Family Tree: Rocket Wrangler
February 17, 2012
Rocket Wrangler proved himself a great race horse and superb breeding stallion who passed on a willing temperament to later generations.
Rocket Wrangler's get earned more than $9.4 million and included Dash For Cash. Journal photo.
From America’s Horse
Rocket Wrangler. Rocket Wrangler. How’s that for a name for a racing American Quarter Horse – the horse of the cowboy, the fastest breed on earth? It says it all.
“He was small, and I was taking him slow,” said American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame trainer C.W. “Bubba” Cascio, who developed the colt who would have a lasting impact on the breed. “The first time I beared down on him, I said, ‘Well, lookee here.’ Jerry come back – Jerry (Nicodemus) was doing all my riding then – and he said, ‘Say, we might have something here.’ So we began to bear down on him. From then on, it was just history. He was a runner.”
Rocket Wrangler proved it. The champion 2-year-old colt in 1970, Rocket Wrangler started 23 races between 1970 and 1973, coming back a winner from 10 and bringing home $252,167 in earnings. Winning his maiden race, he finished farther back in the Grade 1 Kansas Futurity, the first stop on Ruidoso Downs’ triple-crown trail. Then, with Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Nicodemus in the irons, Rocket Wrangler swept the next two, taking the Grade 1 Rainbow Futurity and Quarter Horse racing’s flagship event, the Grade 1 All American Futurity.
Check out AQHA’s Equine Breeding Techniques and Foal Health Tips to learn what to expect during every stage of breeding.
Bred by Thayer Hobson of Texas, Rocket Wrangler was one of five champions by the Thoroughbred Rocket Bar, arguably Three Bars’ best son. The sorrel colt was out of Go Galla Go, a track-record-setting stakes winner by Go Man Go, whom Thayer owned in partnership with Bubba. Thayer died, and his widow sold the yearling colt to J.R. Adams, a paving contractor at Guymon, Oklahoma. J.R. paid Rocket Wrangler into the All American, a race in which he would break from the 8 post on his way to his crowning glory on the track.
“We had a box downstairs, and I can remember trying to get through the group to get to the winner’s circle,” JoAnn Adams said of their day at the All American. “It was just wall-to-wall people, and I was trying so hard to get there. It was so crazy. A day or two before, I dreamed that Rocket Wrangler was No. 8 – it was so funny – and that he won the race. …It was just a weird thing back then.”
What was not weird, according to his connections, was how Rocket Wrangler’s success on the track translated into success at stud. The progenitor of the earners of $9,407,809 in an era of much lower purses, Rocket Wrangler sired 56 stakes winners, including two-time AQHA world champion and Hall of Famer Dash For Cash.
Rocket Wrangler was a great broodmare sire, with $14.6 million earned on the track, including Grade 1 winner Miami Cartel, more than $14,500 in National Cutting Horse Association earnings and more than 2,000 points in AQHA competition.
What made Rocket Wrangler great, Bubba said, is simple.
“His attitude,” Bubba was quick to declare. “He had a wonderful attitude, and he passed it right on to Dash For Cash. All those ‘Dash’ colts, what made them so great was the attitude of the old horse Rocket Wrangler, who passed it on. Consequently, the reason so many different people got the Dashs to run, I think, was because of their temperament. Everybody could get along with them. They were smart horses, whereas the Depth Charge (TB) horses, the Top Deck (TB) horses, the Little Request horses and the Go Man Gos, it took a cowboy to saddle some of ’em. The Dash colts just got along with everybody and done everything in the world to please you – never bit, kicked, fought, bucked, whatever. And I think that came from that horse. … They were not just fast horses, they were smart, good horses, and they looked good and could run fast.”
The man who rode Rocket Wrangler agrees.
AQHA’s Equine Breeding Techniques and Foal Health Tips teaches you everything you need to know to prepare for the newest addition to your herd.
“He was a good-minded horse and easy to get along with,” said Jerry, who has often said that Dash For Cash was the best horse he ever rode. “Rocket Wrangler – at that time, I knew he was the best horse I ever rode. That was back in ’70. I still rank him right there in the top 10 of everything I rode in my career.”
Fair enough. But beyond everything Rocket Wrangler did on the track was the heritage he bequeathed to the fastest horses on earth.
Rocket Wrangler was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2010.
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12 Comments on “Family Tree: Rocket Wrangler”
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February 17th, 2012 at 4:41 pm
I’ve actually had the privilege to ride some of this bloodline and you are right they had great temperments…
February 17th, 2012 at 7:13 pm
My 1st quarter horse was a Rocket Bars offspring. Got him off the track and retrained him to ride. Best all-around horse ever. Did everything from hunter/jumper to w. pleasure. Worked cattle and was really fast on barrels. Good-minded horse, nice personality.
February 18th, 2012 at 8:17 am
My horse, Wrangler’s Skipn Bar (Rusty), is a grandson of Rocket Wrangler and son of Scarlet Wrangler. Rusty will be 18 this April and I’ve owned him for about 8 years. He is my best trail horse and he lives a quiet easy life in the country. He has inherited the smarts and the looks. Such a good mind and such a beautiful red roan! I just love him!
February 18th, 2012 at 1:53 pm
I have a g-g-g-son of Rocket Wrangler. I justlove him, he is
so sweet and such a smartie. Gets along with people and other
horses. Loves to run. Easy going on personality and riding.
I agree with everyone. My gelding likes to run, his full
brother is the cow horse. I’ve taught Waja to jump, he jumps
over barrels I lay down for him. He likes crossing a training
bridge, he will make an excellent trail horse. Learns quick. Is
also a Houdini. lol. We also have a great bound and connection. Everyone at the place where I board him, just loves
him.
February 18th, 2012 at 1:55 pm
His full name is IM KEEN ON CASH, g-g-son of DASH FOR CASH.
February 18th, 2012 at 7:45 pm
I have one of Rocket Wranglers colt that has Rocket Wrangler on his papers. He is the smartest colt I have had. He can be to smart for his own good. He is a 14.1 hand Blue roan 4 year stud colt. I have had him in an arena full of other horses and he minds his manners.
February 18th, 2012 at 7:47 pm
He is standing stud this year. He is awesome with Cows. He has been on the barrels and is showing promise.
February 22nd, 2012 at 10:30 am
My first mare I got as a kid is a granddaughter of Rocket Wrangler. I have had her 20 years now. I have her last daughter a beautiful dark gray 2 year old filly, also goes back to Rocket Wrangler on the topside. Such sweet horses… I love my old lady and hope to have her a few more years. She was amazing to just let go and run as fast as you could handle. I love Rocket Wrangler!
February 22nd, 2012 at 2:54 pm
I own Avid Dasher, a grandson of Dash for Cash and easy jet, I love him, he is my stallion and can’t say enough good things about him. Great bloodlines!
February 24th, 2012 at 5:18 am
I love the Rocket Wrangler disposition! I have a 4 y/o filly that goes back to him…she is quiet, sensible, fast, and athletic. You are also right about the Go Man Go horses- I had one of his sons boarded here, a 1975 gelding (Go Big Man Go)…at age 34 he STILL required a pretty good cowboy to ride him…LOL!
February 27th, 2012 at 10:49 am
My gelding is so smart it gets him into trouble sometimes, Mike Heiser said about his colt, Waja is too smart for his own good. The GO MAN GO part comes out sometimes, but not for me, he respects me and loves me. He lieks to play with other horses,
likes to have fun. When I’m aboard he behaves and knows he has to toe the mark. My Rocket Wrangler g-g-g-son is a lt. bay dun,
and I just love him. Anyone that wants to further conversations on their Rocket Wrangler babies you can e-mail me at cowgirlupjani@msn.com, I love to hear from you.
April 23rd, 2012 at 10:04 am
I just bred two of my mares to an own son of Rocket Wrangler this year. One mare is a Two Eyed Jack mare and the other is a own daughter of Runaway Bud and has Go Man Go as great grand sire on her dams side. I am excited to see these prospects when they are born in spring 2013!