Jet Ski Passes on at Age 24

Original article written by Marzy Dotes posted 11 years 0 weeks ago

While nibbling some grass under the moonlight sky, Jet Ski succumbed to the infirmities of old age at 24.

The sturdy gray horse that thrilled racing fans by sweeping the American Triple Crown went peacefully in his sleep according to veterinarian Hinede Hacklu. He became the latest pensioner owned by Ara Davies to join fellow Hall of Famers like Atlas, Banner, Conduit and his old buddy Sports Jersey in death. On the morning of his death, Davies’ cemetery page showed dancing kitties, weeping puppies, lovely flowers and even one of the most notorious of magical personalities showing up to grieve the loss of an icon.

It was a fitting montage for one of the legendary figures of the sport. Jet Ski was beloved by many people both as a champion racehorse and a top stallion. He proved influential in terms of enhancing the bloodlines in different running surfaces including all weather and in chasing as well. A Jack of all trades in the shed, he passed that quality along to his progeny as well.

His own parentage proved interesting in that his sire Canoe only raced once in his career. A regally bred colt, Canoe counted among his half siblings Conduit and sprinting sire Comet among the males courtesy of Hall of Famer Rain Dancer. On the female side, his half-sisters included some of the most influential broodmares in the sport. They included Canyon who produced Color Bright the dam of Hall of Famer Magician as well as Champagne who produced Colorado and Commendation as well as Cairo, the dam of Caldron.

On the racetrack, Canoe blew out a maiden win in 7 ½ lengths after apparently channeling super powers from Conduit but his brilliance exacted a steep cost. He broke down after he won the race and had to be vanned off the racetrack. He retired to stud soon after and performed modestly at stud. His daughters did themselves produce 18 stakes winners including Horse of the Year Fog City, Steward’s Cup Marathon winner Tremendous Machine and more recently Champion All Weather Older Female Army Wife who just had a juvenile son sell at auction for $675,000.

During his first year at stud, Canoe met up with Kayak a daughter of Sports Jersey and another daughter of Rain Dancer named Cascade. Kayak won and placed in stakes during her two seasons on the racetrack. Among her wins were the Steward’s Cup Juvenile Fillies and the Black Eyed Susan but in her final race, the Steward’s Cup Distaff, she finished fourth. That didn’t matter much as when she retired, she produced some nice stakes winners like Journey and South American Champion Older Horse Cozumel.

Plus she produced Jet Ski after her meet up with Canoe. This gangly colt matured into one of the sport’s top performers in history winning 12 out of 15 races and never failing to hit the board. He began his career by breaking his maiden first time out as a juvenile winning stakes like the Hopeful and the Two Year Old Marathon in brilliant fashion. He then prepped for the Triple Crown by winning the Fountain of Youth Stakes showing the same dominating style he put on display in his earlier races.

He went into the Louisville Derby a hot favorite and when the gates opened, he settled well in the 15 horse field biding his time. When the horses reached the top of the stretch, he stormed to the lead and dueled down the stretch until he pulled away to win by 1 ½ lengths over Accolade. He then went to Baltimore where he started near the back of the pack in the Baltimore Crown but then dueled again with Accolade to prevail at the finish line by a nose.

Anticipation preceded him to New York where he prepped for the Long Island Classic, the Triple Crown on the line. Accolade would be there as well determined to prove the spoiler and win it himself. The two were stabled on opposite sides of the racetrack a tribute to their competitive natures. But in the race itself, Jet Ski once again proved to be too tough for Accolade and won the final jewel of the Crown by a head placing himself in a very elite club.

He won the Super Derby after he took a month off to rest and he looked like a hot prospect in the Steward’s Cup Classic. In that race, he proved tough but succumbed to the force of Storm A Fortress leaving him in second place. Still Jet Ski proved to be so dominating a racehorse; he won the titles of champion three year old colt as well as the coveted horse of the year title.

At four, he won the Gulfstream Handicap to prep him for a run at the $6 million Desert World Cup but Atlas had his measure defeating him in a thrilling stretch battle by ¾ of a length. He captured both the Pacific Classic and the Priceless Forever Stakes, but in his final race, the Steward’s Cup Classic he finished third behind both Prefamageps and the former bridesmaid Accolade.

He retired after that and went to stud. By the time he was done, he proved to be very successful with over 70% of his runners becoming winners and 17.9% of them winning stakes races.

When he met up with Hall of Famer mare Banner, the outcome was the stakes winning Chart who after winning his first two races on dirt, proved to be a major player in turf routing winning numerous stakes including the Epsom and Irish Derbies, the St Leger and the King George VI Stakes. At stud, he proved modest, his major winner being Gonna Bea Big Star, an All Weather stallion who died prematurely.

But in that same crop Jet Ski sired Fighter Jet who is out of Worth Every Moment well known for producing the stellar broodmares Significant (who produced North American Horse of the Year Messiah) and Hall of Famer Such Great Heights who produced the sport’s latest Triple Crown winner Maelstrom and top all weather sire Yes. Fighter Jet proved to be a versatile sire of top performers like East, Long Island Classic winner Saharan Ace, champion and broodmare of the year Clearly Best and dual surface sire Fang.

Jet Ski sired other top horses as well, among the most notable being two Long Island Classic winners Colorado whose offspring could do just about anything over flats and jumps and King of the Desert.

Colorado, a striking grey horse out of Champagne won races over all three surfaces and over the hedges during his racing career. Besides the Long Island Classic, he included among his victories the Flamingo Turf Cup and the King George Stakes on the turf. He finished a thrilling second behind Stealth Ninja in the Arc De Triomphe and not long after that was undefeated in three starts on the all-weather surface. He finished his career out by switching to chasing and winning two out of three starts including a stakes race in his final start.
He went to stud and not surprisingly became a major success, his versatility on the racetrack showing up in his progeny at stud.

Often his offspring proved to be victorious on more than one surface or discipline just like their sire. His sons haven’t duplicated his success at stud although Mammoth shows promise as a sire of turf routers and Scientist has sired horses that like to chase.

Colorado’s latest son Tends to Surprise is hoping to establish himself as an all-weather stallion and entertained a book of 24 foals in his first year at stud.

King of the Desert is another son of Jet Ski who’s making his mark at stud. He’s out of Ensenada an unraced daughter of Seeking the Gold and a half-brother of Surf and Sand who produced the nice dirt miler Gold and Copper. King of the Desert prevailed on the dirt winning a slew of stakes but at stud, he’s sired winners on all three surfaces. Last season, he felt the spotlight on him after his son, King of Consent (out of a Loki Flame mare) captured the Steward’s Cup Synthetic Classic.

This stallion has also been used as a broodmare sire and 28 of his 132 runners so far have won their races. Juvenile performers produced by his daughters have turned out good works on the all-weather and turf surfaces.

So Jet Ski’s legacy was assured even before his fertility went into serious decline several years ago and he joined the fox hunting circuit. In fact, he was in training for the upcoming season and had become lean and mean in anticipation of a great season before he passed away.

He had the best of all possible worlds given that he knew no limitations when producing offspring who would share those traits. His sons and daughters contributed both to flat and chase racing including through Colorado whose offspring were fun to train and race. One of my favorite racehorses earlier in my career was a gelding named Take a Chance who loved racing on all-weather surfaces and whose dam was a half-sister of an assortment of turf runners including Atlas and Trafalgar. He was an honest performer who liked facing different challenges.

Another daughter of Colorado named Date loved to chase including in stakes competition and helped introduce me to what’s a fun discipline in horse racing. Many of those breeders who love raising versatile runners and future breeders benefitted a lot from the contributions of Colorado and other sons of Jet Ski and they all definitely made the breeding side of it in different disciplines very interesting. The options seemed limitless with Jet Ski and his offspring and their offspring.

It doesn’t really get any better than that and though Jet Ski’s loss will be mourned, his contributions to thoroughbred breeding and racing are what should be celebrated.

---

Back to Breeding articles