Several times a week, one of the most exclusive flights in the country lifts off from Lexington’s Blue Grass Airport.
With room for just 21 passengers, the flight departs from its own private loading apron. Its occupants are whisked by van onto the tarmac and ushered directly into the custom plane, where refreshments await and a personal staff attends to their every need. Exclusivity comes with a cost: A one-way jaunt to the West Coast runs upward of $4,950.
But for the flight’s Thoroughbred passengers, a trip aboard the nation’s only charter plane dedicated to equine travel isn’t merely for the high-horse treatment—it’s an essential part of staying competitive in the racing industry.
"LeBron [James] doesn’t travel from game to game on a Greyhound bus.” — Mike Payne
“LeBron [James] doesn’t travel from game to game on a Greyhound bus,” said Mike Payne, operations manager for H.E. “Tex” Sutton Forwarding Company, which manages the equine flights. “These Thoroughbreds are professional athletes, with a strict training regimen and diet. And it all plays a part of it.”
The Sutton Company, which maintains its home base in Lexington, charters about 250 flights each year, transporting about 2,500 horses annually. During the fall Breeders’ Cup, the company will operate nearly non-stop, moving some 140 horses around the country over the course of just a few days.
Photo by Bill Straus
The company was founded in the early 1960s by Sutton to transport horses by railcar. But with rail costs high and travel times long, Sutton saw the advantages that air travel afforded. In 1969, he chartered the company’s first equine flight, partnering a few years later with Dave Clark, of Universal Airlines, to offer dedicated equine flights as a regular service.
“That really changed the racing industry,” said Rob Clark, Dave Clark’s son, who took over as the company’s president in 2007 and ultimately acquired the company in 2011. “You didn’t just have to look at your home track anymore. You could venture all over the country for races, and it really opened up the competition.”
Nowadays, most of the top Thoroughbreds travel by air—and the Sutton Company has remained the industry’s leading name. Three out of every four horses in this year’s Kentucky Derby traveled by Sutton’s plane, commonly referred to as “Air Horse One,” Payne said.
While Sutton isn’t the only U.S. company to offer equine air travel—FedEx, for instance, transports horses worldwide in special cargo stalls—it is the only company that’s tailored its entire operations to cater specifically to horses. The company leases a hollowed-out Boeing 727-200 aircraft from Kalitta Charters LLC, which owns and operates the plane. The plane is outfitted with modular panels, which allow the company to configure horse stalls, or even, if needed, a pen for a mare and foal. The plane can accommodate seven rows of stalls, with up to three stalls in a row.
With millions of dollars riding on the performances of its equine passengers, Sutton goes to great lengths to minimize stress for the horses and ensure their peak performance.
“Everything we do is trying to keep them comfortable and as close to routine as possible,” Clark said. “It’s why flying in general is popular. The more we can minimize that travel time and the travel-related stress, the better it is. We want the experience to be like a stroll from the barn.”
1 of 4
Don Morton, Sutton's assistant operations manager, marshals the company-leased 727 aircraft into place at the Blue Grass Airport. / Photo by Reggie Beehner
2 of 4
In the plane, horses stand in modular stalls that can accommodate two or three horses in a row. / Photo by Bill Straus
3 of 4
Sutton leases a specially-configured, climate-controlled Boeing 747-200 aircraft that can hold up to 21 horses and 10 handlers. / Photo by Reggie Beehner
4 of 4
Horses, guided by Sutton's handlers, are unloaded down a ramp directly into their trailers without ever setting hoof on the tarmac. / Photo by Reggie Beehner
To that end, Sutton’s equine passengers never even set hoof onto the tarmac. Horse vans circle onto the loading apron, where horses are escorted by a handler directly up a reinforced ramp and into the aircraft. Floors are covered in wood shavings. Padded stalls, often separated by sniffer panels, are equipped with hay nets and, on longer flights, water buckets. Sutton’s handlers remain on the flight, attending to the horses’ needs throughout.
A few top Thoroughbreds even travel with their trusty stable ponies. Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, for instance, renown for his easygoing nature, rarely flew without his often-testy sidekick, Smokey, Payne said. Additionally, the aircraft’s flight trajectories likewise are adjusted, with gentle turns, climbs and descents to minimize any G-forces that may startle the horses.
The biggest challenge to equine comfort usually has to do with temperatures, as horses generate a considerable amount of body heat. The cabin’s air temperature is set at a frosty 50 degrees (handlers typically don thick coats and blankets during the flight), but maintaining that chill can prove challenging on a scalding summer tarmac.
“Horses don’t get sick from getting cold,” Payne said. “But they can get sick from getting too hot.”
Sutton leases a specially-configured Boeing 727-200 aircraft. The company charters some 250 flights each year. / Photo by Reggie Beehner
Aware of this, airport control towers will expedite Air Horse One’s departures, Payne said. One time, after a fueling delay, the Sutton plane found itself stuck in a queue behind some 30 other aircraft on a hot Houston runway.
“The tower let us jump over to a parallel runway and take off,” Payne said. “It was a big relief because it was getting so hot in the cabin.”
While Thoroughbreds are Sutton’s most frequent travelers, over the past decade, Air Horse One has broadened its clientele to include show horses (particularly during the World Equestrian Games), which now account for about a third of the company’s business, Clark said. That diversification has helped insulate the company during economic recessions, Clark said, pointing to the company’s quick rebound in the wake of the 2008 mortgage and banking collapse. It’s also not unheard of for the plane to be chartered for a single horse.
During Cigar’s legendary 16-win streak in the mid-1990s, for instance, his owner, Allen Paulson, continued to hire the plane for Cigar’s travel around the country, even if that meant it bearing a flight’s entire cost, which ran more than $100,000.
“It’s been an evolution that we’ve gone through,” Clark said. “Like any industry, there’s some ebb and flow. But it’s nice to be diverse.”
The company’s leading expense is fuel, accounting for a third of its costs. The Boeing 727 aircraft the company leases has its advantages—namely getting in and out of smaller airports with their shorter runways—but with its three engines, fuel efficiency isn’t one of them. Clark said the aircraft will likely remain in service for the foreseeable future, but he acknowledged the time will come when they’ll need to find a new plane to retain the mantle of Air Horse One.