Page 69 - January 2018

2001
A Ransom was named 2000 World Champion. Noted horsewoman Janet VanBebber will run her late husband’s stable. The USDA granted
a conditional license for an EPM vaccine. Remington Park held its first night racing program. Leading trainer Blane Schvaneveldt was inducted into the AQHA Hall Of Fame. Thoroughbred Zippy Chippy, whose attempt to break his maiden had reached 89 starts, finally won. For the first of its kind in equines, two foals that were bred in test tubes were produced by
the University of Cambridge’s Equine Fertility Unit in Newmarket, England. The first live sex-selected foal from fresh shipped sorted
sperm, a technique developed in conjunction with Colorado State University, via artificial insemination was born. Robert & Beverly Lewis, owners of 1999 Horse of the Year Charismatic, donated $10 million to the University of Oregon for the construction of a neuroscience research institute. The Jockey Club registered the first foal by using DNA to certify its parentage. Jonathan Horowitz, 16, became the youngest person to call a horse race in the U.S. at Canterbury Park. Canadians Eugene & Laura Melnyk gave $1 million to Belmont Park for the construction of a daycare facility for the children of the backstretch employees. The Moscow Hippodrome re-opened after a 10 year closure. The Texas Horsemen’s Partnership graduated its first class of 33 backside workers from its first Groom Elite Program. Dr. Ed Allred turned down an $80 million offer
to buy Los Alamitos Race Course from Frank Stronach’s Magna Entertainment Corp. In a
first for racing, a sire, a dam, and their offspring all raced on the same day. West Nile Virus, first detected in the U.S. in 1999, spread to Kentucky, Louisiana and Canada. Pari-mutuel operations and racing was cancelled at all 11 tracks in the U.S. on Sept. 11 in response to the terrorist attacks. Several Quarter Horse tracks donated proceeds to the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Charities New York Heroes Fund
to assist families of those who perished in the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks. California legalized advertising on jockey attire, owners silks and saddlecloths. Tomey Swan became the first woman and first Quarter Horse rider to lead the Jockeys’ Guild. In Memoriam: Dale Badon, the stallion manager for Blane Schvaneveldt who cared
for Chicks Beduino most of his life, passed away; AQHA past president Lee Berwick, 79, passed away; Robert H. Kieckhefer, 83, passed away; Champion A Delightful Dasher was euthanized due to complications from laminitis; Leading barel racing sire On The Money Red was euthanized at age 23.
2002
Tailor Fit was named 2001 World Champion,
his 2nd World Championship title. The first-ever gathering to explore the benefits of equine genome research convened in Dallas, TX. Delta Downs opened its casino. Several unexploded WWII bombs were found during efforts to improve the surface of Bremen racecourse in Germany after the final two races of 2001 were cancelled due to poor conditions. First Down Dash surpassed his sire Dash For Cash as the all-time leading sire of money earners. Raymond S. Paulick, editor-in-chief of The Bloodhorse, donated his entire compensation for his book Sunday Silence to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and Central Kentucky Riding for the Handicapped. The New Mexico
1999 and 2001 World Champion Tailor Fit shown winning
the 1999 Refrigerator Handicap under jockey Steve Fuller.
Racing Commission awarded a license for Zia Park, a new track located in Hobbs. Two foals born to surrogate mothers became the first ever produced from frozen eggs as the culmination of research
at Colorado State University. Western Horsemen Magazine spearheaded an Animal Feed Fund, with $2,500 in matching funds, to help buy hay for livestock affected by fires in Colorado. Hollywood Park commissioned a study on building an electrical generation system that would be fueled, in part, by horse manure. The first case of West Nile Virus in a horse was reported in Texas. The Agua Caliente Handicap trophy - which was made in
the 1800’s and won by Seabiscuit in 1938, stolen between 1952 & 1953 and recovered in 2001 - will have a permanent home in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs. The first foal produced with oocytes harvested from the ovaries of a deceased mare into a surrogate mare was born at Colorado State University. Harrah’s Entertainment signed a letter of intent to purchase controlling interest in Louisiana Downs. Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe ordered all white
farmers off their land, including that of Zimbabwe Thoroughbred Breeders Association chairman Peter Moore, which was given to Mugabe’s family and
SPEEDHORSE, January 2018 67