Page 72 - January 2018

CELEBRATING
2006
DM Shicago was named 2005 World Champion. The Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame presented its inaugural humanitarian JoAnn Weber Award for Special Achievement award to Jim Helzer. Turf Paradise celebrated its 50th anniversary. The California Horse Racing Board voted to eliminate coupled entries for common ownership of horses. Remington Park and Lone Star Park owner
Frank Stronach provided relief for 270 people displaced by Hurricane Katrina, purchasing property in Louisiana and moving them into mobile homes he purchased. The Indiana Paint Horse Club raised over $6,000 for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital during a one-
day trail ride. Following its first racino meet, Remington Park, presented the State Department of Education with a commemorative check of more than $1 million in total contributions. James & Marilyn Helzer donated $1 million to
the American Quarter Horse Foundation to help fund the Hall of Fame & Museum. The CHRB introduced a digital photo identification system into its licensing process at all state tracks. 50 spectators purchased a special $1,000 mint julep at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day, with all proceeds going to a charity that cared
for retired racehorses. The Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund was established to assist disabled riders. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management proposed the use of contraception in older
mares to limit herd growth. New medication rules in Oklahoma permit treatment of horses
up to 24 hours before a race instead of the previously required 48 hours. The U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment to restore the 34-year-old ban on the commercial sale and slaughter of wild horses and burros. The non- profit Kentucky Equine Humane Center was formed for the shelter and adoption of unwanted horses of all breeds. The world’s largest equestrian bronze at over 39’ tall, of Mexican conquistador
James & Marilyn Helzer donated $1 million to the American Quarter Horse Foundation to help fund the Hall of Fame & Museum.
Don Juan de Onate on a rearing stallion, was erected at the airport in El Paso, Texas. For the first time, clones competed in an athletic event when cloned mule Idaho Gem & his duplicate copy Idaho Star each won their qualifying heat to a futurity in Winnemucca, NV. The Tennessee Walking Horse finals were cancelled for the first time in the events 68-year history after most of the horses were disqualified due to a practice called soring. The U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act to ban the slaughter of horses
for human consumption and the domestic and international transport of live horses or horseflesh for the same purpose. R.D. Hubbard, owner of Ruidoso Downs, sold his Crystal Springs Farm
in Kentucky and moved to his new Crystal Springs Farm in New Mexico. Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron created the North American Racing Academy (NARA), the only college degree program in the U.S. for jockeys,
at the Kentucky Horse Park. Israel contested
its first official horse race at the new Gilboa Hippodrome in the Jezreel Valley. Microchips
to identify and locate animals were implanted in 500 California Thoroughbreds. The U.S. house passed the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act which clarified that it is a crime to damage or interfere with a legitimate, legal animal enterprise. Jimmy Maddux was the leading owner in two breeds – Paint and Appaloosa. In Memoriam: O.S. Snider Carlton, breeder of World Champion Winalota Cash, passed away; Jack Dube, trainer of Champion Brigand Silk, passed away; Blair Folck, who envisioned and helped establish the annual All American Quarter Horse Congress in 1967 – the largest single horse breed show in the world, passed away; Rodney Hart, the #5 all-time leading trainer at Los Alamitos at the time, passed away; Walter Merrick, a leading breeder/owner/trainer including of World Champion Easy Jet, passed away at 95; Six stallions died at JEH New Mexico after a fire broke out in the stallion barn, including Quarter Horses Fredricksburg, Southern Cartel, and The Down Side; Paint Champion Easy Jet Too, the leading Paint sire at the time, died; Leading/Champion sire Heza Fast Man died; World Champion and the only horse ever to with the Quarter Horse Triple Crown, Special Effort died at 27 just shortly after retiring from stud duty; Leading/Champion sire Streakin Six died; Champion/Champion sire Takin On the Cash was euthanized; Champion/Champion sire This Snow Is Royal was euthanized.