Though Jet Phone was not the brightest star on Valor Farm's roster, the homebred Texas stallion who died Nov. 27 shortly after developing kidney and liver problems will be sorely missed.
The 15-year-old son of Phone Trick—Jet Route, by Alydar, was bred and raced by the late Clarence Scharbauer Jr. Injury limited his number of starts to nine, but he did find the winner's circle three times.
When Jet Phone retired in 2005, there were no expectations of a stallion career—he actually began his retirement as the farm's teaser—but some breeders decided to take a chance. Caroline Dodwell's Diamond D Ranch bred the only foal in his first crop and got Aces N Kings, who won three stakes in 2010 and placed in two others. The gelding would be named the Texas-bred champion 2-year-old of that year and go on to be Jet Phone's leading earner with $246,639 in purses.
Jet Phone would eventually sire 15 winners and three other black-type stakes runners, which included stakes winners Aces N Jacks and W V Jetsetter.
"We foaled him here and, other than the racetrack, he lived his whole life here; now he'll be buried here," said Ken Carson, general manager of Valor. "He never got enough mares to be of any significance, but everyone loved him. He was a really kind horse, and we sure hated to lose him."