Steel Dust was one of the founding sires of the American Quarter Horse.
[1] His sire was Harry Bluff, whose sire was Short Whip (or Short's Whip) and dam was Big Nance, a descendant of Timoleon.
[1][2] It is believed that he was taken to Texas in 1845 by Middleton Perry and Jones Greene, where he was used as a work horse and was run in match races.
[3] He was bay in color, just over fifteen hands high, and weighed about 1,200 pounds.
[1] Steel Dust won his most important race, held in Collin County, Texas, as a three-year-old against a horse named Monmouth.