Three Chicks ... 

Might be said to have been foaled under the sign of the Silver Spoon

An excerpt from the book,  
"Speed and the Quarter Horse:  a Payload of Sprinters"  
(1973) by Nelson C. Nye

Sired by Three Bars (TB) and out of Chicado V (by Chicaro Bill), Three Chicks might be said to have been foaled under the sign of the Silver Spoon. Bred by Frank Vessels at Los Alamitos, a brown horse colt of 1959, he had a great deal going for him from the very first instant the Vessels’ interest made up their minds to breed AAAT Chicado V to Sid Vail’s phenomenal Thoroughbred, Three Bars.

Chicado V was going great guns when she pulled up lame, never to run again. In the breeding pen, though her name has been immortalized by the pounding hoofs of a succession of superlative offspring. Near as I recall she’s produced five Top AAA sprinters, plus several AAAs and one begetter that never set hoof on a track – Triple Chick.

Right here we’re concerned with that Top AAA Champion – that do-it-all horse, Three Chicks, certainly one of her finest sons. During three years of running, though campaigned lightly under the conditioning of Earl K. Homes, he took three firsts, two seconds and one third from a total of ten starts, and has been described as one of straightaway’s most consistent performers. He ran ROM every time out with two Top AAA plus six other AAA races to his credit, retiring to go into the show ring with track earnings of $22,624.66.

As a sire, Three Chicks very definitely has arrived. He was credited (January, 1970) with 124 points-earning get, of which fifty-four are racing ROM qualifiers – twenty-two AAA or AAAT; his sons and daughters have earned in excess of $430,000 in straightaway competition and, in the show ring, have piled up 385 halter points and twenty working points.

Among his most impressive track performers are Le Etta Chicks (stakes-winning AAAT), Miss Three Wars (stakes-winning AAAT), and the AAAT All American winner, Three Oh’s, which made his dad the leading sire of money-earners in 1968.

Some of the mares who have come to his court are Moon Dial (AAA), Oh My Oh (dam of Three Oh’s), Rose of Diamond (AAAT), Miss Leo War (dam of Miss Three Wars), Leo’s Countess (AAA), Miss Leotoe Bars (AAA), Cha Cha Chere (AAA), Top Spot (AAA), Lady Gann (AAA), Vanetta Dee (AAA and a AAA producer), Vandy’s Candy (AAA), Hi B Hind (AAA), Quincy A Go Go (AAA), and Toydell (producer of four AAAs). There’ve been a few other good ones, plus a lot of unknown hopefuls – it takes good mothers, too.

Three Chicks’ first three crops to go on the tracks had earned at last count $433,799, which Travis Ranch advertising has rather smugly compared to the first three foal crop earnings of Go Man Go, Rocket Bar (TB), Moon Deck, Little Request (TB), Mr. Bar None, Triple Chick, Tonto Bars Gill, Sugar Bars, Don Bar and Chudej’s Black Gold. What the ads did not point out is the increased moolah of certain major stakes.

But one can’t fault the fact that Paul Travis’ Three Chicks (standing in Norman, Oklahoma) is the only living AAAT AQHA Champion that has sired a winner of the All American Futurity (1968) and sired a sprinter that was second in the 1969 renewal of that richest of all stakes. Nor that he was fourth leading sire of 1969 racing money earners, fifth leading sire of 1969 race wins, sixth leading sire of 1969 race winners and 22^nd on the list of Leading Sires of Money Earners (1949-1969).

A few mint copies (sealed in original boxes) of this book are available. This is the 6th,  and by far the largest of only 6 horse books written by Nelson C. Nye,  Quarter Horse historian and western novelist.  Click here for information and availability.

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