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Strong Dollar – Dollar for Dollar, a Mirrored Life.
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By Sarah Gee
© Voice, January 2006
Overheard at the Celebration, “The lit-up Silver Dollar colt and the Ritz colt won the two-year-old stud classes. They’re goin’ to show the Ritz colt back in the stake.” Now this was heard in 1993 AND in 2002. A Strong Dollar and his sire, Generator’s Silver Dollar, were both World Champion two-year-old stallions. Their respective stable mates, Ted Williams and his sire He’s Puttin’ On The Ritz also won their two-year-old preliminaries in the same years and went went on to win the 2002 and 1993 Two-Year-Old World Grand Championships respectively. Even though being World Champions both “Dollar” horses had to wait at the barn for the results from their stable mates. They both were lucky enough to begin in great barns, but both were victims of circumstance when it came to competing for the roses. This is how it goes when you dwell at the high end of the show horse world.
Strong Dollar and Silver Dollar both went on from their initial year of showing to have stellar show careers that have somewhat mirrored each other. Silver Dollar was switched early on to the amateur ranks to be ridden by Allison Lafferty the daughter of both stallions’ owner, Curtice McCloy. Silver Dollar attained a reserve World Championship as a three-year-old and a World Championship as a four-year-old in amateur competition with Allison aboard. Allison also had a brief stint aboard Strong Dollar in two-year-old amateur competition winning two mid-summer shows and finishing 3rd in both their preliminary and Championship at the Celebration. Although it was suggested for Strong Dollar to follow a similar path into amateur competition with Ted Williams in the same barn showing in the open classes, the McCloys felt that Strong Dollar was a legitimate contender for the open classes and made the difficult decision to move him from Joe Cotten at Landrum Stables to Link Webb. Link first met the McCloys while he was a trainer at Landrum Stables. When Link began his own training facility, the McCloys moved Silver Dollar with him. Link trained and successfully showed Silver Dollar to the 1997 15.2 and Under World Grand Championship and to the 2000 Reserve World Grand Champion Tennessee Walking Horse title. Under Link’s guidance Strong Dollar was undefeated everywhere except on the grounds of the Celebration. In 2003 Strong Dollar won his three-year-old stallion preliminary but scratched from the Championship due to a foot injury that occurred in that preliminary. As a four-year-old Strong Dollar was reserve in his four-year-old stallion preliminary to his former stable mate Ted Williams and was Reserve World Grand Champion Four-Year-Old to N.Y.P.D. in one of the most exciting classes that year. Aboard N.Y.P.D. was Silver Dollar’s former trainer Tim Gray. As they both made their first steps toward the elusive World Grand Championship as aged horses, Silver Dollar was Reserve World Champion Over 15.2 Stallion in 1999 as Strong Dollar was in 2005. They both finished high in their first World Grand Championship appearance with Silver Dollar and Strong Dollar finishing 3rd and 4th respectively. Most recently, Strong Dollar was named 2005 Reserve Aged Horse of the Year by the WHTA. This is a title Silver Dollar also received in 2000.
Now THEY are stable mates standing to the public. A Strong Dollar for his first season and Generator’s Silver Dollar for his eighth. Many are very confident Strong Dollar can follow in his father’s hoof prints to become a successful sire. In a short 7 seasons at stud Generator’s Silver Dollar has placed himself, on his own, among the greatest sires of our breed. Here are a few of his 2005 highlights alone:
• According to the current TWHBEASM Sire Summary, Silver Dollar has produced more ribbon winning performance two and three year olds than any other stallion.
• According to the TWHBEASM Sire of the Year rankings by Percentage Points, Silver Dollar is the only stallion in the top 25 with over 750 offspring and has more ribbon winning offspring than any other stallion listed in the top 25.
• At the 2005 Celebration, Silver Dollar had 44 individual offspring win 62 ribbons. Of those 62 ribbons, 67% came from the performance division, 31% from the flat shod division, and 2% from the halter division.
• For trail pleasure enthusiasts, Generator’s Silver Dollar is the sire of the 2005 Owner Amateur English Trail Pleasure World Grand Champion Gold Coin In Dixie, who just happened to be two years old at the time of his win. Gold Coin In Dixie is owned by Dr. Judy Moore.
For those that like raising quality with “color,” Strong and Silver Dollar both have the Sabino pattern of markings. As a matter of fact, Silver Dollar is the only Sabino stallion in the TWHBEASM Sires by Total Points Top 10. Strong Dollar’s breeding career has exceeded his sire’s initial numbers. Following the same pattern for Silver Dollar’s breeding success; Strong Dollar’s fee of $500 is purposely low for a stallion of his quality. Strong Dollar in his first two months at public stud has bred 3 times as many mares as Silver Dollar did in his whole first season. With this kind of support Strong Dollar could very well be ranked along with his sire in just a few years.
Two colorful stallions with uniquely colorful careers owned by the same family, having similar highs and lows during their show careers, careers guided by the same trainer and now stable mates at the same breeding facility. It is a story that Hollywood writers would throw out as unbelievable. “Mirror, Mirror on the wall who is the greatest of them all”, only time will tell. – David Williams
A Strong Dollar and Generator’s Silver Dollar both stand at the
Rising Star Ranch in Shelbyville, Tennessee.
For more information on either of these stallions
contact David Williams at 931-680-0608
or visit them on the web www.attherisingstar.com
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