The Land Report

Texas 2016

The Magazine of the American Landowner is an essential guide for investors, landowners, and those interested in buying or selling land. The award-winning quarterly is known for its annual survey of America's largest landowners, The Land Report 100.

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T E X A S 2 0 1 6 | The LandReport 89 LANDREPORT.COM Cup board of directors. She is a member of the Jockey Club and is a former president of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. In 1971, Stephen "Tio" Kleberg returned to King Ranch after graduating from Texas Tech and serving a two-year stint in the U.S. Army. The decades-long focus on Thoroughbred racing was readily apparent. "We had excellent brood mares, one or two bands at each ranch division, and some stallions," Tio recalls. "My father and I would grade the foals and select 30 or 35 for the annual fall sale. Then I began to notice that it was harder and harder to get really top colts. My assessment was that we had great mares but no stallion power." Tio suggested to his father that he pick a couple dozen mares and send them to out- side stallions. "Go ahead, but you won't have any luck. Good breeding stallions are very hard to come by," Dick Kleberg responded. Tio and Joe Stiles, who ran King Ranch's horse operation, went to competitions to find top stallions. They selected three and put six or seven mares with each one. Just as the elder Kleberg predicted, they got some great offspring, but not a single breeding stallion. In 1974, Tio and Joe met Buster Welch while he was campaigning for the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) on yet another Old Sorrel descendant. This one was named Mr. San Peppy. "We really took a liking to Mr. San Peppy, his confirmation, and his breeding, including King Ranch breeding," Tio says. Afterward, the two horsemen went to Sweetwater to dicker with Buster. Tio offered to send mares to breed to Mr. San Peppy in hopes that Welch would sell his stallion. "We started weaning those colts in the fall of 1976, and they were truly outstanding," Tio says. "We went back to Sweetwater, made the swap, and bought Mr. San Peppy with the COURTESY KING RANCH ARCHIVES, KING RANCH, INC., KINGSVILLE, TEXAS Buster Welch and Peppy San Badger cut a lonely cow out of a sea of Santa Gertrudis also at the Frijol Camp.

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