[RC] The passing of Sierra Fadwah and Rio- part 1 of 2 - Nick Warhol
Hi everyone- The Endurance world is holding it’s flag at half mast this month due to the passing
of two superb Hall of Fame horses.I’m sad to report that Jackie Bumgardner lost her timeless stallion, Sierra
Fadwah +/.He
was thirty years old and had been enjoying his retirement in Ridgecrest for a long time, pounding down all
the Equine Senior he could eat.Fadwah has been certainly one of the premier sires of great
endurance horses, in 1998 he and his get had done over 55,000 miles, and I bet
it’s a whole lot more than that now.He has sired some champions, as well as many successful Arabian track
racing horses.But on top of that, he
was a real character!He’d love to
show off in front of a crowd and knew when he was supposed to be showing off,
which he did very well.He was out of
the immortal Fadjur of the Jack Tone Ranch, truly one
of the legendary Arabian stallions of our times.Not to mention Fadwah’s
dam was Judhi, the only full sister to Bezatel.Now
there’s a combination!Fadwah was one of the best- we will all miss him very much.
What can one say about Rio?I hold him in a special place, since he and
Becky Hart were ruling the sport when Judy and I got started, and that
magnificent duo had a tremendous influence on me.My only Rio
story really says it all about this horse.It was at a local 100 mile ride at MountDiablo,
in 1992 or so.I was crewing for Judy
and Warpaint that day, and was waiting around at the 50 mile lunch check for
the leaders to arrive.Off in the
distance the first two horses were sighted, they were cantering down the long
road towards the check.I went over to
watch the action and waited at the pulse area.Into the check comes Becky and Rio,
along with Shirley Delsart and her big gelding KJ
Destination, another absolutely superb horse.They both came in together, trotting right up to the gate to the parking
area. (continued)
