Dashing Folly’s Bid For Top Award Proves to Be No Joke

Dashing Folly’s bid to be recognized as the best quarter horse in the nation appeared to be folly for much of the 1996 season. Though she won 10 races in 10 starts, including December’s Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos Race Course, trainer Donna McArthur wasn’t sure whether a filly that ranked third in overall earnings ($361,526) behind Corona Cartel ($544,435) and Toast To Dash ($446,252) had a chance.

“Sometimes people just vote for world champion based on the money won,” McArthur said. “I think this horse deserves to be champion.”

McArthur discovered Jan. 17 voters aren’t so predictable, when Dashing Folly was named 1996 world champion quarter horse by the American Quarter Horse Assn. A total of 62 voters from the AQHA racing committee and seven horse racing reporters cast ballots in the annual vote. Dashing Folly collected 58 of 69 first-place votes.

It was a remarkable comeback for the 3-year-old filly, who was bothered by sore shins in 1995 and finished fourth in the three races she was entered in. She is the first filly since 1989 to be recognized as world champion and only the 19th female horse to be so honored. Dashing Folly, which won seven stakes races, also earned titles as champion 3-year-old filly and champion 3-year-old.

Most of the season, all eyes were on Winalota Cash, who held the top spot on the American Quarter Horse Racing Poll for 34 of its 38 weeks.

In the final months leading up to the voting, McArthur campaigned hard for recognition for her horse. After Dashing Folly’s victory Nov. 15 in the Los Alamitos Derby, the trainer told journalists she felt her filly deserved to be looked at as horse of the year even though writers considered her to be, at best, a longshot. That victory moved Dashing Folly to the top of the AQHA poll, a spot she held for the final four weeks of the season, but there still appeared to be some doubters.

But after a commanding victory by more than a length in the Champion of Champions, it became clear how remarkable Dashing Folly’s season had been. It also helped that Winalota Cash faltered in several of his final races, including a sixth-place finish in the Champion of Champions.

Dashing Folly’s strength in 1996 was her concentration in the starting gate. Ridden by veteran jockey Tami Purcell of Houston, Dashing Folly took command of races the moment the gate opened. She won most races by a length or two, when most races are usually decided by photo finishes.

It’s no secret, either, that Dashing Folly liked the track at Los Alamitos, where she posted all seven of her major stakes victories and eight of her 10 victories overall.

“She just loves to race here,” McArthur said. “She likes the night air, the dampness.”

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Toast to Dash, a 2-year-old colt, and age champion Kool Kue Baby, a 4-year-old filly, were runners-up in the voting to Dashing Folly. Purcell rode Toast to Dash to victory in eight of his nine starts, but Purcell was not selected champion jockey of the year. That honor went to Eddie Garcia, who won 163 races in 818 starts to earn $1,661,589.

Purcell was not even nominated for the award. Joe Badilla Jr., G.R. Carter Jr., Kip Didericksen and Gilbert Ortiz were the runners-up. Badilla posted 167 victories, the most by any jockey in 1996. It was the third consecutive year that he has led the category.

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Edward C. Allred, Los Alamitos Race Course majority owner, was named co-champion breeder as his horses earned $1,025,863 with 127 victories in 902 starts. They posted six stakes wins, none of them major.

In an interview conducted before the running of the Champion of Champions, Allred conceded he was disappointed his horses had not fared better. His stable won 44 races.

Sharing the title of champion breeder was Uncas and Luva Secret owner Spencer L. Childers of Fresno and a member of the board of directors at Los Alamitos. Childers’ horses recorded 60 victories in 295 starts and earned $630,222. He also was named championship owner for having horses post 27 victories in only 100 starts and earning $537,594.

Blane Schvaneveldt was named champion trainer with 148 victories in 902 starts. He earned $1,207,721.