Joe Hancock was a son of the explosively fast John Wilkens, by Peter McCue. Joe Hancock was raced for close to five years, and it was said that he never was defeated at ¼ mile, and rarely at ½ mile. Defeating a colt owned by Tom Burnett landed him at the Burnett ranch, as Tom liked to own the fastest horses that were in his area. Joe Hancock lived out his years at the Burnett Ranch as a breeding stallion. His foals were known to be rugged, have speed and the ability to stay sound, and have an eagerness to work a cow, as a result, his genes are to be found in many of today's popular bloodlines. Red Man was probably his best known son, he was ROM in racing, sired foals prized for cutting, ranch work, for being top rope horses with AAA running ability, and they were loaded with cow sense.
The blending of Red Man with a daughter of Valentine was no accident. Valentine was a son of the highly regarded Lone Star, out of a Little Joe (by Zantanon) mare. Lone Star sired a line of horses that are known even today. A daughter produced Clabber, a sensational running horse, a son was tied for eighth place (1951-1956) as a leading sire of halter horses, and during the same time period, he was in third place as a leading sire of halter class winners. Lone Star was the sire of Rainy Day, the grand sire of Waggoners Rainy Day (P13), who was the sire of Barbara B, the celebrated running mare. Clearly, this line could look good, and run too.
The renowned Valentine, by Lone Star, received speed from his sire line, and his dam line also, she being a daughter of Little Joe, by Traveler, the head of a long family line of noted runners. Many top ropers also used Valentine bred horses, and this was the reason for breeding Red Man to a daughter of Valentine. This mating produced Blue Valentine, a product of two known lines of cow horses with speed.
Blue Valentine started life as a competition roping horse, and he needed the speed and the desire to work cattle as well. He carried all of the attributes of both sides of his pedigree, his dam probably as important as his sire. The cross of Traveler bloodlines onto the Peter McCue bloodlines has been the backbone, and produced many top using and sprinting horses. Blue Valentine was often bred to daughters of Plenty Coup, a son of Texas Blue Bonnet, another son of Joe Hancock. This cross produced Gooseberry, the sire of Plenty Try, the sire of Gerries Valentine, out of a Blue Valentine daughter, Gerries Blue. Plenty Try's dam had four AAA grandsires, and was the full sister to proven performance horses. We have both Plenty Try and Gerries Valentine daughters as important members of our broodmare band. The mare, Gerries Blue, also carried the important bloodlines of King (P234) which also goes back to Little Joe, as well as Oklahoma Star (P6) and Chief (P5), a real balance of the old blood lineage.
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