Blue Valentine was Red Man's most prolific son.

Blue Valentine passed on his sire's legacy of usability and functional conformation to the Merritt Horses of Wyoming. Hyde Merritt horses were popular with ropers for 25 years and the breeding is still found in many remudas in Texas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Nebraska.

Blue Valentine's sire Red Man was a well-known sire of top ranch mounts throughout the Arizona cattle country. During the 1940's and 50's, the majority of usin' horse men were more interested in what an individual animal could do under saddle. The Red Man foals could do the job, out on the ranch, in the rodeo arena, and stayed sound while doing it.

Red Man's foals earned 80 race wins, 18 stakes winners, earning a total of $28,848 back in the days when purses were low. He sired 15 Race ROM earners.

Red Man had a long hip, was tremendously deep through the heart girth, had withers that would hold a saddle and lots of bone. As a sire he passed that size and bone, athletic ability, roan color and good black feet on to most of his line. He was quick out of the box, could really "blow up on one" and after the catch was made and the slack rope pitched away, stop and get back. Red Man took to the event like a "duck takes to water", carrying on the tradition of the Hancocks as rope horses.

Red Man was sired by the legendary Joe Hancock. Joe Hancock showed speed at a young age and before his racing career was over, Joe Hancock was open to the world at any distance from the starting line to three-eighths of a mile. He won his races by being so fast away from the line that the other horse couldn't catch him. There finally came a time when Joe Hancock simply ran out of competition. He stood pat at three-eighths of a mile, but no one wanted to take on the brown stallion.

Known as gentle giants, Blue Valentines are hardy, low maintenance horses, good footed with lots of stamina and big forward movement. They excell as Ropers, Reiners and barrel Racers, but can be used anywhere from the performance arena to the outback country. Like his sire, Red Man, and his grandsire, Joe Hancock, Blue Valentine passed on his speed, good bone, gentle disposition, longevity and cow savvy. His performance and that of his get, having been concentrated on ranches or in the rodeo arena, acquired almost no official record. But as with many horses that spend their entire life in their work clothes, his legacy flourishes through his descendants.

In the history of the Quarter Horse, few horses have made such an impact that their reputation outlives them by more than a few generations. Blue Valentine's name is mentioned alongside the best of the foundation bloodlines in the Quarter Horse industry. In the absence of official accomplishment records, his legacy must depend on reputation and great offspring. But even fewer have achieved such a status that their name represents a class of horses all their own. Like most Hancock breeders, Blue Valentine breeders are fiercely loyal. People who have owned one felt like theirs was or is the "best of the Blue Valentines".

A quarter century after his death, his bloodlines have become more popular and widely sought after than ever.

Joe Hancock