The Appaloosa Horse Club (ApHC)
is pleased to announce the 2009 inductees of the Racing Hall
of Fame: Noted breeder and owner
Victoria Ennis of Kingston, Okla. and the 1977 mare Viking
Song.
Victoria Ennis was a distinct representative of the Appaloosa
racing industry, and was also honored with induction into
the ApHC Hall of Fame in 2009. Victoria passed away in August
2009, but her legacy and investment in the Appaloosa breed
lives on at Texoma Appaloosas, the operation she owned and
operated in Kingston, Okla. An ApHC member since 1985, Victoria
owned many famous racehorses, including I Love Willie and
Mr Spotted Bull. Victoria’s husband, Ronnie, has continued
the Texoma tradition of winning. Most recently, the 2007 mare
Willies Chick, bred and raised at Texoma, won the Cricket
Bars Futurity in October.
Victoria was an influential member of the Oklahoma Appaloosa
Racing Association (OAR) and worked valiantly to ensure that
Appaloosa racing continued in Oklahoma. It is a mark of her
stature and esteem in the Appaloosa industry to be inducted
into both the racing and regular Hall of Fame; inductees are
nominated and voted on by their peers. Victoria was known
far and wide and well loved.
Viking Song was sired by Vikingson (JC) and out of the mare
Wildrooz. The mare was bred by Curtis Knect of Thousand Oaks,
Calif., and Dr. Leslie Pam of Los Angeles, Calif., and owned
by Sherry and Elizabeth Byrd of Saint Marys, West Virginia.
Viking Song was on the track for three years, earning a lifetime
total of $52,780.45. She won the American Futurity as a 2
year old and continued the winning as a 3 year old, coming
in first in the California Appaloosa Derby, Oklahoma Maturity
and the Cricket Bars Derby. In her 4-year-old year, Viking
Song won the California State Fair Marathon, the Pleasanton
Handicap and the Fresno Handicap.
The mare earned several racing awards, including Supreme Champion
3-Year-Old, 3-Year-Old Filly and 4-Years & Older Filly.
Of 24 starts, she had 13 wins, four places and three shows.
Her stellar track career was followed by the production of
equally talented racehorses. She foaled 11 registered ApHC
horses, seven of which started on the track and earned over
$92,000. Notable foals include Speed Viking, Scout Song, When
Smokey Sings and Bold Conquest. Viking Song passed away in
December 2003.
To learn more about the ApHC Racing Hall of Fame, visit www.appaloosa.com
and click “Racing.”
