Page 45 - September 2020

SPEEDLINES
Refrigerator is like Higheasterjet in that he came from a modest beginning, proving again that a horse coming from that modest beginning can reach the ultimate by winning the All American Futurity.
of 10 starts with eight wins, two seconds, and earnings of $1,089,902. He was named the 1990 Champion 2 Year Old and Champion 2-Year-Old Gelding. But his racing career was
races, including the Vessels Maturity-G1, Los Alamitos Invitational Championship-G1 and Champion of Champions-G1. He won four of his five starts and earned $235,660. He was
Aged Gelding. He returned to the races in 1995, with just one win in an allowance from four starts. His best finish was a third in the Los Alamitos Invitational Championship-G1, and he did try for
just beginning, as he would race until 1995. The three-year-old campaign for Refrigerator
started in May with the trials of the Kansas Derby, which he won - and he also won the finals. His next start was the trials for the Rainbow Derby with a win and a second in the finals.
He was second in his All American Derby trials and second in the finals. He made two more starts in 1991, with a win in the Champion
Prep Stakes Second Division, and then he was third in the Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos Race Course. He had eight starts with four wins, three seconds and one third with earnings of $265,309. He was named the 1991 Champion 3-Year-Old Gelding. The 1992
racing campaign found him winning three stakes
named the 1992 World Champion, Champion Aged Horse and Champion Aged Gelding.
He made five starts in 1993, winning all five including the World’s Championship Classic at Ruidoso and for the second time the Los Alamitos Invitational Championship and Champion of Champions-G1. He earned $357,386 and was named 1993 World Champion, Champion Aged Horse and Champion Aged Gelding. Refrigerator made five starts in 1994, with only one win
and seconds in such races as the Remington
Park Championship-G1 and Los Alamitos Invitational Championship-G1. His win came in the Champion of Champions-G1, his third win in this very prestigious race. Refrigerator earned $154,937 and was named the 1994 Champion
a fourth win in the Champion of Champions-G1, but finished eighth, earning $23,125. His total record shows 37 starts, 23 wins, eight seconds
and three thirds, earning a total of $2,126,309 as AQHA’s all-time leading money earner.
Refrigerator retired to the Helzer home
and then was put in training with the AQHA Supreme Championship in mind. But this
was not to be when he suffered a head injury in training, and he had to be euthanized. Refrigerator was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame in 2000, while Jim Helzer became
the 2009 AQHA President and entered the AQHA Hall of Fame in 2015. A fitting tribute to Refrigerator, the runner that fulfilled the All American Dream for Jim Helzer.
Refrigerator’s winning connections include owner James Helzer, trainer Dwayne “Sleepy” Gilbreath and jockey Kip Didericksen.
SPEEDHORSE September 2020 43