Daughters of Splash Splash produced 182 Quarter Horse foals that earned $659,836 on the track and 140.5 points in the arena. His daughter Kissmelater produced Magics Rocket, the leading earner out of a Splash Splash mare. Magics Rocket won the 1997 Live Oak 770 Handicap at Delta Downs. She was the 1997 East Hi Point Distance Horse. Safe At Holme, a sorrel gelding by Holme At Last and out of Splash Baby Splash, won the 1996 Mardi Gras Derby (Gr. 3) at Fair Grounds.
Reel Taco Express, a bay gelding by Reel Impressive and out of Delta Express, by Splash Splash, competed in barrel racing, pole bending and stake racing. In 2002, Michael P. Kelly and Reel Taco Express won the World Champion Stake Racing title at the AQHA Youth World Show. They also placed fourth in Pole Bending that year. Reel Taco Express earned 140.5 performance points and a Performance ROM.
Splash Splash passed away in 1982 at the age of 20. His final foal, Last Splash, was born the following year. Although he only sired a limited number of foals, he still appears in the pedigrees of racing and barrel racing horses today, especially in Louisiana.
Sources: Equineline, Equibase, American Quarter Horse Association, The Quarter Horse Journal, All Breed Database
The Western Thoroughbred 