Page 166 - February 2021

Cavenaugh Quarter Horses
by Andrew Hanna, Speedhorse
Several days before future Champion Uncle D went to post for the 2019 Rainbow Futurity, his owner Fran
Cavenaugh of Cavenaugh Quarter Horses saw what she believed was an auspicious sign. “I was heading to Ruidoso,” she remembers, “and it was a rainy day, but the clouds were starting to clear up. And as I was driving through my hometown, I looked up and saw a double rainbow. I thought that was kind of cool, so I called our assistant trainer, Renee Wilson, and said, ‘Hey, Renee, tell Clint [Cavenaugh Quarter Horses’ trainer Clinton Crawford] that I just saw a double rainbow, so maybe that will bring us some good luck in the Rainbow.’”
When the day of the Grade 1 Rainbow Futurity arrived, Uncle D broke alertly and charged into the lead. As his eight opponents strained behind him, the colt drew away and won by 1 1/4-lengths. Fran was dumbstruck. “All the time that he was running,” she says, “I didn’t say a word. I just stood silent.”
As fate would have it, another one of her runners, Why, had annexed the $100,000 Rainbow Juvenile Stakes earlier that day as a 23-1 longshot. To add to the significance of the achievement, Fran and her husband Don had won both events with the same owner/trainer/jockey combination – an accomplishment not replicated before or since. For the Cavenaughs, however, Uncle D’s and Why’s victories were only the first part of what promises to be a triumphant story of sustained success.
When Fran and Don Cavenaugh decided to get involved in Quarter Horse racing four years ago, they had virtually no experience with the sport. “Both of us always had Quarter Horses – on and off – all of our lives,” Fran recalls. “We had been to a few Thoroughbred meets, but I don’t know if we’d ever really gone to a Quarter Horse meet.”
According to Fran, she and Don were first encouraged to look into Quarter Horse racing by an acquaintance. “My husband had a friend who said, ‘Hey, I’m going to go down to this Quarter Horse sale. Why don’t you go with me?’”
Even before being invited to their first Quarter Horse sale, the Cavenaughs had been on the lookout for new opportunities. The two own and manage Cavenaugh Auto Group, which includes several car dealerships located across Arkansas. Additionally, both are hard-working individuals who are active in their community. Aside from her position as the CFO of Cavenaugh Auto Group, Fran is also a third-term Representative in the Arkansas House.
After decades in the car business, however, both were eager to broaden their horizons. “We are looking to slow down in the car dealership,” Fran says, “and let our children take over the day-to-day management of it. We were looking for something that we might do as a ‘retirement.’
“He [Don] decided to go down to the sale,” Fran remembers. “He came back and said, ‘I bought three racehorses.’” Soon after purchasing their first runners, the two
started researching Quarter Horse trainers. Eventually, they settled on Clinton Crawford, one of the nation’s leading conditioners. “We took those horses to him,” Fran says, “and that’s kind of how it started.”
Although the Cavenaughs first made a name for themselves as racehorse owners, they are primarily concerned with the breeding aspect of the sport. “We always wanted to be in the breeding side. That’s what interested us the most,” Fran asserts. “We enjoy racing – and we’ll always be involved
in racing – but our long-term goal is to be a breeder.” This October, the two emerged on the national breeding scene after acquiring James Ranch and subsequently renaming it “Cavenaugh Quarter Horses.” Located in Wayne, Oklahoma, the ranch is a sprawling facility that was previously owned by David James. James Ranch stood a number of
racing stallions, including 2021 leading sire Apollitical Jess.
For Fran and Don, their purchase of James Ranch was the culmination of an exhaustive search. “To be honest, we didn’t know if we wanted that to be in Louisiana, Oklahoma,
or New Mexico. So, we did research and decided that Oklahoma probably fit our operation better than the other locations,” Fran confides. When they approached David James, they learned that his property met almost all of their criteria. “Just speaking with [David] James,” Fran recalls, “we realized
that the James Ranch was going to become available.” In addition, she says, “We were
164 SPEEDHORSE February 2022
2-time Champion Uncle D
Jake Rogers, Ruidoso Downs winning the Rainbow Futurity-G1.