Nublado was foaled in 1968. He was bred by Justo Fernandez in Mexico. Nublado was by Romany Royal, a son of Grey Sovereign, a leading sire of two-year-olds in Great Britain and France. Romany Royal was bred by Mrs. Weldon in Great Britian. He made nineteen starts and won two races. Romany Royal was exported to Mexico where he stood at San Pedro Coxtocan, a historic Spanish estate in Huejotzingo, Puebla. Romany Royal sired Thoroughbred race winners Llanera and Asiria. He is best known as the sire of Beduino, the all-time leading Thoroughbred sire of Quarter Horse racehorses.
Samotracia, the dam of Nublado, was an unraced daughter of Ferneley II, winner of the 1962 Royal Stakes at Sandown Park in Esher, England. Ferneley II was sent from Great Britain to Mexico and later to Colombia. He sired Thoroughbred stakes winners Scaramanga, Microonda and Pleno Dia. Sabrina II, the dam of Samotracia, was a French-bred mare by multiple stakes winner Sayani. Nublabo was Samotracia’s first foal. Her second foal, Tetuan, was a black-type stakes winner. She had her third and final Thoroughbred foal, Doroteo, when she was only six years old.
Equineline shows that that Nublado made seven starts and won one race, but that record is likely incomplete. Other sources show 43 starts, 7 wins, 9 seconds and 5 thirds for the gray stallion. All sources agree that at seven years old, Nublado placed second in the 1975 Clasico Velociadad (Gr. 3) at the Hipódromo de Las Américas in Mexico City.
Nublado was owned by Jose Isabel Valdivia and he stood at Hemacinto Farms in San Jacinto, California. His first Quarter Horse foals were born in 1978. His first foal crop included Racing Register of Merit earners Nupersian and Dickeys Corinna. Miss Peligrosa, a Quarter Horse mare out of a daughter of Cosmo Jet, became Nublado’s first stakes winner when she captured the 1981 Bardella Handicap at Los Alamitos. Miss Peligrosa went on to produce four Quarter Horse foals. Her best runner, La Peligrosita, won 17 races, including the 1987 Great Texas Maturity, 1987 Charger Bar Handicap, 1987 Miss California, 1988 Manor Downs Maturity and 1988 Shue Fly Handicap (Gr. 3). La Perligrosita was the highest earner out of a Nublado mare.
Alo Nublado, a brown stallion out of a daughter of Alamitos Bar, was Nublabo’s chief earner on the racetrack. Alo Nublado won five races, including the 1985 Debonair Stakes at Bay Meadows. He earned $95,924 and a Superior Race Horse award. He has no Quarter Horse foals on record.
Dick and Charlyn Weening of California bred Intimate Affair, a gray mare by Nublado and out of a daughter of Manx Cat. Intimate Affair won six races. As a three-year-old, she set a new track record in the 1986 Debutante Handicap at Bay Meadows for 350 yards in 17.570 seconds. Her next victory was in the Gr. 3 Vandy’s Flash Handicap at Los Alamitos. She also won the Independence Day Handicap and Pocahontas Handicap. Intimate Affair went on to produce ten Quarter Horse foals, including Racing ROM earners Magical Affair, Romany Request, Sharbonade, The Classic Affair, Jazzin Affair, La Flaire, La Faire and Extravegant.
Sizzlin Sauce, a chestnut mare by Nublado and out of a daughter of Duplicate Copy, was bred by Diann Nelson in California. Sizzlin Sauce won nine races, including the 1986 Newport Beach Handicap. Sizzlin Sauce only produced one AQHA registered foal, a Racing ROM earner named Sizzlin Dash.
Paul and Hellen Mickel of California bred Family Member, a gray mare by Nublado and out of a Quarter Horse daughter of the Thoroughbred stallion Nevada Battler. After her first two starts at Los Alamitos, Family Member only raced in Mexico City. In 1987, she set a new track record in the Clasico Beduino for 350 yards in 17.540 seconds. She also won the Clasico A.M.C.C.C.M. that year and was named the 1987 Mexico Champion Three-Year-Old Filly. Family Member earned the title of 1988 Mexico Champion Aged Mare after her victories in the Pan Lopez Handicap and Leonel Classic. She repeated her win in the Pan Lopez Handicap in 1989. Altogether, Family Member made 31 starts, won 12 races, and earned $137,539,102 MXN, or $70,975 USD. Family Member went on to produce twelve AQHA registered foals, including Racing ROM earners Trago Amargo, Mitey Member, Family Run and Be My Commander.
Judd Morse of Oldie Farms in California took Brief Encounter, a Quarter Horse daughter of the Thoroughbred stallion Oldie, to Nublado to produce Nuencounter, a gray mare foaled in 1985. Nuencounter won the 1987 Golden West Stakes at Los Alamitos. She later placed third in the 1989 Vessels Maturity (Gr. 3). Nuencounter went on to produce nine Quarter Horse foals, including Racing ROM earners Pay N Pray N Pay, Nulady Hawk and Approved to Fly.
By 1991, Nublado had moved to Richlyn Farms in Hemet, California. There, he became the center of a significant controversy. The AQHA had to reissue registration papers on several foals who were allegedly sired by Nublado, but blood-typing revealed that they were actually sired by Browns Dasher or Speeding Holme, two Quarter Horse stallions at the same farm. The farms’ owners were sued for conspiracy and negligent misrepresentation. The incident was one of the factors that led the California Horse Racing Board to require Quarter Horse breeders to verify the parentage of foals through blood-typing.
Nublado’s last foals were born in 1990 when he would have been 22 years old. In total, he sired 205 confirmed AQHA foals in eleven foal crops. They included 81 ROM earners, 71 race winners, nine stakes finalists, eight Superior Race Award earners, five stakes winners, one Regional Champion. They earned $983,386 on the track and 72.0 points in the arena. Cloudy Sunset, a gray gelding, was his only Performance ROM earner.
Sons of Nublado sired about 100 AQHA registered foals. Nublado Jr was his most successful son at stud. Nublado Jr won five races and placed second in the 1981 Bay Meadows Futurity and 1982 Foster City Handicap. He stood alongside his sire at Hemacinto Farms. He sired 92 Quarter Horse foals, including race winners Awholelottalovin, Boogie Woogie Babe, Cloudy Fortune, Sweetpeas Easter, Travel in Style and Trublado.
Daughters of Nublado produced 158 AQHA registered foals that earned $474,127 on the track and 24.0 points in the arena. Cash Em Baby, a bay mare by Sir Cashanova and out of Smoke Em Baby, by Nublado, won the 1994 Dixie Downs Derby. She was the 1994 West Southwest High Point Three-Year-Old Filly.
One of the most talented families of performance horses with Nublado in their pedigrees descend from Miss Lightning Lynx, a gray mare bred by Don and Sandy Ann Tiller in California. Like Intimate Affair, Miss Lightning Lynx was also out of a daughter of Manx Cat. Her parentage was called into question during the 1991 scandal, but DNA testing confirmed that she was by Nublado. Miss Lightning Lynx was in race training but flipped in the starting gates so she never made a start. She was purchased by Tracy Morsa as a two-year-old. Tracy successfully restarted the big gray mare for barrel racing and they were very competitive locally. Unfortunately, shortly after Tracy got her card to rodeo professionally, Miss Lightning Lynx broke her hip in a trailer accident.
Tracy bred Miss Lightning Lynx to Chicks Slew of Bux to produce Slews Lightning Boo, a sorrel mare that competed in barrel racing and goat tying with Tracy’s daughter Haydn Morsa. Slews Lightning Boo clocked a 17.1 on a standard pattern. The Morsas bred Slews Lightning Boo to some of the nation’s top barrel stallions. LF Lightning My Fire, a seven-year-old mare by HP Dash Ta Fiesta and out of Slews Lightning Boo recently placed at her first professional rodeo. Haydn is currently competing in barrel racing with LF White Lightning, a six-year-old mare by Buggin the Judge. Haydn has won over $20,000 on LF White Lightning in the past few months!
Miss Lightning Lynx passed away at the age of 30. Haydn’s business, Lightning Fast Barrel Horses, is named in her honor. Haydn says that she expects to raise more winning barrel horses from this bloodline!
Sources: Equineline, Equibase, American Quarter Horse Association, Los Angeles Times, All Breed Database
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