Page 28 - New Mexico Summer 2022

offspring started wingin’ and dingin’ down the tracks, making Three Bars a hero and turning Merrick into a bona fide visionary.
Easy Date, a brown filly by Easy Jet and out of Spot Cash by Roman Sandal (TB), first saw the Oklahoma sky in May 1972. After a while, James felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Walt, asking if James would take Easy Date for training.
We all know James’ answer, and we know there was no hesitation when he said it.
“I took Easy Date to Rillito Downs in Arizona,” he said, “and guess who I had as my gallop boy.” Pause.“Bobby Baffert,” he said gleefully.
Easy Date put her stamp on more than one person. James took her to Sunland Park after Rillito. She ran a bit, but to her trainer’s eye she was just a tad off. Even so, she still won a futurity there.
Bags were packed, trailers loaded, and the McArthur crew moved to Ruidoso. It was
1974 and the destination was the All American Futurity. Soon after arriving, he noticed a petite pony girl sitting on her horse like a glove flexing across all five fingers. Even her breathing seemed synchronized with her pony.
James looked....hard. “Damn,” he said, “I’m looking at a real cowgirl. Who the hell is she?” She didn’t see him looking but he still felt a spark fill the distance between them. It was, of course, Donna.
James may have been a wee bit distracted by Donna, but he didn’t allow his rapid heartbeat to keep him from putting Easy
Date through her paces to win his first, long- coveted All American Futurity. Afterwards,
he and his new lady laid down a trail for Las Vegas where they were married....48-years ago. The timing was perfect. Ruidoso was finished for the year and California didn’t have year-round racing back then. September 5 was the wedding date. (Easy Date traveled to Los Alamitos for the Champion of Champions the following year. She was the only three-year-old in the race, but that didn’t stop her from winning.) Five years later, 1979, is when James won the All American Derby with Dickeys Fireman (Fire Call-Dickeys Etta Bar, Alamitos Bar), ridden by Donnie Knight.
The McArthurs moved to Elgin, Texas, where daughter Mindy was born. Mindy doesn’t train but she followed her parents’ boot prints by devoting herself to horses.
“James started his babies at Manor Downs while we were in Elgin, “Donna explained, “and then moved to Bay Meadows. I had horses as well, but I didn’t train fulltime until Mindy finished high school. Really, after we were married, there was never a time when I didn’t have horses to train.”
Donna began training fulltime in 1980, just a couple years before the McArthurs hooked
Tina and Walter Merrick & Donna and James.
Pockatu opened the door for James to
the legendary Walt Merrick. He watched the young trainer at Ruidoso. He took note of the time he spent ‘sittin’ under that mare, working diligently on her legs. That’s what trainers back then did. A horse with sore, strained, swollen, weak legs was worthless; no different from a human trying to walk a mountain trail with bunions in too-tight boots. Trainers from that era spent hours rubbing and doctoring legs. There’s no needle in the world that will replace that dedication. Donna still follows the same leg protocol with her stable.
“Walt came to me and asked if I would I take Bayou Bird to Los Alamitos for him,” continued James. “Would I?! There wasn’t a trainer around who didn’t slobber over Walt Merrick! And here he was asking me to take his horse.
“I took her for the La Primera Del Ano. It was one of those dense, foggy nights when you couldn’t see the starting gate. She came out and hit that wall of fog. She lowered her head and followed the rail all the way down. Later, Walt’s wife Tina, said nobody could peak a horse like Walter Merrick and James McArthur. About the greatest compliment I’ve ever had.”
James seldom gets ruffled in public. He’s
tall and lean. Stands with his thumbs hooked
in the pockets of his jeans. But underneath
that smooth-water exterior is a personality
that goes after what he wants with a dogged determination. And one of the things he wanted most was to win the All American Futurity.
Walt Merrick and James McArthur developed a close friendship. And don’t forget, Walt was no stranger to controversy. He and the entire AQHA locked horns when Three Bars (TB) arrived at his 14 Ranch
in Oklahoma to breed to Quarter mares. A battle raged but Merrick stood his ground. He said Quarters needed that Thoroughbred infusion. He bred his own Quarter mares to the handsome stallion. Before too long, those
Easy Date winning the 1975 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos.
James and Donna with their daughter Mindy.
Donna being named Leading Trainer in 1986 at Manor Downs.
26 New Mexico Horse Breeder