Page 42 - September 2018

Sam Howard partnered with uncles James and Paul Howard with 1978 All American Futurity winner Moon Lark. Jack Brooks trained the colt and Jacky Martin was his rider.
Moon Lark ran the 440 yards in :21.85, earning $437,500 and going off as the 9 to 5 co-favorite with Vespero. Osage Juana was 8 to 1 and Holme Maid was 30 to 1. Holme Maid had qualified with the sixth fastest time in a :22.42.
Moon Lark made his next start in the trials of the Sunland Fall Futurity at Sunland Park, qualifying for the finals and then winning them to earn another $35,554. This brought his record for the year to 8-7-1-0 earning $552,032. He was awarded the Champion 2 Year Old and Champion 2-Year-Old Colt titles for 1978.
Moon Lark’s 3 year old campaign saw
him run in 11 races with six wins and three seconds. He was first in the Horseman’s QHRA Championship and the Los Alamitos Derby.
He was second in the All American Derby and the El Primero Del Ano Derby. He earned $307,324 and the title of the World Champion, Champion 3 Year Old and Champion 3-Year- Old Colt.
When Moon Lark retired to stud, he became the sire of over $10 million with 668 ROM
and 52 stakes winners, including 1986 World
Champion, Champion 3 Year Old, Champion 3-Year-Old Gelding Gold Coast Express, 1984 Champion 2-Year-Old Colt, and 1985 Champion 3-Year-Old Colt Spring Lark.
The All American Futurity win by Moon Lark is a great rags to riches story for the Howard family. They persisted in their desire to win this race with an unproven colt and not a whole lot of cash on hand. But it was also the beginning of a run that would make history with Jack Brooks winning eight and Jacky Martin winning seven All American Futurities.
was Boston Mac, a qualifier for the 1970 All American Futurity. After finishing eighth, Boston Mac went on to become an AQHA Superior Halter Horse and a leading sire of halter and performance horses.
When Wells saw Merganser, he was really impressed and he limited the number of times he went to look at the colt. Wells was surprised that he got him bought for the $9,000, stating that he saw Merganser as a “perfect specimen for a race prospect.”
Merganser Wins The 1988 All American Futurity
When the name Jerry Wells appears in
the annals of Quarter Horse history, we automatically think of the man who earned 60 AQHA World Championships in his career. He was the first to show a horse to the AQHA Supreme Championship with Kid Meyers. Over the years, he found and sold a number of important stallions that contributed to the halter and performance industry. On top of all this, he was a racehorse enthusiast who bought a yearling colt named Merganser that won the
1988 All American Futurity.
Merganser is by Duck Dance TB and out
of Hug Tiny by Tiny’s Gay. He was bred by the partnership of McKinney/Doering/Shaw of Jacksonville, Florida. The partnership put him in the Ruidoso All American Yearling Sale and he was bought by Jerry Wells for $9,000.
Wells reported in a 1988 interview with the television show America’s Horse that he was a regular at the Ruidoso sale each year to buy one or two prospects. One of his earlier purchases
40 SPEEDHORSE, September 2018
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