Delving into the pedigree of One Time Royalty this week reminded me of a home movie, made in the 1940s, that Dorothy Wood sent me of Joe Reed II and some of his offspring, at the Wood’s ranch outside of Tucson.

Everyone in the early 1960s was familiar with Mr Ed, a talking horse with his own top-rated TV show. The original Mr Ed was a son of Joe Reed II. But more importantly to horsemen, Joe Reed II was the sire of Leo, a cornerstone of Quarter race and performance breeding.

Leo, by Joe Reed II and out of a daughter of Joe Reed II’s sire, Joe Reed, sired Leo San, who in turn sired Mr San Peppy, the sire of Peppy San Badger. Smart Peppy, the dam of Smart Little Lena, was by Peppy San, by Leo San.

Freckles Playboy’s sire, Jewel’s Leo Bars, was out of Leo Pan, by Leo. Shorty Lena’s dam. Moira Girl, was sired by Mora Leo, by Leo.

Without Joe Reed II, there would be no High Brow Cat, Dual Rey, Peptoboonsmal, Dual Pep … or most of the cutting horses that we see in today’s arenas.

Watch the video of Joe Reed II:

Bert Wood, Dorothy’s husband, traveled to Texas in 1940 to purchase Joe Reed II, and rode all the way back to Arizona in a railroad boxcar with his treasure, along with Little Fanny, the dam of Leo.

“I don’t remember what we paid for him, but it couldn’t have been a whole heck of a lot because we weren’t that well off, financially,” Dorothy Wood told me.

Joe Reed II’s sire, Joe Reed, was a son of Joe Blair, a thoroughbred sprinter that Bert Wood had ridden in some match races. It was Bert’s admiration for Joe Blair that led him to purchase Joe Reed II, as an unbroken four-year-old.

Joe Reed II offered little resistance to his first saddle and was a natural at ranch work. In 1943, when Joe was seven, Wood entered him in his first and last official races – the Championship Speed Trials Quarter Mile Open Championship at Hacienda Moltacqua near Tuscon. Joe Reed II won all three races, defeating among others, Quarter racing’s “Iron Horse,” Clabber.

Although his wins earned Joe Reed II the title of Champion Quarter Running Stallion for 1943, the effort reactivated a hoof injury that had occurred when he and Wood pursued a cow down a rocky ravine.

The injury didn’t interfere, however, with Joe Reed II’s consequent success as a champion halter and stock horse.

While Leo was Joe Reed II’s most famous and enduring offspring, he was not the only influential one. Firebrand Reed, Little Sister W, Gusdusted and Merry Time were all sired by Joe Reed II out of Little Fanny, and all bred by the Woods.

Other Joe Reed II offspring included Joak, the dam’s sire of world champion halter horse Mr Impressive and the sire of Phoebe Ak, prominent in the pedigrees of some modern race champions.

Bull’s Eye, by Joe Reed II, is the dam’s sire of Doc Quixote. Doc Quixote, in turn, is the sire of Jazabell Quixote, the dam of Royal Serena Belle, One Time Royalty’s mother.

Joe Reed II daughters Miss Dream Boat, Miss Joaster, Saneta and Anniversary (Anniversary was an inbred daughter of Joe Reed II and also the dam of “Mr Ed,” by Joe Reed II) can still be found in pedigrees of some of today’s race and show champions.

I’ll post more footage of Joe Reed II, Anniversary, Little Fanny and others later.