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Inductees |
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Herb Armstrong
(Valley Farm)
(1913-1975, Inducted 2003)
From 1936 until his death in 1975,
Armstrong operated Valley Farm in his home town of Harrington. That nursery led
all Washington breeders by money won seven times (1952, 1954-59), by number of
winners for 15 years (1944, 1946-59) and by number of races won for 14 years
(1945, 1947-59). For 25 consecutive years (1944-68), Armstrong was ranked among
the top 30 breeders in the state. During one 18-year stretch, he bred 87
horses, of which 67 were winners, an incredible 77 percent ratio.
Armstrong’s best homebreds included Washington horses of the year Rover
Bill (1952), Big Success (1955), Johnie Mike (1956) and Sir William (1957). The
latter captured the Santa Anita Derby that year over the immortal Round Table
and was the leading Washington-bred earner of his day. Other notable
achievements for this legendary horseman include being the first Washington
breeder whose state-bred runners earned over $1 million, as well as being named
Washington’s 1960 turfman of the year.
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Frank W. Brewster
(1897-1996, Inducted 2008)
Frank Brewster’s name first appeared
as a Washington breeder in 1948, when two horses he bred won three races and
earned $2,450, but just two years later he would lead all state breeders with
$44,692. He would repeat his status as top Washington breeder in 1951 and 1953.
From 1948 through 1956 he had 36 runners, of which 20 were winners that earned
194 trips to the winner’s circle. From 1949 through 1956 he would never
rank less than third among all breeders in the state. The Washington
Horse editor and famed statistician Clio Hogan would note “Frank W.
Brewster has had more success in his first five years as a breeder than any
other breeder in the State of Washington – past or present.”
A Washington native, Brewster was a noted name on
the local racing scene well before he decided to join the ranks of its
breeders. He won his first Longacres Mile in 1939 with the three-year-old filly
Brief Moment and he played a major part in both the 1950 and 1951 runnings of
the Mile.
Two and Twenty – who had Eddie
Arcaro aboard – won the 15th running of the premiere Washington event in
1950 by defeating the three-year-old filly Whang Bang. Both runners were owned
and trained by Brewster. Two and Twenty had won the previous year’s
Longacres Derby and Whang Bang, who was bred by Brewster, won the 1950 Derby
and Washington Championship and was voted Washington’s horse of the year
at the end of that season. The daughter of Better Bet, who had also taken the
Spokane Futurity at two, earned a lifetime total of $43,935 and was
Washington’s all-time leading distaff runner for a number of years.
In 1946 Brewster purchased Little Rollo as a
three-year-old and would win both the Governor’s Handicap and Longacres
Derby with him. Little Rollo finished third in the 1947 Mile and was claimed
for $15,000 the following February. The son of Count Gallahad would win the
’51 Mile by two lengths for his new Canadian owners, over Brewster’s
Galavon. Two and Twenty ran eighth.
Brewster was
the leading money winning trainer at Longacres in both 1950 ($29,025) and 1951
($24,950).
Brewster and his partner George C.
Newell, racing under the Breel Stable banner, also won the 1951 Sunset Handicap
at Hollywood Park with Alderman.
A prominent,
powerful and often controversial western Teamster leader, Brewster owned
Clearbrook Farms in Woodinville and Lucky D Ranch near Kent. Among the
stallions he stood were Speculation – who had been the fourth highest
selling yearling in the history of Keeneland – and Two and Twenty.
Brewster died in 1996 at age 99. |
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George Drumheller
(1874-1945, Inducted 2004)
Deemed “the father of Thoroughbred
horse racing in Washington,” George Drumheller was one of the original
sponsors of Washington State House Bill 59 that allowed racing to return to
this state and paved the way for Longacres to open in 1933. A wheat farmer with
over 1,000 acres in Walla Walla, Drumheller began to dabble with race horses
during “what in the 1920’s was most certainly an obscure business in
this state. Spending thousands of dollars for Kentucky bloodstock and racing
stock,” he was con-sidered the leading Washington horseman of his day.
Drumheller was this state’s leading breeder, by earnings, for six
consecutive years (1935-1940). From 1935 through 1951, he bred the winners of
238 races, tops in the state during that period. His Drumheller Ranch stood
early leading Washington sires Gladiator (sire of 1941 Longacres Mile winner
Campus Fusser), Black Forest (sire of Arlington Park’s Stars and Stripes
Stakes winner Georgie Drum) and Fort Churchill (sire of 1945 Longacres Mile
winner Prince Ernest). Son, Allen Drumheller, a 2003 inductee to the Washington
Racing Hall of Fame in the trainer category, would be the leading breeder in
this state eight times. Additionally, Allen was one of the nation’s most
respected trainers of his day and one of the state’s original racing
commissioners.
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profile. |
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C. J. Sebastian
(1885-1967, Inducted 2006)
Washington’s 1963 turfman of the year,
Christian J. “Seb” Sebastian first entered racing on a large scale in
1944 when he went to the Keeneland Sales and purchased 14 yearlings. He had
originally just bought 13, but was encouraged not to go home with an
“unlucky 13.” The 14th yearling, which he purchased for $1,200, Galla
Damion, put the Kirkland breeder on the racing map. As a three-year-old, the
son of Sir Damion set a new world’s record for seven furlongs and was
considered one of the early favorites for the Kentucky Derby. He was a
three-time stakes winner of $69,790 and became a significant sire in
Washington. Another of that fateful group was Blue Tiger, who won the 1949
Longacres Mile in Sebastian’s colors (Galla Damion finished fourth in the
$18,200 race). A winner of 20 other races, the gelded son of Tiger earned
$64,550. But probably the most significant among that group of yearlings was
Dusky Chance, Washington’s 1963 broodmare of the year and dam of four
stakes winners, two of which went on to become state champions. Her leading
earner, Dusky Damion, a son of Galla Damion, won or placed in 18 stakes races
in Washington and California and earned $171,650. Dusky Chance’s second
champion, though bred by Sebastian, was raced through most of his career by Ned
Skinner and Melville “Jack” McKinstry. Due to health reasons,
Sebastian had sold all his Thoroughbred holdings and Kirkland farm in the
autumn of 1961. Dr. John H. is the only horse that ever came close to sweeping
Longacres top three events, as he won the Washington Futurity, the Longacres
Derby and finished second in the Longacres Mile (at three).
Sebastian was Washington’s leading breeder by
earnings for three years (1961-1963) and was also leading breeder by races won
in 1963. He bred the winners of $631,234, and that was enough to rank him
second among all breeders in 1966. Sebastian’s first Washington-bred
runner reached the races in 1950 and he had his first statebred winner the
following year.
A longtime WTBA member, Sebastian
served as a board of trustee for seven years and as president of the
organization in 1957.
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profile. |
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Les Turner
(1923- , Inducted 2010)
Born in Canada, Les Turner was only one when he and his mother and eight-year-old sister moved across the border to Cedonia, near Kettle Falls in north Stevens County. He always had dreams of having a horse and cattle farm, so after his graduation from high school he acquired two Thoroughbred stallions. Truly Rural, a 1936 son of Milkman, came from the US Remount Service. The stallions name was part of the inspiration for the name of Turners highly successful Rural Land Farm.
Based in the centrally-located Quincy, Rural Land Farm stood many of the preeminent stallions of the time, including seven-time (1967-1974) leading sire and three-time leading juvenile sire Strong Ruler, as well as leading juvenile sires Six Fifteen, Alate and Kings Favor.
One of the most progressive horsemen of his era, Turner stood the first syndicated stallion in the state, By Zeus, who would later best be known as the damsire of the great Turbulator. Turner was also the first advertiser to use color in The Washington Horse (January 1961) and the first to have a full color cover, when Strong Ruler appeared on the January 1963 issue. Other early ads touted that horses at the Columbia Basin farm were Raised where feed, climate and space are incomparable.
Turners name was first seen listed in the breeder ranks in 1954, when his initial runner earned just $25. After a three-year hiatus, he had his first winner in 1959. By the time 1961 rolled around, his revolutionary color ad proudly proclaimed 27 winners of 88 races from 33 starters.
Rural Land Farm was featured on the cover of the January 1958 The Washington Horse, where it was noted to be one of the most modern Thoroughbred breeding farms in the Northwest.
Turner, who became strictly a market breeder, sent his first five yearlings to the WHBA sales in 1961 and came up with stakes winners Me-Jo and Stardust Melody and stakes-placed Sullys Gold.
He ranked first in winners in the state in both 1976 and 1977 and was ranked in the top ten by money earned on 16 occasions from 1963-79. Among the many stakes winners bred or co-bred by Turner were state champions Better Dancer, Stardust Melody, Gold Afloat, Alation, Strong Dolphin and Touchdown Miss. He also bred and/or co-bred 1972 Washington claimer of the year Dancing Ruler and 1988 Washington most improved claimer Sucess Formula.
Alation and Royal Ruler were among the seven Washington (now Gottstein) Futurity winners sired by Rural Land stallions, starting with Smogy Dew in 1963. In fact, between 1963 and 1973 Rural Land Farm-sired runners earned over 23 Washington championship titles, including four horse of the year awards.
Today, Turner, now in his 80s, lives on a small portion of his former farm where he is known for raising beautiful dahlias.
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