Page 43 - 2 March 2012

West Texas Derby-G2 winner Mr Perry Dash was one of the Schoenhofers first big runners in 2007, eventually retiring with earnings of more than $285,000.
Ricardo Pena, Coady Photography
Though Denis and Julie Schoenhofer were restaurants in surrounding states, was having
both involved with horses from an early
age, they learned immediately upon launching their racing venture that there was more to running racehorses than they’d realized.
“We went to the auction a few times and ended up buying some Thoroughbreds one night,” Denis said. “We had no trainer, no barn, nothing. We had absolutely no idea what we were going to do with them.”
A woman they’d met at the sale suggested they call Santa Teresa, New Mexico, trainer Mike Joiner, who has become one of their main trainers over the years. “Mike stepped in and saved us,” Denis said.
Then, at the 2005 All American Select Yearling Sale, Joiner spotted the Separatist son Separatist Too, out of Shake Softly, by Special Project. Denis and Julie bought the gelding for about $15,000, and in his first out in 2006 he qualified for the Grade 1 Ruidoso Futurity. Then, he qualified for the Rainbow. Sadly, the talented gelding foundered and died that year, but the Schoenhofers, by then, were fully committed to Quarter Horse racing.
THE EARLY DAYS
Denis discovered his horseracing passion
as a kid when his dad would often drive the family hundreds of miles from their home in Wichita, Kansas, to watch the races and bet a few dollars. “We used to go to a lot of the old tracks—Hot Springs; Centennial in Littleton, Colorado; AkSarBen in Nebraska,” Denis said. “It was fun and a good introduction.”
Julie spent her childhood playing with horses at her Kansas home, training them for jumping and dressage, and showing a little.
The couple met in 2000 when Denis, owner of a chain of KFC and Taco Bell
his airplane serviced at the airport where Julie, a professional pilot, sold airplanes. “I told him I was a mechanic,” Julie said. “I thought he knew I was kidding. We worked on his plane and put everything on backwards. The next day, we had to fix it again!”
The pair’s shared horse interest led to a relationship in which horseracing played a large part. “He had a place at Ruidoso and we always went and watched the races,” Julie said. “He talked about having his own racehorses sometime.”
Julie took that as a hint and surprised Denis with a Thoroughbred for Valentine’s Day in 2004. “Darned if he just never raced,” Denis said of the colt.
They continued as spectators until that fateful auction and their Separatist Too purchase in 2005. There was no going back. They continued buying prospects and honing their selection skills.
BUILDING THE BASE
During the next few years, Denis and Julie acquired several successful runners. Mr Perry Dash, a 2004 son of Mr Jess Perry out of Baby Doll Dash, by Dash Easy, won the West Texas Derby in 2007 and holds a 24-8-3-3 record with $285,366 in earnings.
They also bought First Klas Fred, a son
of freshman sire Fredericksburg out of the Strawfly Special daughter She Flies First
Klas. He was named Champion 2-year-old Gelding in 2009 after setting the second-fastest Ruidoso Futurity-G1 qualifying time and then winning the finals. He also beat All American Futurity winner Runnning Brook Gal in the Hobbs American Futurity-G3 at Zia Park that year, finished third in the Southwest Juvenile Championship-G1 and fifth in the Grade 1 West
SPEEDHORSE, March 2, 2012 41
Stacy Pigott/Speedhorse