One Famous Eagle
3-Year-Old Colt
(Mr Jess Perry - One Famous Lady by Chicks Beduino)

Qualified by winning the Los Alamitos Super Derby

Lifetime Record: 10-7-0-2, $1,334,953 2008 Record: 5-5-0-0, $526,733

It was mission accomplished for Johnny Trotter and Burnett Ranches' One Famous Eagle in the richest running ever of the $933,750 Los Alamitos Super Derby on Sunday, November 9th. The son of Mr Jess Perry defeated Stylish Jess Br by 3/4 lengths to earn the Super Derby's automatic starting berth to the $750,000 Champion of Champions while also posting a new stakes record clocking at 400 yards of :19.32. One Famous Eagle's key to becoming the West Coast's newest juggernaut according to his connections has been his improvement in the starting gate. "What makes him lethal is the way he's leaving the gate," trainer John Bassett said. "He looks amazing to me," Trotter added. "He is breaking extremely well right now. We were always boastful about the way he finished races but when he breaks like he's doing now, it's over. It seems like he's got the gate figured out."

One Famous Eagle had some surgery in the off-season just to do a little clean up and he's come back super. "We're going to try to win the Champion Of Champions with him. That's our main goal," said owner Johnny Trotter. "We want to get in it and we really feel like we can win it too. Hopefully he proves us right."One Famous Eagle grew up at the 6666 ranch in Guthrie, Texas and was first broken by trainer Blane Wood, the man who conditions Trotter's runners that are stabled at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico. In fact, it was Blane Wood who campaigned One Famous Lady, the dam of One Famous Eagle, for Trotter at Ruidoso a number of years ago. A three-time Grade I-finalist on the mountaintop, One Famous Lady earned an impressive $172,515 throughout her racing career and always demonstrated a great deal of class. "I always felt like if we could get a nice colt out of her that had as much heart as she did that we'd really have something," said Trotter. "Originally One Famous Eagle was going to run at Ruidoso, but we ended up running him here instead." One Famous Eagle earned $381,255 for his Super Derby win to take his career earnings to $1,334,953, making him the 19th richest Quarter Horse of all time. A winner of his last seven starts, he also recorded victories in the 2007 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity and the Grade I Golden State Derby, run earlier this year in August. "One of the biggest reasons why he's running so well this year is that he's finally learned how to break alertly," said owner Johnny Trotter. "Last year he had some feet issues and just wasn't leaving the gates quickly enough. He pulled a suspensory running against Masters Call in the Ed Burke trials and it took us a few months to get him all the way over it. That really slowed down his progress." One Famous Eagle now trains with a crossbar horseshoe, which provides his left front foot with relief.

John is one of the most successful big money trainers of all time. His top horses over the years have included Heza Fast Man, Evening Snow, A Delightful Dasher, Ausual Suspects, Hes My Dasher, Tres Seis, First To Flash, First Place Queen, Value The Man and One Famous Eagle. "I've won two All American Futurities and I'd put One Famous Eagle (and this race) in the same company with them," he said. "One Famous Eagle is one of the best horses that I've ever trained. Blues Girl Too (trained by his son, Joe) was an exceptional horse and she could really run 440 yards, but I think even she would have a big problem with this horse right now." His son, Joe Bassett, won the Champion of Champions last year with Blues Girl Too.

Anne W. Marion is the president of Burnett Ranches Ltd., which includes the Four Sixes Ranches in Texas and Montana. Among her other leadership positions are president of the Burnett Foundation and Burnett Companies and chair of the Burnett Oil Co. Inc. Mrs. Marion was elected into AQHA Hall of Fame in March 2007. She owns the 245,000-acre Four Sixes Ranch headquartered in Guthrie in West Texas and 100,000 acres at Dixon Creek in Carson and Hutchinson counties in the Texas Panhandle. Founded by her great-grandfather, Captain Samuel "Burk" Burnett, The Burnett Ranches in Texas comprise the largest individually owned ranch property in the state according to the ranch's website. The Four Sixes has been involved in horse breeding for more than 60 years. "I've got the best job in the world," Dr. Glenn Blodgett said. "Mrs. Marion has always been real supportive of what I've wanted to do. She runs a first class organization, she loves the horses, and she loves the ranching business."

Trotter, the owner of a large livestock feed yard in Hereford, Texas, is one of the biggest cattlemen in the whole state. "I've been around horses and livestock my whole life and I can honestly say that even as a baby One Famous Eagle was the most outstanding horse I'd ever seen," Trotter commented. "Everyone around me got so tired of hearing me talk about it constantly back then, but it really was true. I've always felt like he was a once in a lifetime type of horse." Trotter, who has been racing horses now for about six years, had his first big stakes horse with Royal N Rowdy, who ran second in the Grade I Go Man Go Handicap here at Los Alamitos and earned $204,570 in his career. "To have success in quarter horse racing, I think there are a few things that have to come together just right for you," Trotter added. "First you've got to have a sound, correct horse. Then you've got to have just the right trainer for your horse, someone who really knows what to do at all of the right times. Having a good team is so important. Lastly, you've got to put your horse in a place where they can compete and win. Those are some of the things I've learned over the years." Prior to One Famous Eagle's arrival, Trotter's biggest stakes wins included a victory in the Grade 2 $122,680 Casino Cash Derby with Gage Man and the $78,032 Sunland Park Fall Derby with Royal N Rowdy.