Page 142 - Speedhorse November 2019

Duke takes a daylight win in a 6-horse race (Sky Ranch)
By Lyn Jank
Jack Nelson was born on a farm near Blossom, Texas, in 1899. His father, in addition to farming, was a bookkeeper in the Blossom Bank and later bought a mercantile general store where “everything from can openers to tractors” was sold.
1907, the same year that Oklahoma joined the Union, the Nelsons phased out their affairs in Blossom and traveled north by wagon train to the windswept prairies
of Oklahoma to establish a ranch. They settled near the small town of Stecker. Jack’s grandfather, George Hyler, an ex-captain in the Confederate Army, had built the first store in Stecker.
“I rode horseback to and from a one room schoolhouse on the side of a hill. They almost had to burn the schoolhouse down to get me out of the eighth grade, and once I made it, I never went back and never regretted it.”
In 1919, at the age of twenty, Jack went to work for Otis Elevator Company in Oklahoma City and remained with the company for eighteen years before establishing his own company, Elevator Sales and Service. Four years later, 1941, Jack’s company was firmly established, yielding a modest profit. Jack wanted to expand operations:
“I took the step that made me – enrolled in a Dale Carnegie course on Salesmanship and Letter Writing. I wrote a letter to the Chairman of the Board of Affairs in Oklahoma and ended up with the maintenance contracts for almost every elevator in the state.”
Elevators were Jack’s business, but what he loved was a fast horse.
“I would run a match race at any distance, for a pocket knife or anything else a man had in his pocket. One of the best match horses I ever had was a bay called Duke – a registered Quarter Horse. He didn’t have a last name or middle name or anything. He was just plain Duke, in life and on record. It’s been a long
Excerpt from the records of Clyde William “Jack” Nelson; Norman, Oklahoma:
“Early day matched races, before we had starting gates and photo finish cameras, were run under what was called the lap and tap system, which required drawing a starting and finishing line. Then came the time consuming job of picking four or five judges. There usually were two to judge that the horses got an even start and three finish line judges.
“Bud Warren was the key man in promoting the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Futurity, which was the forerunner of the great futurities that are being run throughout the country today. I remember when he had his great 89er and matched her at a horse for $1,000. He won, and that’s how he bought Leo.
“The judges’ decisions were final and were in 98% of the races accepted cheerfully by both the owners and the sideline wagerers – we won’t talk about the other two percent.
“It is easy to see that the creation of the multiple starting gate and electric timing of the races today have all but washed out the match racing of yesteryear. And today we have a lot of rich owners and breeders in this business. Walter Merrick is one of them.
“The amount of money involved in a lot
of those races ranged anywhere from one to ten thousand. Consequently, you can understand why it often required from one and a half to two hours just to get everything in readiness for the race.
“Walter always wanted to breed, train and run the best, and he keeps on doing it. He is the only millionaire I know who is still down there in the paddock, saddling his own horses and getting them ready to go, just like he has done for going on half a century now. When he is down there doing his job, I am sure that, for him, the match races of the olden days are only an echo away.”
“Some of the horses involved in those big match races in Oklahoma were Stella Moore, Tom’s Lady Gray, Gray Badger, Big Oscar, Spotted Spider, Duke (proudly owned at one time by yours truly), FL King B, Painted Joe, Scrap Iron and many others.
“Some of those great match horses were never registered. Some were registered in the old American Saddle Horse Association that was absorbed later by AQHA.
“After World War II, the front seats in match racings were occupied by Mona Leta, owned by Walter Merrick; 89er and Leota W., owned by Bud Warren; and Barbara L, owned by A.B. Green.
Of course, there were others. However, it was
these three men who contributed as much or more than anyone in Oklahoma, or beyond, to promote quality Quarter Horses and quality horse racing.
“These three were young when I first knew them. Knowing a good horse was no problem for them, even then. Mustering enough money to get one could be a problem for them back then.
“I remember matching with A.B. Green for $25, and he didn’t have the money to pay me. Later on, he would put the Quarter Horse on the map when he paid $40,000 for Go Man Go.