The Cowboy Way the story of Rex Ellsworth and Swaps

The Cowboy Way is a rags to riches story of two cowboys Rex Ellsworth and Meshac Tenney who not only broke through social and class barriers to race with the elite, upper-class, aristocrats but rewrote the rules to horse racing that are now common practice today. "Rex was more than a cowboy, he was a horseman," said Veternarian Jock Jocoy. Rex possessed a gift, a 6th sense about horses. He was known for his ability to judge a horse just by looking at it, a skill known as conformation. "He could look at a horses leg and write a book about it," said his son Kim. A horse from England known as The Tetrarch was what Rex saw as the perfect horse. Rex knew he needed a Tetrarch. He went to Kentucky and bought a few horses for $600. He used his judge of conformation to pick out the best horses looking beyond physical disabilities. For example, one had a breathing problem, another was consistently barren and another was blind. These horses had the genetics that Rex desired. Rex bred these horses and his empire began.

Rex needed better blood, so he went to Ireland in search of another "The Tetrarch." He bought a horse named Khaled from the Aga Khan. Khaled was a son of Hyperion and a great grandson of The Tetrarch. Khaled was bred to the mare Iron Reward, granddaughter of War Admiral and great granddaughter of Man o' War. "Swaps possessed true star quality. The strikingly handsome son of Khaled devastated his competition with his brilliant speed and converted legions of fans in his native California. But Swaps was snubbed when he traveled East to confront the nobly bred Nashua in the 1955 Kentucky Derby. Not only did critics question Swaps' credentials, they ridiculed owner Rex Ellsworth and trainer Meshac Tenney for their unconventional horsemanship. But the Mormon cowboys, fast friends from their boyhood days in Arizona, flaunted the Eastern Establishment with seeming delight.

When Swaps won the Derby, Ellsworth and Tenney took him back to California for the Hollywood Gold Cup, snubbing the remainder of the Triple Crown. In his home state, Swaps delivered a series of electrifying and record-setting performances that no other horse has matched. His masterful handling of older horses in the 1955 Californian Stakes elevated Swaps to the rarified ranks of the century's greatest performers. By the time of his retirement, Swaps' fame had reached almost mythical proportions." -quoted from the book "Thoroughbred Legends #14" by Barry Irwin.

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