HEMET, CA—OCTOBER 30, 2018—Grade 2 El Primero Del Ano Derby winner Mr Ease Cartel has been purchased by Brookside Racing and will stand the 2019 season at Firth Ranch near Hemet California. His fee has been set at $1,500.

The graded stakes winning son of leading sire Corona Cartel was foaled in 2010 with the breeder on record being Ramiro Guajardo Villlareal. For those of you who do not recognize this name, he was the primary horseman for the Zetas Mexican cartel kingpin Miguel Trevino-Morales.

Of course no one was aware of this notoriety at the time, but as one can imagine, anyone worth over $1 billion as Trevino-Morales was in 2010, only bred the very best racing quarter horses in the world, and Mr Ease Cartel was no exception.

He began his racing career at Los Alamitos Race Course in 2012 under the straw corporation ownership of Bonanza Racing Stables. He showed much promise from the onset by easily winning his maiden race (without wearing blinkers for this race or the rest of his career), and then qualifying for the Grade 2 Kindergarten Futurity. After this trial, the straw ownership then changed hands to the true owner of Tremor Enterprises, which stood for "Trevino-Morales". In that final, he experienced some trouble at the break but still ended up with black-type by finishing third.

As a side note, two outstanding books have been written about the Mexican cartels infamous past involvement in the racing quarter horse world. The first is Bones - Brothers, Horses, Cartels, and the Borderland Dream by Joe Tone, and Bloodlines: The True Story of a Drug Cartel, the FBI, and the Battle for a Horse-Racing Dynasty by Melissa Del Bosque. Mr Ease Cartel was referenced in both books. Mr Ease Cartel's next race was in the trials for the Grade 1 Ed Burke Million Futurity. He was the second fastest qualifier out of 13 trials, missing the fastest qualifying time by only 2/100th's of a second to the World Champion 2 year-old colt of that year, none other than the great World Champion One Dashing Eagle. In his trial, the race announcer at Los Alamitos Ed Burgart, was quoted as saying "this is the most convincing win...".

As luck would have it for Mr Ease Cartel, just after this trial and at this most inopportune time for a young up-and-coming colt, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and FBI appropriately cracked down on the cartels multi-million dollar race horse operations in the United States, and seized hundreds of the worlds best-bred racing quarter horses. Also included in the seizure were the well-known stallions Tempting Dash, and All American Futurity winner Mr Piloto to name just a couple.

Mr Ease Cartel therefore never got a chance to race in the dream match-up against One Dashing Eagle in the Grade 1 Ed Burke Million Futurity final, of which he would have been one of the morning-line favorites. Mr Ease Cartel missed the rest of his 2-year-old racing year, the most lucrative year for quarter horses, that includes the Golden State Million and the Los Alamitos Two Million which he was paid into.

After his confiscation, which is obviously no fault of the horse, he was shipped to Oklahoma to be sold at the November 2012 Heritage Place auction. Unfortunately, during this tumultuous time, Mr Ease Cartel became ill and lost a lot of weight but still sold for $125,000 to a partnership.

Mr Ease Cartel began his road to recovery from this troubled past by being shipped back to California and pointed to the Grade 2 El Primero Del Ano Derby in 2013. In first start at 3, he won a tough come-from-behind 330 yard allowance race where the announcer shouted "and now the class prevails!" as he caught the leader at the line. The colt then went straight to the trials for the Derby, winning convincingly from post position number one. He returned two weeks later to win the El Primero Del Ano Derby(G1) in his final California start.

Mr Ease Cartel was shipped to Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico under a new trainer and entered the All American Derby trials where he encountered trouble, and consequently did not qualify for the final. The ownership decided to sell the colt, and he was purchased again for a six-figure amount by Hart Farms and shipped to Louisiana. The overly travelled young horse was tired but still showed moderate success, placing third in the Grade 3 Develop A Plan Stakes at Delta Downs, prior to his retirement to stud.

Louisiana (and the Southern United States in general) stands many successful sons of Corona Cartel, such as Coronas Leaving You, Five Bar Cartel, Furyofthewind, Tee Cos, The Louisiana Cartel, and Mr Ease Cartel has been overlooked in the breeding shed.

In his very lightly-bred career at stud only one progeny has raced, finishing in the money in his second race at Los Alamitos, before suffering a stall accident requiring time off from the training. His second crop will race in 2019.

Although having a couple of years under his belt at stud, Mr Ease Cartel is still virtually a new stallion with a very bright future as a sire.

His dam is the RG2 winning Zevi (TB) mare Sportiness SI 101 ($71,414). Also a finalist in the Grade 1 Dash For Cash Futurity, she is the dam of 6 winners, 8 ROM, 3 black type include Grade 2 winner Mr Ease Cartel SI 95 ($142,077), Grade 3 winner Jess Sporty SI 103 ($112,476), Ruidoso Juvenile Invitational(RG3) winner BS My Favorite Sport SI 121 ($48,827), etc.

His second dam is a multiple stakes producing daughter of Easily Smashed and a sister to stakes winner Runnin Roro SI 107 ($58,681) and half-sister to All American Futurity(G1) runner-up Mr Suspenders SI 110 ($385,700), stakes winner Twosheetstothewind SI 101 ($43,122) and stakes-placed Miss Jubilation SI 97 ($28,110).

Mr Ease Cartel's lineage makes him an excellent cross on Mr Jess Perry, First Down Dash, Tres Seis and Chicks Beduino mares.

In 2019, under new ownership, California will now have another top-line Corona Cartel option with Mr Ease Cartel. He is standing for the first time in California at Firth Ranch near Hemet. His fee is set for only $1,500. For inquiries, please call John Firth at (951) 533-2419 or español calls to (818) 321-5473.