Easy Jet (1967–1992) was a racing champion American Quarter Horse. He was one of only two horses to have been a member of the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) Hall of Fame as well as being an offspring of members. Easy Jet won the 1969 All American Futurity, the highest race for Quarter Horse racehorses, and was named World Champion Quarter Race Horse in the same year. He earned the highest speed rating awarded at the time—AAAT. After winning 27 of his 38 races in two years of racing, he retired from the race track and became a breeding stallion.
As a sire, he was the first All American Futurity winner to sire an All American Futurity winner, and went on to sire three winners of that race, and nine Champion Quarter Running Horses. Ultimately, his ownership and breeding rights were split into 60 shares worth $500,000 each—a total of $30 million. By 1993, the year after his death, his foals had earned more than $25 million on the racetrack.
Early life
Longtime Quarter Horse breeder and racehorse owner Walter Merrick of Sayre, Oklahoma, bred Easy Jet from two future AQHA Hall of Fame members, Jet Deck and Thoroughbred mare Lena's Bar in 1967. His dam, or mother, Lena's Bar, had produced a small number of other offspring, but Easy Jet was her last; she died shortly after he was weaned, or removed from his mother's milk. Both of his parents were descended from Three Bars, who was the sire of Lena's Bar and the grandsire of Jet Deck's dam. Easy Jet is one of only two horses in the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame to have both parents in the Hall of Fame; his two grandsires, Moon Deck and Three Bars, are also in the Hall of Fame.
Easy Jet was of sorrel color, a light yellowish-red. When fully grown, he stood about 15.3 hands high (63 inches; 160 cm) and weighed about . He had a large star and a stripe on his face.
Of Easy Jet's stamina and busy training regimen, Merrick said, "I guess he ate at night; I don't know when else. It was unbelievable the amount of energy he had". Training for the race track generally begins when a horse is a long yearling—between one and a half and two years of age. Easy Jet was so easy to train that Merrick decided to oversee the training himself rather than send the horse away to a professional trainer. In a practice race at the ranch, Merrick matched the yearling against Jet Smooth. Although his elder brother had the advantage of previous race experience, Easy Jet won the 350-yard (320 m) race. Easy Jet's performance prompted Merrick to enter him in a yearling race at Blue Ribbon Downs, which the colt won by more than a length.
Racing career
Easy Jet raced for two years, starting 38 races. He won 27 of his races, came in second seven times and third twice, and placed below third only twice, with race earnings totaling $445,721 (). He earned an AQHA Superior Race Horse award along with his Race Register of Merit. A Superior Race horse must have earned at least 200 AQHA racing points by winning races, and even more in stakes races. A Race Register of Merit is the lowest level of racing award earned from the AQHA, and is gained when a horse attains a speed rating of 80 in a race, whether or not it wins the race. His best speed rating was AAAT, which was the highest grade awarded at the time he was racing. Over his two-year career, he won 12 stakes races, and placed second in four and third in one.
In 1969, his first official year on the track, he won the All American Futurity and eight other stakes races. In winning the All American, he led from the start on a sloppy, muddy track. His jockey, Willie Lovell, explained that he needed to do very little to win: "In the stretch, when I saw Easy Jet had it, I let him run his own race. All I had to do was just sit there and let him roll." His time of 20.46 seconds to cover was remarkable considering that three days of rain before the start of the race had turned the track into a muddy quagmire. At another stakes, the Ribbon Futurity at Sallisaw, Oklahoma, Easy Jet won by three-quarters of a length and set a new track record of 16.92 seconds for . The only time in 1969 he did not finish first, second, or third, he had issues in the starting gate, false-started, broke some teeth loose against the front of the gate, and was struggling to stand up again when the gates opened; he still managed to finish fifth out of ten horses.