Page 47 - Speedhorse July 2018

is Belle of Midnight by Midnight Jr, a foundation sire for Walter Merrick.
During my conversation with Merrick about why he bred Lena’s Bar to Jet Deck, he responded, “Because of Midnight Jr.” Merrick owned Midnight Jr and sold him to the Corralitos Ranch in New Mexico.
Sired by Midnight Jr, Belle Of Midnight was bred on the Corralitos Ranch and later sold to James Carter of California, where she was bred to Barred to get Miss Night Bar.
In turn, Miss Night Bar was bred to Moon Deck to get Jet Deck.
This gives Easy Jet and Jet Smooth a breeding pattern of 5x3x4 to Percentage.
When I asked why Easy Jet was a good breeding horse, Merrick initially responded that he thought, “Easy Jet was just one of those horses that comes along every now and then.” He later added, “But I do attribute quite a bit of Easy Jet’s breeding ability to the fact that he is linebred to Percentage.”
Here is an interesting look at the race
record of Percentage that makes this statement interesting. Percentage was a sound racehorse that ran 87 races. His minimum winning distance was six furlongs, and his maximum winning distance was six furlongs. His average winning distance was six furlongs. He won 19 of his starts. His two stakes wins were at six furlongs. This indicates that his racing ability was based on speed.
Percentage had a limited career as a sire. He sired just 43 foals with 33 starters, 29 winners and three stakes winners. One of
his stakes winners was Knee Deep, winner
of the 1937 Memorial Day Handicap at
6 1/2 furlongs and second in the 1937 Bashford Manor Stakes at 5 furlongs and
the Lafayette Stakes at four furlongs. The second stakes winner by Percentage was Three Percent, winner of the 1943 Boots N Saddle Handicap. Three Bars was the third stakes winner by Percentage with a win in the 1946 Speed Handicap at Aqua Caliente. Three Bars set a track record for five furlongs
Little Lena Bars, a full sister to Lena’s Bar, began racing at three and set 4 New Track Records after winning 4 of the All Distance Championship Series Races. This filly reinforces the success of the nick between Three Bars and Lena Valenti.
in :57.3 at Phoenix. He reportedly ran five furlongs at Aqua Caliente in :56 2/5 in a race that was six furlongs. One of the Percentage race winning daughters was Perlette, who
set a New Track Record of :59 1/5 for five furlongs at Washington Park in 1936.
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.
This increases the influence of Percentage
on the pedigree by linebreeding through the sire’s dam and the dam of the foals produced.
One of the things we always find is
that greatness in an individual is noted by the people who are around them. When great horsemen like Bud Warren and Hank Wiescamp took note of how they saw greatness in Lena’s Bar, I would say she got
as good an endorsement as a horse could get for being one of the great mares of all time. A true matriarch of the breed.
SPEEDHORSE, July 2018 45
SPEEDLINES
Owner Walter Merrick, trainer Don Akins and jockey Jack Brown with friends after Lena’s Bar won the Buttons and Bows Stakes in 1958.