Page 23 - New Mexico Horse Breeder Summer 2018

not taking care of my business. It was 1966 and I had to start all over.’’
Yes, that was Lee Trevino.
Rogers met the future PGA Hall-of-Fame golfer when Trevino got a job at Horizon City Country Club. Roger says a wealthy cotton farmer from El Paso named Martin Lettunich brought Trevino to the country club located just west of Clint.
Trevino, who was born in Garland, Texas, was
a relative unknown back then, but would go on to win the U.S. Open in 1968 while he was working as a pro at the Horizon course. Trevino, now 78, would go on to become the first pro to win the U.S., British and Canadian opens in the same year. “I played golf with him many a time,’’ says Jerry. “I wasn’t very good, but we were good friends. We stayed friends till he left.’’
Yes, Jerry Rogers has always lived a little on the edge. He enjoys a good time, playing blackjack and betting on the horses. But he also has built a good reputation of honesty, integrity and hard work.
Fellow horse owners and breeders Dosi and Norma Alvarez have known the Rogers for about 25 years.
“They are good, honest, hard-working people,’’ says Norma. “They love the (horse racing) industry.’’
Norma Alvarez serves on the board of the New Mexico Horse Breeders Association and it was Jerry Rogers who nominated her for her initial term.
“They’ve always participated in the New Mexico bred program and have been very supportive,’’ said Norma. “Jerry has always been a leader.’’
Jerry says when he needed help to keep the farm going or his horse racing business afloat, banks and individuals were ready to help.
The first farm he bought was 72 acres and Equitable Life Insurance lent him the money to buy it. Later he and his grandfather combined their farms and used them to borrow enough money to keep going.
Rogers says a friend loaned him $25,000 and he used it to farm for a couple of years without employees and without fertilizer.
“I laid off all my men except for two,’’ says Jerry. And he paid back his friend.
Jerry says El Paso National Bank also bailed
him out during some tough times.
“They knew I was an honest guy who had
just screwed up,’’ says Jerry. “I just took up another notch in my belt and went to work. They lent me money and I started buying 20 acres here and 20 acres there. Every year if I made some money, I would buy 10 or 15 acres.’’
And then he got his first racehorse.
Joel Marr, now one of the state’s more successful Thoroughbred trainers, had a small stable of horses when he claimed a horse at Sunland Park for Rogers named Znuk Znuk. The price was $2,500.
From there, Rogers started buying more horses. His stable grew to the point that when Jarrett decided to quit college and return home,
the Rogers Farm had about 30 horses in training and two dozen broodmares.
In recent years, the farm has scaled back the horse racing end of its business. Today, there are three broodmares and about 15 horses in training. The majority of the horses are New Mexico breds, with a few open Quarter Horses.
Jarrett says a change that will greatly benefit breeders like his family is one which now allows a broodmare to be bred in New Mexico, spend her pregnancy in another state and then return to New Mexico when she foals.
Under the previous rule for New Mexico breds, the broodmare had to remain in New Mexico during the entire pregnancy. With the rule change, Jarrett says his family can now have their broodmares bred in New Mexico, have them spend the pregnancy period at their ranch in Clint and then return the broodmares to New Mexico when its time for them to foal.
“We’re 30 minutes from New Mexico and the old rule cost us a lot of money because the mares would have to stay in New Mexico when we have perfectly good facilities here,’’ said Jarrett.
Jarrett’s return to Clint and the family farm was influenced to a large extent by the health issues his grandparents are dealing with. Jerry has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and Jarrett’s
grandmother, Jeanette, ,
requires round-the- clock oxygen.
Jerry and Jeanette Rogers will celebrate their 61st wedding anniversary in August.
They met in high school. Jeanette went to Fabens High and Jerry was at Ysleta.
Jerry and Jeanette’s brother, Jimmy, were good friends. Back then, kids from Fabens and Clint would end up at a drive-in movie in Fabens, located seven miles east of Clint off Interstate 10.
“I thought she was cute,’’ says Jerry. “I asked her for a date and she said I’d have to ask her brother. I said `Jimmy, can I go on a date with your sister?’’’
Jimmy said yes.
Jerry was 20 years old when they got married. Jeanette was 18.
Jerry Rogers has also been a major civic leader in Clint and the
surrounding Cotton Valley area. He served on the board of the First National Bank of Fabens for 37 years and was on the Clint School Board for 20 years, 12 of them as president.
Martinez says the Rogers family provides ongoing support for the town’s school system and athletic teams.
“The family has been very supportive, especially the grandfather,’’ said Martinez. “He’s always asking what we need, even though he doesn’t have anybody in school anymore. They are all around good people. They are always there to help. That’s just the way they are.’’
The Rogers Farm has long been a part of the New Mexico horse racing community. Some of its top racehorses include the Quarter Horses Toughest Test and My Task Master, the Thoroughbred Always My Place and another Quarter Horse, Balderinas Fame Cr.
Toughest Test made the finals of the All American Futurity in 2000 and finished third in the Ruidoso Futurity that summer after posting the fastest qualifying time in the trials.
Jerry says waiting to see if Toughest Test would make the All American finals was an emotionally draining experience.
“I smoked 10,000 cigarettes and walked 200 miles,’’ he says. “He ran in the sixth or seventh
Jarrett
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SUMMER 2018
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