Page 44 - Speedhorse July 2018

and I called him up and said I would take him. Another man had five days to claim him. Walt didn’t think he would take him, but he did. I took Double Dancer instead.”
Jet Smooth is the sire of horses that won over $2.5 million with 348 ROM, 27 stakes winners with 47 stakes wins. His leading money earner is A Smooth Request, winner of $77,162 and a multiple stakes winner in races like the 1984 Mystery Futurity, the 1985 Boomer Sooner Fall Derby and the 1986 Vespero Express Stakes.
In 1970, Jet Smooth sired Smooth Coin, who was bred by Wiescamp. She was named the 1973 Champion 3-Year-Old Filly and earned over $36,000 racing 41 times winning 22 and finishing second eight times and
third four times. Her wins include the 1973 Raton Derby and the Northeast Kansas QHA Derby. The dam of Smooth Coin is the Wiescamp mare Scotch Coin by Scottish.
The daughters of Jet Smooth produced
the earners of over $5.1 million, including
493 ROM runners, 34 stakes winners with 66 stakes wins. Movin West is the leading money earner in this category with $210,860, and five stakes wins including the 1985 Anne Burnett Invitational and the 1985 Goetta Handicap.
Merrick kept Lena’s Bar home after she foaled Jet Smooth in 1965 and then bred her to Tonto Bars Hank. This 1966 mating produced Mayflower Ann, the second stakes placed runner from the Tonto Bars Hank cross. Mayflower Ann was second in the 1969 Juvenile Handicap, third in the 1968 Sunland Park Fall Futurity and second in the 1969 Lubbock Downs Derby. Her race record shows 23 starts with ten wins, four seconds and two thirds with earnings of $79,089.
Mayflower Ann produced 12 foals with only six starters that earned three ROM, including 1986 Au Revoir Handicap winner Talladega. He had 57 starts with eleven wins, eleven seconds and six thirds earning $28,327.
Mayflower Moon is the 1972 unraced daughter of Mayflower Ann that is sired by Top Moon. Mayflower Moon is the dam of four ROM, including QHBC Sunbelt Derby and QHBC Midwest Classic winner Sweet Illusion. Sweet Illusion is the dam of three ROM including Sweet Advice, a third-place finisher in the Governor’s Cup Handicap. Sweet Advice is the dam of six ROM, including Best Advice, winner of the 2004 Kansas Derby-G3 and second-place finisher in the 2004 Heritage Place Derby-G1.
Venice Ann is a race winning daughter of Mayflower Ann by Venetian Jester, another Thoroughbred that stood at Merrick’s ranch. Venice Ann is the dam of Venice by Easy Jet. Again, we see a mare by Easy Jet that was out
of a granddaughter of Lena’s Bar, giving the pedigree a breeding pattern of 2x3 to Lena’s Bar.
Walter Merrick with Easy Jet (left) and Jet Smooth.
Venice was an ROM race winner of $5,356. She is the dam of 10 starters with
six ROM, three stakes winners with eight stakes wins and one stakes placed runner. Her foals have earned $351,282. Her first stakes winner was 1997 Champion 3-Year-Old
Filly Fabulous Form. She won four stakes races, including the 1998 Mildred N. Vessels Memorial Handicap-G1. Venice’s second stakes winner is Sweet Easy Dash, winner of the 1999 Big Splash Stakes and a finalist in the 1998 Remington Park Futurity-G1. Her third stakes winner is Easy To View, winner of the 1994 Big Okie Futurity.
Venice Song, out of Venice, is sired by Hempen, another Thoroughbred stallion used by Merrick. Venice Song was second in the Oklahoma Bred Derby-RG3 and is the dam of Paint World Champion Royal Quick
Flash, or SF Royal Quick Flash as he is known in the AQHA. Royal Quick Flash is the sire
of horses that have won over $6.6 million, including 2-time APHA World Champion Flashthechicks and APHA World Champions Imflashinthechicks and Shez Showin Off.
Lena’s Bar went back to the court of Jet Deck in 1966. This mating resulted in the one and only Easy Jet, foaled in 1967 and the last foal for Lena’s Bar as she died after Easy Jet was weaned. The young colt showed that he was full of speed and fire from the beginning. “When
it came time to break ‘Jet’ to ride, he was
some kind of a handful.” Merrick professed to Holmes. He went on to explain that he wasn’t mean or that he wanted to buck, but he was so quick and active it was hard to ride him.
Easy Jet made his first start as a yearling in December 1968 in an unofficial training race,
The linebreeding pattern we see in Easy Jet and Jet Smooth is based on the breeding theory of “returning the blood” we see so often in horses today. Thus, the blood of Percentage that passed to these two stallions came through Miss Night Bar and Lena’s Bar.
42 SPEEDHORSE, July 2018
SPEEDLINES