Page 13 - Speedhorse March 2018

To It Reb, Get It Reb, Captain Lyles and Ms Pilot Point. Noted Champions bred by JLS Speedhorse Ranch included JLS Party Wagon, JLS Streak Of Snow and JLS Book Of Psalms. Soileau’s most prolific homebred was JLS Mr Bigtime, who was a multiple-graded stakes winner with earnings of $1,031,037. He ran second in the 2010 All American Futurity-G1 and was honored as 2010 Champion 2-Year- Old Gelding.
Soileau died December 9, 2017, at the age of 81, at his home in Opelousas, Louisiana. He will be represented at the Hall of Fame ceremony by his wife, Bernadine, sons Darrel, Glen and Johnny, daughter Stephanie, and his grandchildren.
“We are all so proud of Daddy,” stated Darrel. “Louisiana racing and breeding meant so much to him. He grew up in hard times and was a Cajun with strong opinions. But he was kind to everyone and bred some really special champions.”
Last year, William Albert “W.A.” Darling was inducted into the LQHBA Hall of Fame for his legacy as a Louisiana Quarter Horse breeder and owner. An active LQHBA board member, Darling served as the LQHBA president in 1984 and 1990. This year, Darling’s Hemp Meyers will join him in the Hall. The son of Hempen
out of the Mr Meyers mare Miss Fancy Meyers was foaled February 1, 1978. Making his racing debut in 1980 at Delta Downs, Hemp Meyers won four of his 13 starts and was stakes-placed in the Old South Futurity and Firecracker Derby. He retired after two seasons of racing and had amassed career earnings of $58,889.
“Some horses just seem to steal your heart, and my dad really loved his mare, Miss Fancy Meyers,” said Darling’s daughter, Karen Darling Falgoust. “Hemp Meyers was her first foal, and Dad adored him. He spent a lot of time with him, and they had a very special relationship.”
As a stallion, Hemp Meyers sired 273 performing foals with earnings of $2,949,349. His most successful sons included Horseplayers Hemp, who earned $200,387, and Candy Man Hemp, who earned $189,180. Stakes winners Hog Heaven and Plunder Bayou also surpassed the $100,000 earnings mark.
Louisiana horseman Glenn Fontenot had a steadfast friendship with Darling, which grew deeper when they agreed to a partnership on the breeding of Hemp Meyers.
“I saw W.A. at the races at Delta; he told me he had heard that I had lost my stallion,” recalled Fontenot. “He offered me a share of a horse he was considering sending to stud, but I told him that the stallion I wanted was Hemp Meyers.”
Fontenot liked the horse’s breeding, but he also saw talent in Hemp Meyers as a runner. “He broke his maiden in trials for the All American Futurity,” said Fontenot. “I liked that about him.”
The two men embarked upon a 50-50 partnership, and Hemp Meyers stood at Fontenot’s farm in Ville Platte, Louisiana.
In 1982, Fontenot bred his mare Johnnie’s Flash to Hemp Meyers and the resulting foal was a filly named Flashy Hemp. The mare won 12 of her 20 starts and banked $283,632. Delta Downs’ Flashy Hemp Stakes is named in honor of the Champion mare.
In 2011, Darling died at the age of 90. Today, his daughter carries on the family’s racing and breeding business as manager of Darling Farms in Opelousas, Louisiana.
“Hemp Meyers was almost like the first grandchild for my dad,” Falgoust said. “He was crazy about that horse.”
Leverne Perry, Claude and Bessie Lea Jeane, Oh Black Magic, Rockets Magic and Royal Bushwhacker made up the inaugural class that was inducted into the Louisiana Quarter Horse Breeders Association Hall of Fame in 2016. The second class included Lee Berwick and Darling along with horses Vicki Meyers, Streakin La Jolla and Heisajoy.
“Our board of directors spends considerable time in selecting individuals and racing champions for the LQHBA Hall of Fame,” stated Tony Patterson, LQHBA executive director. “We are looking forward to saluting John Soileau and Hemp Meyers in this year’s class. Our goal is to ensure that each inductee is celebrated for the significant role they have played in Louisiana breeding and racing.”
John Lionel Soileau, Jr.
Hemp Meyers won the 1980 Old South Futurity at Delta Downs
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