We will use Lloyd Gary's research and information on the pedigree of Della Moore. Lloyd a native of South Louisiana, did a great deal of research on the Cajun-bred running horses between 1948 and 1954. By doing this research he was able to visit with many of the people involved with these horses.

The sire of Della Moore was the famous Cajun-bred running horse and sire Dedier or as is also known "Old D. J." Old D J was bred by Demonstan (D. J.) Broussard. Broussard was the man that bought Della Moore fro her breeder Ludovic Stemmons. Old D. J. was sired by Crazy Que by Queue. Queue was an imported stallion sired by Valor by Victor. The dam of Queue was Periwig by Pantaloon.

The dam of Della Moore was Belle. She was sired by Shamrock. (Many pedigrees will show that the sire of Belle was Sam Rock, but Gary indicates and maintains that this information comes from the Cajun dialect.) The sire of Shamrock was Blakemore by Silent Friend. The dam of Shamrock was Pelege'. Pelege' was sired by King by Flying Dutchman. The dam of Pelege' was Lannie by Grant. This makes Della Moore double bred to Lannie.

The dam of Belle was Dilly. Lloyd Gary indicates that Della Moore was originally named Dilly for her grandam, Dilly. Dilly was sired by Dewey by Sain. Dilly was owned by Antoine Hernandez and thus was called the Hernandez mare. The dam of Dilly was Ella. The sire of Ella was Iroquois by Leamington. This gives Joe Reed yet another cross to Leamington. Some pedigrees indicate that Dilly could have been out of a mare known as the Beauregard Mare. The sire of this mare was Beauregard.

The life of Joe Reed has an ominous beginning. He was the result of an unplanned mating between the race mare Della Moore and the race stallion Joe Blair. The problem with this unplanned mating is that there are several versions as to how it took place. I think that we can truthfully say that the reason for the different versions of how Joe Reed was conceived has to do with the consequences, if the owner would have found out who truly let his great stallion and mare mate. Sadly as we look back and on what took place, we will never be able to actually acknowledge that person or persons for giving us the great Joe Reed family of Quarter Horses.

The first version has to do with a "crap-game". The story goes something like this----- Joe Blair and Della Moore were stabled next to each other at the race track in San Antonio, TX. When the stable hands and jockeys got a crap-game going, they found that Della Moore was in heat and this prompted a commotion between Joe Blair and Della Moore. So to settle things down they put the stallion and the mare together. This resulted in the conception of Joe Reed.

The second version has to do with a group of racehorse men leasing Della Moore for a race with a horse named Danger Boy. As the story goes, Della Moore showed up for the race, but she was in heat. Her being in heat made her hard to handle and this scared the Danger Boys supporters off and the race was called off. This prompted the men leasing Della Moore to take their frustration out by breeding the mare to Joe Blair. This mating reportedly took place at the Alonzo Peeler Ranch. One of the eye witnesses was Graves Peeler, brother of Alonzo Peller. Then they neglected to inform the owner of Della Moore about her meeting with Joe Blair that resulted in producing Joe Reed.

Yet another version of this famous mating tells us that Joe Blair and Della Moore were being tested as the same ranch. During this time, they were allowed to breed. This version has an interesting twist coming from a story told by Lloyd Gary by jockey Gabriel Strauss.

Here is how Gary tells the story, " Gabriel Strauss was the jockey of Della Moore. He thought the mare was coming back to Louisiana. She wasn't old but she was a 1912 model, and he said she was getting up a little in age, like around 7 or 8 years old. And he wanted to breed her to something good so he sneaked around and got his friends to help him." But as luck would have it Della Moore was sold to Mrs. Moore and she did not return to Louisiana. Strauss told his story to Gary when he was an old man. He expressed his concern if the owner found out what he did. He professed that "the ole man would kill him yet today if he found out about what he did". The "ole man" that Strauss was concerned about was Zan Raspberry, a cattle buyer that owned Della Moore.

The ownership of Della Moore is a bit confusing at this time as well. According to Gary, she was purchased by Zan Raspberry and brought to Texas. Raspberry bought Della Moore after she defeated a horse in Louisiana named Bald de Eunice. According to Gary Bald de Eunice was the "greatest horse here at the time."

The trainer for Della Moore was a man named Alcide Simar, who was known by the nickname "Boy". This name came from his racetrack days as a jockey. Some historians tell us that Alcide Simar was the owner of Della Moore when she came to Texas to race. (Some writers have also indicated that Simar is also known as "Boyd" Simar.)

The book CAJUN-BRED RUNNING HORSES by F. S. LaBlanc verifies in his segment on Della Moore that Zan Raspberry was the owner of the mare and that he sent her to Texas to race at San Antonio. LaBlanc also indicates that Raspberry sold the mare to a Texan named Henry Lindsay.

Henry Lindsay was a rancher and race horse man that became a key figure in the life of Joe Reed. Of course the entry of Lindsay in not without its own controversy. Most historians tell us that Lindsay bought and owned Della Moore after she came to Texas. Lloyd Gary says that his research and discussions with Strauss indicate that Lindsay bought Della Moore for Mrs. Moore, who was the wife of a bank official at the Bank Of Commerce in Houston, TX. This version indicates that Lindsay handled the mare for Mrs. Moore. Lloyd Gary indicates that this is the reason for the mare being named Della Moore.

The most common reason for buying Della Moore was to put her in a race against a horse named Dan Murphy. Gary indicated that Dan Murphy was considered the "World Champion" during that time. The proposed match between Della Moore and Dan Murphy seems to bring us back to common ground.

The story goes like this----- The race was set, but as race time neared, Della Moore's belly became too large and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with her until they determined that she was in foal. So with Della Moore heavy in foal they needed a way out of the race. One of the stipulations of the race was that if it rained on race day, either owner could call the race off. Well it rained the morning of the race and Lindsay called the race off.

Della Moore would later meet Dan Murphy and again we get a difference of opinion on the out come of this rivalry. Gary says that her jockey fell off and another source says that Della Moore won one race and lost the second to her rival. The race the mare lost supposedly put Lindsay in a financial bind and he sold this great mare to Ott Adams. Adams would then own Della Moore until her death. She was the dam of Adams great stallion Joe Moore as well as the foals Panzarita, and Grano de Oro.