Dr. Ed Allred with trainer Art Sherman after Sherman’s multiple champion and Horse of the Year, Cal-bred California Chrome, won the Winter Challenge Stakes at Los Alamitos
Dr. Ed Allred is synonymous with so many facets of the racing industry, most notably as the owner of Los Alamitos Racetrack in Cypress. His exploits and successes in the Quarter Horse industry are legendary, as he is the man behind world champions Charger Bar and Separatist, among others. He was the first to go over $20 million in Quarter Horse earnings and remains the sport’s all-time leading owner and breeder.
But less is known about Allred’s pursuits in the Thoroughbred industry. Although he breeds only from 4 to 10 Thoroughbreds a year, Allred has had a steady trickle of stakes winners. Most recently Allred-bred North County Guy won the $201,500 Unusual Heat Turf Classic Stakes Presented by City National Bank at Santa Anita.
Allred was introduced to racing in the 1940s and has since done much to promote the sport and make it cleaner, safer, and better for horses and horsemen alike. While becoming a titan in the Quarter Horse game, Allred was slowly collecting a group of Thoroughbred mares as well.
One of the first stakes winners was Maxian, a homebred by Candyman Bee—Maximiss, by Maxistar. The dark bay California-bred gelding was born in 1998—the same year that Allred became the sole owner of Los Alamitos—and went on to win seven of 30 starts, with five seconds and five thirds. He was a multiple stakes winner and won races at Santa Anita, Turf Paradise, Santa Rosa, Fresno, and Los Alamitos during his career.
After Maxian came Greenie, a homebred who earned $227,631. The Cal-bred son of Iron Cat—Green’s Seascape, by Mummy’s Pet, won his first two starts in 2004 and ended up running at six different tracks that season. He finished fifth in the 2005 California Cup Turf Sprint Championship, then won three in a row in 2006, including the $50,650 Fishermans Wharf Stakes at Golden Gate Fields. He won eight of 16 lifetime starts.
“Greenie was a good horse,” Allred recalled. “He was out of a mare we imported from the United Kingdom and became one of my favorite horses.”
The lightly raced Lunar Lion came at the same time. Another Cal-bred son of Iron Cat, this one out of the stakes-winning Torsion mare Lunar Beauty, Lunar Lion won three of his four career starts. Under Allred’s handling, Lunar Beauty also produced five-time winner Lunar Miss and four-time winner Moon Mullins.
Allred with the late Brad McKinzie, a Los Alamitos racing executive instrumental in bringing daytime Thoroughbred racing back to Los Al
Multiple stakes-placed California-bred Ribald start-ed his racing career in 2008, two years after Allred was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame.
Ribald, by Unusual Heat—Short Stories, by Mari’s Book, won seven times in 25 starts, with 18 top three efforts. Like the rest of the Allred-bred runners, he traveled around multiple tracks and circuits, impressive in his consistency.
Because the Quarter Horse registry allows one Thoroughbred parent, Allred has bred some of his Thoroughbred mares to both Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse sires. That led to an interesting double at Los Alamitos Dec. 19. The Thoroughbred Gov From Above, a 2017 son of Govenor Charlie—Celestial Being, by In Excess, won a 51⁄2-furlong event during the daytime Los Alamitos Thoroughbred meeting. That same night at the Quarter Horse meet, the Quarter Horse From Above, a 2018 son of Quarter Horse sire Kiddy Up out of Celestial Being, won a 330-yard event.
The pedigree of North County Guy is an Allred special, as he raced the third dam, Ain’t Half Bad, in 1990. Second dam She’s Baffled, bred by Allred, never raced, but the Gray Slewpy mare produced Warmth, who has become a top broodmare. Warmth, a daughter of Unusual Heat, ran fourth in her only start, but has quickly become a special, productive mare.
Warmth’s 2013 Cal-bred daughter by Papa Clem, Cordiality, has won 12 of 34 starts for earnings of $632,863. Cordiality won the Swingtime Stakes at Santa Anita in October and the Osunitas Stakes at Del Mar in July. Donnie Crevier campaigns the Allred-bred, who has won five stakes races to date and is still in training at age 8.
Warmth’s next foal to race was North County Guy. The plucky gray by The Pamplemousse was born March 29, 2015, and took seven tries to break his maiden. Allred lost him through the claim box in his very first start, and North County Guy bounced around to different outfits before settling with Nancy Messineo and Bruce Sands. He ran well in allowance company in 2019 and even tried a few graded stakes races in 2020.
The Jan. 16 Unusual Heat Turf Classic Presented by City National Bank was North County Guy’s first stakes victory. The 4-1 shot sat mid-pack early, then rallied into the stretch and got up by a neck over Heck Yeah and favored Acclimate. And even though Allred hasn’t owned him for several years, he is still fond of the Cal-bred.
“He was claimed from me early on for $40,000,” Allred said. “I was delighted, thinking he was worth a fraction of that. But he keeps getting better and better, and he’s really tough on the grass.”
North County Guy has six wins, seven seconds, and five thirds in 28 starts for earnings of $366,647. Allred still owns Warmth, who is now 16. She is in foal to Misremembered for 2021 and is likely to go to Clubhouse Ride for the next season.
Owner of the Rolling A Ranch in Atascadero, Allred is adamant that he will continue to breed horses in California and nowhere else.
“No question about it, I don’t breed out of California, ever,” he said.
Allred has several theories about breeding horses, such as not breeding mares or stallions past a certain age because their prowess fades.
“That’s just one of my crackpot theories,” he joked. “Horse people always have different thoughts. There have never been two trainers that thought the other guy knew anything.”
Allred raises 125 Quarter Horses a year and tries to race most of them rather than sell them.
“I know I’ve never sold a Thoroughbred before racing them,” he said. “I have between six and 12 Thoroughbred mares at any given time. I don’t consider myself to be an expert on the breed, but I am an expert in Quarter Horses. Overall, I just love breeding horses. It’s frustrating, but exciting.”
While his place in Quarter Horse lore is cemented, North County Guy is already trying to help Dr. Allred become a force among Thoroughbred breeders, as well.