view raw text
♦ l i i "in i i "w*a*njicj~fiiir ntimir ■ rifflwaffiifJiiiiaffi riifflWff*:*iy " *S|«I1 EASY SPUR — Pedigree not too fashionable, but he can run. Easy Spurs Pedigree Non-Derby i Plenty of Speed ► In His Ancestors Deemed Suspect at 10 Furlongs; Neither Sire Nor Dam Won in Stakes Easy Spur, the Florida Derby winner, has an unlikely Derby pedigree. When this bay gelding by Crowfoot — Easy Reeling won his first stakes last year at two, he accomplished something neither his sire nor his dam were able to do in six years of combined campaigning — win a stakes. Easy Spurs sire, Crowfoot, placed once at two and earned 50. At three he won two "off" track sprints in 13 starts and earned ,235. When tested in stakes company over a distance of ground he failed after showing early speed. Yet despite this lack of quality on the race track, Crowfoot has proven a moderately successful sire. His best son, Jamie K., might have been a classic winner but for coming out the same year as Native Dancer. He placed to the Vanderbilt star in both the Preakness and the Belmont. Crowfoot also bred Nell K.. winner of the Acorn Stakes at Belmont. Ann Earn Non-Winner Crowfoot is by the Domino-line sire, Blue Larkspur, out of the non-wmning Ann Earn. The latters sire, Bridge of Earn was, like Crowfoot, a-better sire than a racer. Ann Earns granddam, Game Chick, won three important English sprint stakes, in- ► eluding the Gimcrack, and, as a producer, bred Ancona, a half sister to Ann Earn who bred Double Yolk, dam of the French Derby winner, Duplex. Easy Reeling, Easy Spurs dam, raced four years, won nine races in 41 starts and earned 2,885. Her best races were in sprints, but she did manage to grab a third in the mile and a sixteenth Monmouth Oaks. She was a good race mare. However, her pedigree accents speed. Her sire, Easy Mon, was best at sprints and sired essentially speed horses, although Gushing Oil and Royal Mustang could and did travel a distance of ground in top company. Easy Spurs stamina index in 1958 was a comparatively short 6.53. Easy Reelings dam, Reelon, was a tough, hard-hitting mare, starting no less than 30 times at three in 1936. She placed in stakes. She won up tc 1 1-16 miles but only in claiming company. Reelon was by Eternal, a horse of intense speed and the ability to carry it up to 9 furlongs. At stud he sired speed and became noted as a sire of speed sires. Reelon s next dam, Tara II., was out of Mannie Himyar, a full sister to Domino and ancestress of many outstanding American stakes winners. Handsome is as handsome does, of course, but until Easy Spur actually beats the best of his generation at 10 furlongs, the speed lines in his pedigree make him "suspect" on that score. As the field parades to the post to the strains of "My Old Kentucky Home," Easy Spur does not have the pedigree one would associate with such a classic.
