Page 38 - November_2023

SPEEDLINES
36 SPEEDHORSE November 2023
REMEMBERING
Jet Deck
PART 2
b b y y L L a a r r r r y y T T h h o o r r n n t t o on n
© Ralph Morgan Photos
The recent Speedlines series that focused on the Bud Warren breeding program was a travel through history and the evolution of Quarter Horse racing. We covered the great Leo, a prominent short horse with his bulldog conformation. Then we had a look at Sugar Bars, who represented the influence of Three Bars
on the program. Then we delved into Jet Deck and his influence on the Warren breeding program. Now we will focus on his influence on Quarter Horse racing outside the Warren breeding program.
We saw how Jet Deck grew from the scrawny long-haired colt into a World Champion. He made 31 starts with
22 wins, four seconds and two thirds earning an all-time earnings record of $200,628 as the first horse to earn over $200,000. He made 18 starts in stakes races with 13 wins, three seconds and one third. As a two year old, he started 15 times with 11 wins earning $138,342. He had five stakes wins, including the Juvenile Championship at Los Alamitos, the Arizona Downs Juvenile at Arizona Downs, the PCQHRA California Bred Futurity, the Los Alamitos Futurity
and the Kindergarten Futurity all at Los Alamitos. All three of these Los Alamitos stakes wins came in the month of December. He set two New Track Records - one in the preliminary to his start in the Arizona Downs Juvenile Championship in a time of :20.100 and then he came back in the finals to win the Arizona Downs Juvenile Championship to break his own record with a time of :19.900 for the 400-yard race. He was named the 1962 Champion Two-Year-Old Colt and Champion Two-Year-Old Stallion.
As a three year old, Jet Deck made 15 starts with 11 wins, one second and two thirds, earning $62,286. The three-year-old campaign started a little slow with a second at Bay Meadows in the Inaugural Handicap. He then finished eighth in the Shue Fly at Los Alamitos and was disqualified to tenth, the only time he didn’t win or place in a stakes race. This race was on April 9, and he came back on April 13 to win and qualify for the Pacific Coast QHRA Derby, which he won on April 20. He returned to the races on May 4 to win the Los Alamitos Invitational Championship in New Track Record time of :21.490 for the 440 yards. Jet Deck made his next start on July 7 with
a win in the Ruidoso Championship Stakes and that was the first of four starts at that track. This win was followed by an allowance victory on July 20, in which he set a New Track Record of :17.680 for 350 yards. He then won his trial for the Ruidoso Derby on July 27 and the finals on August 4. He went from Ruidoso to Centennial for four starts and he finished second in the September
21 Colorado Wonderland Handicap at 350 yards. He followed that up with a win in the Rocky Mountain QHA Derby on September 28. He went back into the Colorado Wonderland Handicap with two wins, one on October 12 and the other on October
19 with both races at 440 yards. The second Wonderland Handicap resulted in his next New Track Record for the 440 yards in a time of :21.640. He made his last three starts back at Los Alamitos with a win in the Josie’s Bar Handicap and then, he went unplaced in an allowance race on December 14 and his final race was a second to Scooper Chick in the Autumn Championship. He was named the 1963 World Champion, Champion Stallion and Champion Three-Year-Old Colt.
The sad part of our story is that Jet Deck only sired eight foal crops with 580