Wing Commander (horse)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wing Commander was the first Saddlebred celebrity. His fame spread around the world. He was the feature of a Life Magazine story in October 1954. Visitors came all across America and from many foreign countries, just to see a glimpse of him.
"The greatest performing five-gaited horse in the history of the breed and the most successful five-gaited champion of all time is the consensus of the saddle horse world" - Saddle and Bridle October 1951
These very true words were written even before he achieved his record of wining six World Champion Five-Gaited titles, achievement, equaled by only one other great Saddlebred, My My.
Wing Commander was bred and owned by Francis Dodge (ex Johnson) van Lennep, who owned his sire Anacacho Shamrock and his dam Flirtation Walk.
Six Times Five Gaited World Grand Champion 1948 - 1953 Six Times Number One Sire 1963 - 1968
The effect this one stallion had on the Saddle Horse industry both in South Africa and the USA is enormous.
His tremendous show record is overshadowed by his huge success as a sire. His blood flows in most of today's Champions - both in South Africa and in America. Wing Commander is the most well known of all Saddle Horses, both in South Africa and abroad. There is no other Saddlebred that has reached the same heights as he in the show ring and breeding barn.
This is his story ...
It begins with the American Royal Horse Show, Kansas City, Mo., in 1940. But first a bit of background. R.W. Morrrison, the owner of Anacacho Ranch, Spotford, Texas had previously bought the great Edna's May King for $40 000. He never showed him but bred with him. Anacacho Shamrock was one of his foals out of the mare, Sally Cameron. B.B. Tucker was the trainer of this young stallion that showed a lot of promise but fail to live up to it. In 1940 Lee Butler rode Anacacho Shamrock to several victories on the West Coast and it seems to be that eventually he would fulfill the promise that he showed. One of these Championships was the Golden Gate International. Here the Reserve Champion was Southern Twilight shown by Wallace Bailey for Mrs. James B. Johnson's (Frances Dodge) Dodge Stables, Rochester, Mich.
The Dodge Stables was very impressed with Anacacho Shamrock and wanted to buy him, but Morrison did not want to sell.
Morrison was very pleased and excited about the progress of the stallion under Lee Butler and he was headed for the American Royal. This was a disaster! Ted Macklin, who was his caretaker at the time wrote the following in Saddle and Bridle, August 1973, "he was overtrained and went stale." In the stallion stake he was second to Golden Genius. In the Championship he was dull and came fifth. R.W. Morrison was so disappointed that he immediately sold the stallion to Dodge Stables. He also announced a private dispersal of all his horses but the looming war in Europe and impending USA involvement caused this process to take longer than anticipated.
Retired to stud at Castleton Farm, Wing Commander became one of the most important sires of champion saddle show horses. In 1969 at the age of twenty six, the horse died of colic and was buried in Castleton's horse cemetery.
