Fred Stanley of Ladybug Stallion Station in Madill, Oklahoma, says many of the horses in his pedigree were short-speed horses - sprinters. Sprinting is what made the Quarter Horse breed famous.
Wait. Disco Jerry is a Thoroughbred.
The gray Thoroughbred was foaled in 1978, a son of Never Dance and Sea Bouquet. He won seven races and $30,005.
"In Thoroughbred racing, you have to go six, seven furlongs, and if you can't you're an outcast. In his younger days, I know Disco Jerry was (unofficially) match raced against Quarter Horses at 350 and 440 yards; he looks like a big gray Quarter Horse himself. He's got tremendous speed for three or four furlongs, but he couldn't run five to six furlongs like the other Thoroughbreds. Beduino (TB) was the same way, and he was match raced, too."
Disco Jerry has stood at Ladybug Stallion Station since 1987, the year he was purchased by the Stanleys. Ladybug Stallion Station was founded in 1969, and is operated by Fred, Stan and Steve Stanley.
"We're the oldest, most-established farm in Oklahoma now. The first great sire we stood here was Lady Bug's Moon," says Fred Stanley. (Lady Bug's Moon continues to rank in the Top 50 lists of barrel racing's leading paternal grandsires and leading maternal grandsires.)
Until recently, barrel racers weren't welcomed at some stud farms.
"Barrel racing is commanding the attention of the racing industry," says Stanley. "In 1998, 25 percent of the total mares we bred were from the barrel racing industry; the biggest growth in 10 years. We are putting forth an extra effort to accommodate this interest from barrel racers. These figures reflect breeding, as well as horse sales, to the barrel racing industry.
"About five years ago is when Disco Jerry started receiving recognition as a sire of barrel horses. He's been well-received. His foals have done well all over the country on the track and on the barrels," says Stanley.
Disposition, conformation and color - he has it all.
"A child could lead him by the halter, and he's a big old horse. He stands 16 hands," says Stanley. "His foals are very versatile. He's pretty unique as a cross-over sire. Besides speed, you get color, conformation and common sense. That's a pretty big paintbrush when a Thoroughbred stud can paint a picture like that, and get you gray color, too. In a word, Disco Jerry may be the most versatile Thoroughbred horse ever. He produces lots of conformation and color."
For those with a soft spot for grays, Disco Jerry obliges. "He gets a lot of gray foals," he says, "about 40 percent out of solid-colored mares. Gray mares, it's about 100 percent. In his pedigree, Native Dancer and Mahmoud were both gray. The gray gene is on both sides of his pedigree."
About that pedigree
Disco Jerry is by Never Dance, a 1972 son of Never Bend, by Nasrullah. Never Bend was a Champion 2-Year-Old, a first-class sprinter. He had seven wins from 10 starts. His earnings of $402,969 were the most ever for a 2-year-old at that time. At age 3, Never Bend placed second in the Kentucky Derby, and won 13 of his 23 starts and $641,524.
Disco Jerry's dam was a 1969 mare named Sea Bouquet, a stakes producer. Sired by Crewman, Sea Bouquet was out of a 1960 mare named Sweet Blossom, by Promised Land, a son of a 1942 mare named Mahmoudess. Mahmoudess was by the gray stallion Mahmoud.
QH racers and records
Disco Jerry is a leading thoroughbred sire of All-American Futurity finalists; a leading thoroughbred sire of Quarter Horses in all categories - 70 percent ROM, 60 percent winners; and a dominant sire in the 1998 Grade 1 Blue Ribbon Futurity - sire of the second- and third-place finishers. And although a Thoroughbred, Disco Jerry sires Quarter Horse conformation.
Disco Jerry is the sire of Quarter Horses like Heritage Place Futurity G-1 winner Imafastermaster, SI 101; All-American Futurity G-1 fourth-fastest qualifier Disco Del Rey, SI 112; and All-American Futurity G-1 finalist Ghost Witha Most.
"The first mare he was ever bred to (Send Me Candy, by Tiny's Gay)," says Stanley "produced a gray gelding named Send The Gals Candy, that made $291,000 on the track." The gelding also set a track record at Los Alamitos.
The barrel pen
As of June 22, 2000, Disco Jerry had sired 405 AQHA-registered foals. Disco Jerry is currently ranked in the Top 50 Equi-Stat list of barrel-horse sires. Putting him there are offspring like Fleet Feet Flyin, Just Jay, Jerrys A Go Go, We Will Dance, Discos Maiden, Tennessee Fog and The Ardmore Kid.
