Page 43 - September 2018

Wells partnered with Ronald Shalz and they sent Merganser to Jack Brooks to train. Merganser proved that Wells’ decision to buy the colt was a good one. He won his first stakes race in March in the West Texas Futurity-G2 and then came back in May to win the Sun Country Futurity-G1.
The success in the spring brought them
to Ruidoso with a Kansas Futurity trial win, qualifying for the finals. Merganser had a false start and hit his head on the gate and he went unplaced in the finals, but came back in the Rainbow Futurity, winning his elimination and trial races
to qualify to the finals. He won the finals, setting himself up for the All American Dream.
The qualifiers for the All American Futurity finals started with Sig Hanson, who had been supplemented for $50,000 as the winner of the Dash For Cash Futurity-G1 in California. He was the fastest qualifier with a time of :22.12 and was followed by See Me Do It, another supplemented entry with a time of :22.17. Packin Sixes with :22.22 and Super De Kas with :22.30 were the third and fourth fastest qualifiers. Merganser was fifth fastest in :22.38.
The start of the 1988 All American saw See Me Do It take the lead, with Super De Kas next and then Merganser. Merganser took the lead, with Super De Kas making a late charge that failed as See Me Do It nosed in front of him for second. Merganser had See Me Do It beat by a head, while Super De Kas had to settle for a dead- heat third with Sky Fire.
Merganser covered the 440 yards in :21.69, earning $1,000,000 for his All American win with Jacky Martin in the saddle. This win gave
He saw Merganser as a “perfect spec
M M e e r r g g a a n n s s e e r r i i n n t t h h e e w w i i n n n n e e r r ’ ’s s c c i i r r c c l l e e w w i i t t h h o o w w n n e e r r s s J J e e r r r r y y W W e e l l l l s s & & R R o o n n a a l l d d S S h h a a l l z z , , t t r r a a i i n n e e r r J J a a c c k k B B r r o o o o k k s s and Jacky Martin after his victory in the All American Futurity.
Merganser wins the 1988 All American Futurity.
Jack Brooks and Jacky Martin their fourth win in the All American Futurity.
The win put Merganser’s earnings for
the year at $1,323,170 with 13 starts and 10 wins, including 4 stakes wins, one second
and one third. He was a finalist in the Kansas Futurity. Merganser was named the 1988 World Champion, Champion 2 Year Old, and Champion 2-Year-Old Colt.
Merganser came back to the races at three with seven starts and three wins. He won the Rainbow Derby Consolation and qualified to the Kansas Derby where he was fifth in the finals. Merganser won his trial for the All American Derby, but failed to qualify for the finals. He earned $49,257 for the year and came back at four with three starts, finishing second in one
of those starts and qualifying to the Remington Park Championship. His total race record came to 23 starts with 13 wins (4 stakes wins), three seconds and two thirds earning $1,373,705.
Merganser sired only 246 foals, with 117 ROM and six stakes winners with earnings of over $1.8 million. His stakes winners include Ducky Fred, who ran in twenty stakes winning seven, including the 1996 All American Gold Cup-G2 and 1995 World’s Championship Classic-G2.
It would be safe to say that Jerry Wells was second to none as a judge of good horse flesh, and he saw perfection that fateful day in 1987 when he saw Merganser. It was the perfection he saw that translated into the speed that won the 1988 All American Futurity.
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Merganser, the 1988 World Champion, was the third All American Futurity winner for the t e a m o f t r a i n e r J a c k B r o o k s a n d jockey Jacky Martin.
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