A LOOK BACK AT AQHA CHAMPION FLIGHT 109
Flight 109 is a perfect name for a fast Quarter Horse. And boy, could the Kansas-bred Flight 109 fly like a jet.
Sired by 1965 AQHA champion 3-year-old colt Bayou Bar, Flight 109 was born in 1967 out of a Mr Bar None mare Bar Marie. He would go on to become one of the most dominant horses in the nation during the 1970s. Racing mostly at Los Alamitos, Flight 109 won 25 of 79 starts for earnings over $157,725. By the time of his final takeoff before retiring on December 31, 1975, Flight 109 was third all-time in stakes wins at Los Alamitos with 13 victories.
The first AQHA champion trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, Flight 109 reached great heights in 1974, as he was the division’s leading money earner with $60,800 and a winner in six of 15 starts, four of those wins coming in stakes races. His stakes wins came in the HQHRA Inaugural Handicap, Hard Twist Stakes, Vandy’s Flash Handicap and the Clabbertown G Stakes. In the mid-1970s, Flight 109 owned The Clabbertown G. He won the races four times with his wins coming in 1971, ’73, ’74 and ’75.
“I was a young man in those days and Flight 109 is a horse that you don’t forget,” said Scott Craigmyle, the Director of Racing at Los Alamitos. “His breeder and owner W.D. Taylor brought him to California in the early 1970s and the great D. Wayne bought him shortly after. Flight 109 was top shelf. He danced every danced and you had to be on your game to beat him. A lot of jockeys rode him, but Terry Lipham was probably aboard him for most of his big wins. Terry said Flight 109 was one the most solid horses that he ever rode.”
Bob Moreno, a longtime racing official in California and a walking encyclopedia of Quarter Horse racing, called Flight 109 one of his favorite Quarter Horses of all-time.
“In the early 1970s, if there was a fast gelding out here D. Wayne Lukas would try to buy him,” Moreno said. “He purchased Flight 109, Charter Party and Osage Copy just to mention a few. Most of the geldings he would buy were for owner Bob Spreen of Bob Spreen Cadillac.
“When horses came down to Los Alamitos after the Bay Meadows meet, the older horses would ramp up by going in the Clabbertown G during the summer months (for example, the 1971 running was held on August 6). Flight 109 dominated the 350-yard distance at Los Alamitos for a long time. He was just so quick. Every fast horse during that time was going after this gelding.”
On race nights, Flight 109 would step on the racetrack styling and profiling.
“He always had that checkered pattern on his backside and his tail was perfectly braided,” Moreno added. “The thing about Flight 109 is that he was as fast as they come, but he was built like a bomb. He was a horse like Vespero, who was another great one from that era. You would have though he was an Easy Jet the way Flight 109 was built.”
Los Alamitos will honor the great champion Flight 109 with Sunday’s feature stakes race. The distance of the race is 350-yards, right down Flight 109’s alley.
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