American horse
Midnight Sun
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![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Midnight_Sun_TWH.jpg/220px-Midnight_Sun_TWH.jpg) Midnight Sun
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Breed
| Tennessee Walking Horse
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Discipline
| Show horse
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Sire
| Wilson's Allen
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Grandsire
| Roan Allen
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Dam
| Ramsey's Rena
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Maternal grandsire
| Dement's Allen
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Sex
| Stallion
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Foaled
| 1940
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Country
| United States of America
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Color
| Black, no markings
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Breeder
| Samuel M. Ramsey
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Trainer
| Fred Walker
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World Grand Championships, 1945, 1946
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Midnight Sun
(1940?65) was one of the leading sires of the
Tennessee Walking Horse
breed, and a two-time World Grand Champion in 1945 and 1946. He was trained by Fred Walker and lived almost all his life at
Harlinsdale Farm
in
Franklin, Tennessee
.
Midnight Sun sired approximately 2,600 foals in his life, one of which became the three-time World Grand Champion
The Talk of the Town
. Of the horses that have won the annual Tennessee Walking Horse World Grand Championship since 1949, only four were not of Midnight Sun's bloodline.
Life and winnings
[
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]
Harlinsdale Farm, the longtime home of Midnight Sun, as it appears today.
Midnight Sun was
foaled
on June 8, 1940, out of a mostly
Standardbred
mare named Ramsey's Rena, and sired by the stallion
Wilson's Allen
. He was a solid black stallion who matured to just under 16
hands
(64 inches, 163 cm) and weighed 1,350 pounds (610 kg), unusually stout for his breed.
[1]
His original name was Joe Lewis Wilson.
[2]
Through his sire Midnight Sun was a great-grandson of
Black Allan
, also known as Allan F-1, who was the
foundation sire
of the Tennessee Walking Horse breed. Midnight Sun's half-brother on his sire's side,
Strolling Jim
, became the first ever National Champion in 1939, and three of his other siblings were early champions as well. In 1944 Midnight Sun was bought by Wirt and Alex Harlin for $4,400 and taken to their Harlinsdale Farm.
[2]
[3]
Midnight Sun was trained by Fred Walker.
[1]
He became the first
Tennessee Walking Horse
to win the World Grand Championship title when it was first awarded in 1945, and he followed up that win with another World Grand Championship the next year, in 1946, making him the second repeat winner after
Haynes Peacock
, his half-brother.
[4]
[5]
At the time, the stake carried a purse of $1,000.
[6]
[1]
Midnight Sun was known for his calm disposition; it wasn't uncommon for stablehands at his home,
Harlinsdale Farm
near
Franklin, Tennessee
, to let visiting children ride him
bareback
, so they could say they rode a two-time world grand champion.
[1]
In 1956 he was bought by Eleanor and Geraldine Livingston at the Harlinsdale Farm dispersal sale, for $50,000. The Livingstons stipulated that Midnight Sun be kept at Harlinsdale under the same routine he had had for most of his life.
[1]
He continued to stand at stud on the farm until his death,
[2]
and was handled and groomed nearly all his life by Red Laws, who died within a year of the horse's death. Midnight Sun was never turned out, and Laws once said, "Somebody had hold of him all his life."
[3]
In all, he lived at Harlinsdale Farm for 21 years.
[4]
Midnight Sun died of
colic
on November 7, 1965, and was buried at Harlinsdale Farm, where his grave is still visible today.
[1]
Legacy
[
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]
Midnight Sun has been described as the single most influential Tennessee Walking Horse sire and a sire of sires. Since 1949, only four horses not of Midnight Sun's line have won the Tennessee Walking Horse World Grand Championship, the breed's highest honor.
[1]
Midnight Sun sired five horses who won the World Grand Championship:
[7]
Midnight Merry in 1949;
[8]
The Talk of the Town in 1951, 1952, and 1953;
[9]
Sun's Jet Parade in 1957;
[9]
Setting Sun
in 1958; and Sun's Delight D. in 1963.
[10]
One of these,
The Talk of the Town
, was the first three-time World Grand Champion. Midnight Sun was also great-grandsire of
I Am Jose
, the second three-time winner.
[11]
Most of the leading Tennessee Walker sires in recent years have themselves been descendants of Midnight Sun, most notably his son
Pride of Midnight
, who took his father's place as Harlinsdale's lead sire after the older horse's death.
[12]
Midnight Sun sired approximately 2,600
foals
in his lifetime,
[13]
and during his stud career earned his owners close to $100,000 a year, mostly through the then-new use of
artificial insemination
(AI).
[3]
Through his offspring, he has also influenced the
Racking Horse
and
Spotted Saddle Horse
breeds. For many years, a life-size statue of Midnight Sun, commissioned after his death by his former owner Geraldine Livingston, stood at the
TWHBEA
headquarters in
Lewisburg, Tennessee
.
[14]
Pedigree
[
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]
Pedigree of Midnight Sun
[15]
Sire
Wilson's Allen
|
Roan Allen
|
Black Allan
†
|
Allendorf
|
Maggie Marshall
|
Gertrude
|
Royal Denmark
|
Ball II
|
Birdie Messick
|
Black Allan
†
|
Allendorf
|
Maggie Marshall
|
Nellie
|
Walking Dan Allen
|
Minnie Ready
|
Dam
Ramsey's Rena
|
Dements Allen
|
Hunters Allen
|
Black Allan
†
|
Allis
|
Kate McCrady
|
Brown Hal Jr.
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By Crames
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Dena
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Bell Buckle
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Bow Bells
|
Leta Wedgewood
|
Daisy Mc
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John Covington's Hal
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By Galson
|
†Denotes
inbreeding
See also
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References
[
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]
- Warren, Margaret Lindsay, "Midnight Sun", Western Horseman, April 1966
External links
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]