Pinhooker, owner/raider and veterinarian Jerry Bailey died December 17 of complications from pneumonia following a two-week battle with COVID-19, according to his wife Leslie Bailey. He was 78 years old.
Bailey, a native of Dickinson, ND, earned a veterinary degree at the University of Minnesota before moving to South Florida, where he was a racecourse trainee for seven years with a practice founded by Drs. MB Teigland, Thomas Brokken and Benjamin Franklin Jr. He left Florida to become the resident veterinarian for Ed Gaylord’s Lazy E Ranch in Oklahoma.
Leslie Bailey recalls: “Eventually he was promoted to general manager and built a training center at Lazy E. “We also started training Hybrid Horses there and he really enjoyed training the horses. horses rather than doing office work.”
To make better use of the training center, Bailey suggested to Gaylord that they start looking for some aspiration for 2-year-olds in sales training. They found a partner for the venture in Ken Ellenberg, a Minnesota native, a small owner in Canterbury Park. After a few years, Gaylord was less interested in the shooting game while Bailey and Ellenberg saw more opportunities ahead.
The Baileys moved back to Florida, where they established the Jerry Bailey Training Center near Morriston and began a pinhooking partnership with Ellenberg, originally called Cypress Farm. One of their early successes was a Gulch pony named Thunder Gulch, whom they bought for $40,000 at a coveted July 1993 selection sale at Keeneland in July, and was offered for sale at the 2-year-old Coaching Sales in Keeneland in 1994, where it was acquired in a final. $120,000 bid. Bailey and Ellenberg race ponies under the name Mutual Shar Stable. Thunder Gulch finished second in Cowdin Stakes (G2) before the partners sold the ponies to Michael Tabor. With D. Wayne Lukas, Thunder Gulch won the 1995 Kentucky Derby (G1) and the Belmont Stakes (G1).
Bailey and Ellenberg also drew class 1 winners as Deputy Commander, Yes It True, Honor and Glory, and Twist Afleet.
Eventually owner/raider Lance Robinson of Utah and Quarter Horse natives also joined and the three men founded Gulf Coast Bloodstock. Ellenberg eventually dropped out and the others joined. Gulf Coast was a breeding and breeding facility at the time of its 120 landings at Taylor Made Ranch near Nicholasville, Ky. Robinson and his wife Marla oversaw the livestock operation while the Baileys handled the breaking and training of the foals.
“We are a good partner,” said Leslie Bailey.
Lookin At Lucky Wins 2009 CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park
Stars bred and raised by Gulf Coast Farms include double champion stars Look at luck , who was named the 2-year-old pony champion in 2009 after winning three tier 1 stakes and then the 3-year-old foal champion after winning the Preakness (G1) stakes, Izod Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1), Rebel Stakes (G2), and Indiana Derby (G2). Smart Strike colt won nine of the 13 starts and made $3,307,278. The farm has also attracted many Henny Hughes tier 1 winners and bred and sold many graded stock winners Cowtown Cat, Kensei and Salute the Sarge.
When choosing horses at a sale, Bailey told BloodHorse in 2007 that “first and foremost is body shape, fitness and athleticism.
“Then,” he continued, “you want a stallion that you think has a good chance of getting a runner, or at least one who has proven he can get a runner.”
Bailey and Robinson also never hesitated to race a horse they trusted.
Bailey told BloodHorse in 2007: “We thought we could improve the chances of the horses by going with a trainer who might have strengths in this or that, and the type of horse that’s right for that. trainers and racers,” Bailey told BloodHorse in 2007.
Gulf Coast closed its breeding operation in 2010 and dispersed its stock at Keeneland’s November Breeding Sale. The training center in Florida continued to operate for a while, but eventually the Baileys decided to “retire” to Oklahoma. They started Quarter 4 Bailey Farm near Pauls Valley, Okla.
Jerry Bailey spent the early part of his retirement riding and later became interested in the breeding and rearing of barrel racehorses.
