Houston Sports - Harriett Peckham

Harriett Peckham

Born: May 9, 1930

Sport: Horse Racing (Hall of Fame)

My dad was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, where horse racing was a staple of life and Derby Day may as well have been an official holiday.  The Kentucky Derby was the biggest event on the calendar every year, and I remember being driven by Churchill Downs at a young age to see those iconic twin spires long before they were dwarfed by today's massive grandstands.  Yesterday marked the 152nd Run for the Roses there, and for the first time in history a female trainer, Cherie DeVaux, became a Kentucky Derby winner when her horse, Golden Tempo, raced from the back of the pack to win by a nose.  Houston's interest in horses has historically been more aligned with their use by cowboys than by jockeys, but in keeping with the momentous achievement by a woman in a male-dominated arena I thought it would be good to turn the spotlight towards a Houstonian who became known as the "First Lady of Quarter Horse Racing", Harriett Peckham.  Let's learn more about this local trailblazer. 

Arrowhead Park, a Houston racing venue where Peckham found her interest in quarter horses

Born Harriett Carlton in Houston, Texas, the future famed breeder was the youngest of two children born to Oswald and Mary Lou Carlton.  Alongside her brother, named after his father but known by his middle name of Snider, young Harriett was well-acquainted with horses from an early age.  She and her brother boarded riding horses at Arrowhead Park, six miles from downtown along Old Spanish Trail, and they became enamored by the quarter horses there.  The Carlton family was well-off and Harriett had experienced east Texas fox hunts on horseback, but racing offered a new and exciting venture.  In 1950 Harriett married a local lumber businessman named William Peckham and took his last name, and the couple moved to his family ranch in Richmond to eventually raise four daughters.  Harriett, along with both her husband and brother, remained interested in horses and began acquiring top-tier racehorses.  By the end of the decade one of their horses, Hy Harriett, had become a stakes winner and when that horse produced another stakes winner in Go Harriett in 1962, a recognized winning bloodline was created.  The Peckhams teamed up with the founder of the Los Alamitos Race Course to purchase three-time world champion Go Man Go, which was probably their most famous horse during those early years.  Everything changed for Harriett when she divorced William, however, and decided to grab the reins of her own breeding operation. 

In 1970 Harriett Peckham arrived in Roswell, New Mexico, to establish her own ranch.  The resulting Buena Suerte Ranch, Spanish for "Good Luck", encompassed 320 acres and began operations in 1972.  The presence of Go Man Go gave Peckham a degree of legitimacy in the industry, but the way she ran her business would soon set the standard for breeding.  At the time, breeding stables providing exceptional care for studs was expected, but mares were rarely afforded the same luxury.  Peckham reportedly stated, "The studs are my business; the mares are my heart."  Visitors to Buena Suerte Ranch and Peckham Farm in El Paso, Texas, noted the individual care that the broodmares were given, and no other location in the nation bred as many mares, which reached a number as high as 800 per year.  During Peckham's career as a breeder she produced 51 winning racehorses, multiple stakes winners, and three Hall of Fame inductees.  

Harriett Peckham was a lifetime member of the American Quarter Horse Association and served on the AQHA Racing Committee, and the impacts of her breeding partnership with Dr. Ed Allred are still apparent in today's racing landscape for quarter horses.  The Buena Suerte Ranch became known for a lavish annual party before each running of the All American Futurity at nearby Ruidoso Downs.  In addition to raising the standard of care during her own day, Peckham was also interested in teaching the next generation, hiring high school students each summer at her ranch and becoming a Gold Patron of the American Quarter Horse Foundation.  She died in 1995 at just 64 years of age, leaving a legacy that literally changed the landscape of racing and breeding in America.  Harriett Peckham was posthumously inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2006, joining three of her own horses (Go Man Go, Easy Jet, and Rocket Bar) and becoming one of just 21 women to be enshrined to date. 

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