Easy Jet
Encyclopedia
Easy Jet was an American Quarter Horse
foaled, or born, in 1967, and was one of only two horses to have been a member of the American Quarter Horse Association
(or AQHA) Hall of Fame
as well as being an offspring of members. Easy Jet won the 1969 All American Futurity
, the highest race for Quarter Horse racehorses, and was named World Champion Quarter Race Horse in the same year. He earned the highest speed rating
awarded at the time—AAAT. After winning 27 of his 38 races in two years of racing, he retired from the race track and became a breeding stallion
.
As a sire, or father, he was the first All American Futurity winner to sire an All American Futurity winner, and went on to sire three winners of that race, and nine Champion Quarter Running Horses. Ultimately, his ownership and breeding rights were split into 60 shares worth $500,000 each—a total of $30 million. By 1993, the year after his death, his foal
s had earned more than $25 million on the racetrack.
and race-horse owner Walter Merrick of Sayre
, Oklahoma
produced Easy Jet from two future AQHA Hall of Fame members, Jet Deck
and Thoroughbred
mare Lena's Bar
in 1967. His dam, or mother, Lena's Bar had produced a small number of other offspring, but Easy Jet was her last; she died shortly after he was weaned, or removed from his mother's milk. Both of his parents were descended from Three Bars
, who was the sire of Lena's Bar and the grandsire of Jet Deck's dam. Easy Jet is one of only two horses in the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame to have both parents in the Hall of Fame; his two grandsires, Moon Deck and Three Bars, are also in the Hall of Fame.
Easy Jet was of sorrel
color, a light yellowish-red. When fully grown, he stood about 15.3 hands high (63 inches; 160 cm) and weighed about 1300 pounds (589.7 kg). He had a large star and a stripe on his face.
Of Easy Jet's stamina and busy training regimen, Merrick said, "I guess he ate at night; I don't know when else. It was unbelievable the amount of energy he had". Training for the race track generally begins when a horse is a long yearling
, when a horse is between one and a half and two years of age. Easy Jet was so easy to train that Merrick decided to oversee the training himself rather than send the horse away to a professional trainer
. In a practice race at the ranch, Merrick matched the yearling against Jet Smooth. Although his elder brother had the advantage of previous race experience, Easy Jet won the 350-yard (320 m) race. Easy Jet's performance prompted Merrick to enter him in a yearling race at Blue Ribbon Downs, which the colt won by more than a length.
In 1969, his first official year on the track, he won the All American Futurity and eight other stakes race
s. In winning the All American, he led from the start on a sloppy, muddy track. His jockey, Willie Lovell, explained that he needed to do very little to win: "In the stretch, when I saw Easy Jet had it, I let him run his own race. All I had to do was just sit there and let him roll." His time of 20.46 seconds to cover 400 yards (365.8 m) was remarkable considering that three days of rain before the start of the race had turned the track into a muddy quagmire. At another stakes, the Ribbon Futurity at Sallisaw
, Oklahoma, Easy Jet won by three-quarters of a length and set a new track record of 16.92 seconds for 330 yards (301.8 m). The only time in 1969 he did not finish first, second, or third, he had issues in the starting gate, false-started, broke some teeth loose against the front of the gate, and was struggling to stand up again when the gates opened; he still managed to finish fifth out of ten horses.
At the end of the 1969 racing season, he was named World Champion Quarter Running Horse, Champion Quarter Running Stallion, and Champion Quarter Running Two-Year Old Colt by the AQHA. He was also the highest money-earning horse and only the fourth two-year-old to be named World Champion. During his first year of racing, he started 26 times, won 22 and placed (came in second) in another three. Most two-year-old Quarter horses race on average under five times in their first year of racing, and the average for all ages is just over five starts per year. Many people criticized Merrick for starting Easy Jet so often. Merrick said, however, that "You had to run him about once every ten days or he'd have got so high you couldn't hardly stand to be around him. As long as we were going to run him, we figured we might as well make it count for something." Despite all of the starts, Easy Jet had enough energy to be difficult to handle; in this respect, he was considered high-spirited rather than mean.
In 1970, he started 12 times, and won five times, placed second four times, and earned third place twice. His only unplaced finish was in the Rainbow Derby finals, where he came in dead last. Before he started racing that year, he stood at stud to a full book, of mares, or as many mares as his owners would allow him to be bred to, which limited his racing time. During the Rocky Mountain Quarter Horse Derby at Centennial Park in Denver
, Colorado
on October 4, 1970, which Easy Jet won without ever relinquishing the lead, the stallion became the highest-earning Quarter Horse racer of all time, with earnings of more than $440,000 ($ as of ). At the end of the year, he was named Champion Quarter Running Stallion and Champion Quarter Running Three-Year Old Colt.
In 1971, Merrick sold a half-interest in Easy Jet and his full brother Jet Smooth to Joe McDermott, and five years later, in 1976, the partners sold Easy Jet to the Buena Suerte Ranch for $3.57 million (approximately $ as of ). Later, after two of the partners in the ranch died unexpectedly, Merrick re-purchased Easy Jet and bought a controlling share in the ranch. In 1980, the stallion was syndicated for $30 million (approximately $ as of ), a record amount at the time. The syndicate had 50 shares, each costing $600,000 (approximately $ as of ). The oil bust
of the 1980s, and changes in US tax laws affecting horse operations, led to financial problems for the horse market in general and the syndicate, which led to financial difficulties for Merrick and resulted in many changes of ownership for Easy Jet until the death of the champion in 1992.
After retiring to stud full time, he had a very successful career. He became the first All American Futurity winner to sire another winner when his daughter Easy Date
won the All American Futurity in 1974. Easy Date was later named 1975 World Champion Quarter Running Horse. He also sired Pie In the Sky, the 1979 All American Futurity winner, and Mr Trucka Jet, the 1985 All American Futurity winner. More than 1,500 of his offspring earned their AQHA Race Register of Merit, and nine became World Champion Quarter Running Horses. Besides the horses already mentioned, the champions include My Easy Credit, Extra Easy, Easily Smashed, Easy Angel, Easy Move and Megahertz. His foal Sunset Gallant Jet was the 1979 and 1980 AQHA High Point Cutting & Chariot Racing Co-Champion. At various points in time, Easy Jet has led the AQHA's lists of All-time leading sires of sires, All-time leading sires of Register of Merit qualifiers, All-time leading sires of stakes winners, and All-time leading broodmare sires. In March 2008, he still led the list of All-time leading sires of Quarter Horse racehorses by winners, and on the corresponding list ordered by earnings, he ranks fourth. As a broodmare
sire, or maternal grandsire, of racehorses, Easy Jet led the All-time leading lists by winners in March 2008, and the same list ordered by earnings had him second. As of 2008, his offspring had earned over $26,000,000 on the racetrack. In total, he sired 2,507 foals in 25 years of breeding.
Easy Jet was euthanized
in 1992 due to laminitis
, a disease of the hoof. He was buried in his paddock on Walter Merrick's 14 Ranch near Sayre, Oklahoma. Merrick was unable to bring himself to see the horse before he was put down. He said, "I couldn't go, I just couldn't see him like that. He was too good a friend". Easy Jet was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame in 1993.
American Quarter Horse
The American Quarter Horse is an American breed of horse that excels at sprinting short distances. Its name came from its ability to outdistance other breeds of horses in races of a quarter mile or less; some individuals have been clocked at speeds up to 55 mph...
foaled, or born, in 1967, and was one of only two horses to have been a member of the American Quarter Horse Association
American Quarter Horse Association
The American Quarter Horse Association , based in Amarillo, Texas, is an international organization dedicated to the preservation, improvement and record-keeping of the American Quarter Horse. The association sanctions many competitive events and maintains the official registry...
(or AQHA) Hall of Fame
American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame
The American Quarter Horse Association has created a Hall of Fame in Amarillo, Texas to honor both people and horses who contributed to the growth of the American Quarter Horse. Any one may nominate either people or horses to be considered. Nominations from the membership are due by October 1. They...
as well as being an offspring of members. Easy Jet won the 1969 All American Futurity
All American Futurity
The All American Futurity is a race for two-year-old American Quarter Horse racehorses run at Ruidoso Downs Race Track in Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico on Labor Day. It is the last leg of the AQHA Triple Crown that has only been won once, by Special Effort in 1981. A 4 million dollar bonus was once...
, the highest race for Quarter Horse racehorses, and was named World Champion Quarter Race Horse in the same year. He earned the highest speed rating
Speed index
Speed index is a system of rating the performance of Quarter Horse racehorses. The American Quarter Horse Association has used two systems over the history of Quarter Horse racing to evaluate racing performances. The original system used a letter grade, starting at D, then C, B, A and the...
awarded at the time—AAAT. After winning 27 of his 38 races in two years of racing, he retired from the race track and became a breeding stallion
Stallion (horse)
A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded .Stallions will follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" neck, as well as a somewhat more muscular physique as compared to...
.
As a sire, or father, he was the first All American Futurity winner to sire an All American Futurity winner, and went on to sire three winners of that race, and nine Champion Quarter Running Horses. Ultimately, his ownership and breeding rights were split into 60 shares worth $500,000 each—a total of $30 million. By 1993, the year after his death, his foal
Foal
A foal is an equine, particularly a horse, that is one year old or younger. More specific terms are colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, but these terms are used until the horse is age three or four. When the foal is nursing from its dam , it may also be called a suckling...
s had earned more than $25 million on the racetrack.
Early life
Longtime Quarter Horse breederHorse breeding
Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...
and race-horse owner Walter Merrick of Sayre
Sayre, Oklahoma
Sayre is a city in and the county seat of Beckham County, in Western Oklahoma, the United States. It is half-way between Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Amarillo, Texas on Interstate 40 and the former U.S. Route 66. The population was 4,375 at the 2010 census....
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
produced Easy Jet from two future AQHA Hall of Fame members, Jet Deck
Jet Deck
Jet Deck was an Quarter Horse racehorse and sire.-Life:Foaled April 19, 1960 in California, Jet Deck was the offspring of Moon Deck and a daughter of Barred named Miss Night Bar...
and Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
mare Lena's Bar
Lena's Bar
A registered Thoroughbred mare, Lena's Bar raced on the Quarter Horse racetracks and was the dam of Jet Smooth, Double Dancer and Jet Deck, three outstanding Quarter Horse stallions.-Life:...
in 1967. His dam, or mother, Lena's Bar had produced a small number of other offspring, but Easy Jet was her last; she died shortly after he was weaned, or removed from his mother's milk. Both of his parents were descended from Three Bars
Three Bars
A famous sire of Quarter Horses, Three Bars was actually a registered Thoroughbred racehorse before going on to become a member of the American Quarter Horse Association's American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame.-Life:...
, who was the sire of Lena's Bar and the grandsire of Jet Deck's dam. Easy Jet is one of only two horses in the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame to have both parents in the Hall of Fame; his two grandsires, Moon Deck and Three Bars, are also in the Hall of Fame.
Easy Jet was of sorrel
Sorrel (horse)
Sorrel is an alternative word for one of the most common equine coat colors in horses. While the term is usually used to refer to a copper-red shade of chestnut, in some places it is used generically in place of "chestnut" to refer to any reddish horse with a same-color or lighter mane and tail,...
color, a light yellowish-red. When fully grown, he stood about 15.3 hands high (63 inches; 160 cm) and weighed about 1300 pounds (589.7 kg). He had a large star and a stripe on his face.
Of Easy Jet's stamina and busy training regimen, Merrick said, "I guess he ate at night; I don't know when else. It was unbelievable the amount of energy he had". Training for the race track generally begins when a horse is a long yearling
Yearling (horse)
A yearling is a young horse of either sex that is between one and two years old. Yearlings are comparable in development to a very early adolescent, they are not fully mature physically, and while they may be in the earliest stages of sexual maturity, they are considered too young to be breeding...
, when a horse is between one and a half and two years of age. Easy Jet was so easy to train that Merrick decided to oversee the training himself rather than send the horse away to a professional trainer
Horse trainer
In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...
. In a practice race at the ranch, Merrick matched the yearling against Jet Smooth. Although his elder brother had the advantage of previous race experience, Easy Jet won the 350-yard (320 m) race. Easy Jet's performance prompted Merrick to enter him in a yearling race at Blue Ribbon Downs, which the colt won by more than a length.
Racing career
Easy Jet raced for two years, starting 38 races. He won 27 of his races, came in second seven times and third twice, and placed below third only twice, with race earnings totaling $445,721 (approximately $ as of ). He earned an AQHA Superior Race Horse award along with his Race Register of Merit. A Superior Race horse must have earned at least 200 AQHA racing points by winning races, and even more in stakes races. A Race Register of Merit is the lowest level of racing award earned from the AQHA, and is gained when a horse attains a speed rating of 80 in a race, whether or not it wins the race. His best speed rating was AAAT, which was the highest grade awarded at the time he was racing. Over his two-year career, he won 12 stakes races, and placed second in four and third in one.In 1969, his first official year on the track, he won the All American Futurity and eight other stakes race
Graded stakes race
A graded stakes race is a term applied since 1973 by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to thoroughbred horse races in the United States and Canada to describe races that derive their name from the stake, or entry fee, owners must pay...
s. In winning the All American, he led from the start on a sloppy, muddy track. His jockey, Willie Lovell, explained that he needed to do very little to win: "In the stretch, when I saw Easy Jet had it, I let him run his own race. All I had to do was just sit there and let him roll." His time of 20.46 seconds to cover 400 yards (365.8 m) was remarkable considering that three days of rain before the start of the race had turned the track into a muddy quagmire. At another stakes, the Ribbon Futurity at Sallisaw
Sallisaw, Oklahoma
Sallisaw is a city in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 8,880 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Sequoyah County. It has three highways running through it: U.S. 59, or Kerr Boulevard,...
, Oklahoma, Easy Jet won by three-quarters of a length and set a new track record of 16.92 seconds for 330 yards (301.8 m). The only time in 1969 he did not finish first, second, or third, he had issues in the starting gate, false-started, broke some teeth loose against the front of the gate, and was struggling to stand up again when the gates opened; he still managed to finish fifth out of ten horses.
At the end of the 1969 racing season, he was named World Champion Quarter Running Horse, Champion Quarter Running Stallion, and Champion Quarter Running Two-Year Old Colt by the AQHA. He was also the highest money-earning horse and only the fourth two-year-old to be named World Champion. During his first year of racing, he started 26 times, won 22 and placed (came in second) in another three. Most two-year-old Quarter horses race on average under five times in their first year of racing, and the average for all ages is just over five starts per year. Many people criticized Merrick for starting Easy Jet so often. Merrick said, however, that "You had to run him about once every ten days or he'd have got so high you couldn't hardly stand to be around him. As long as we were going to run him, we figured we might as well make it count for something." Despite all of the starts, Easy Jet had enough energy to be difficult to handle; in this respect, he was considered high-spirited rather than mean.
In 1970, he started 12 times, and won five times, placed second four times, and earned third place twice. His only unplaced finish was in the Rainbow Derby finals, where he came in dead last. Before he started racing that year, he stood at stud to a full book, of mares, or as many mares as his owners would allow him to be bred to, which limited his racing time. During the Rocky Mountain Quarter Horse Derby at Centennial Park in Denver
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
on October 4, 1970, which Easy Jet won without ever relinquishing the lead, the stallion became the highest-earning Quarter Horse racer of all time, with earnings of more than $440,000 ($ as of ). At the end of the year, he was named Champion Quarter Running Stallion and Champion Quarter Running Three-Year Old Colt.
Retirement and career at stud
Before his retirement from racing in 1970, Easy Jet had already started standing at stud, returning to the track only after the breeding season. In 1971, his first foals arrived. His offspring began racing in 1973 and soon put Easy Jet on the AQHA Leading Sires of Race Winners list. With their success, his stud fee, or the cost of breeding a mare to him, rose from $2,000 (approximately $ as of ) in 1971 to $5,000 ($ as of ) in 1973; by 1980, it was $30,000 (approximately $ as of ).In 1971, Merrick sold a half-interest in Easy Jet and his full brother Jet Smooth to Joe McDermott, and five years later, in 1976, the partners sold Easy Jet to the Buena Suerte Ranch for $3.57 million (approximately $ as of ). Later, after two of the partners in the ranch died unexpectedly, Merrick re-purchased Easy Jet and bought a controlling share in the ranch. In 1980, the stallion was syndicated for $30 million (approximately $ as of ), a record amount at the time. The syndicate had 50 shares, each costing $600,000 (approximately $ as of ). The oil bust
1980s oil glut
The 1980s oil glut was a serious surplus of crude oil caused by falling demand following the 1970s Energy Crisis. The world price of oil, which had peaked in 1980 at over US$35 per barrel , fell in 1986 from $27 to below $10...
of the 1980s, and changes in US tax laws affecting horse operations, led to financial problems for the horse market in general and the syndicate, which led to financial difficulties for Merrick and resulted in many changes of ownership for Easy Jet until the death of the champion in 1992.
After retiring to stud full time, he had a very successful career. He became the first All American Futurity winner to sire another winner when his daughter Easy Date
Easy Date (horse)
Easy Date was an outstanding Quarter Horse racehorse and broodmare.-Life:Easy Date was a 1972 bay daughter of American Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame member Easy Jet out of a Thoroughbred mare named Spot Cash...
won the All American Futurity in 1974. Easy Date was later named 1975 World Champion Quarter Running Horse. He also sired Pie In the Sky, the 1979 All American Futurity winner, and Mr Trucka Jet, the 1985 All American Futurity winner. More than 1,500 of his offspring earned their AQHA Race Register of Merit, and nine became World Champion Quarter Running Horses. Besides the horses already mentioned, the champions include My Easy Credit, Extra Easy, Easily Smashed, Easy Angel, Easy Move and Megahertz. His foal Sunset Gallant Jet was the 1979 and 1980 AQHA High Point Cutting & Chariot Racing Co-Champion. At various points in time, Easy Jet has led the AQHA's lists of All-time leading sires of sires, All-time leading sires of Register of Merit qualifiers, All-time leading sires of stakes winners, and All-time leading broodmare sires. In March 2008, he still led the list of All-time leading sires of Quarter Horse racehorses by winners, and on the corresponding list ordered by earnings, he ranks fourth. As a broodmare
Mare (horse)
A mare is an adult female horse or other equine.In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse age three and younger. However, in Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four years old; in harness racing a mare is a...
sire, or maternal grandsire, of racehorses, Easy Jet led the All-time leading lists by winners in March 2008, and the same list ordered by earnings had him second. As of 2008, his offspring had earned over $26,000,000 on the racetrack. In total, he sired 2,507 foals in 25 years of breeding.
Easy Jet was euthanized
Animal euthanasia
Animal euthanasia is the act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, an animal suffering from an incurable, especially a painful, disease or condition. Euthanasia methods are designed to cause minimal pain and distress...
in 1992 due to laminitis
Laminitis
Laminitis is a disease that affects the feet of ungulates. It is best known in horses and cattle. Symptoms include lameness, and increased temperature in the hooves...
, a disease of the hoof. He was buried in his paddock on Walter Merrick's 14 Ranch near Sayre, Oklahoma. Merrick was unable to bring himself to see the horse before he was put down. He said, "I couldn't go, I just couldn't see him like that. He was too good a friend". Easy Jet was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame in 1993.