Page 42 - February 2021

SPEEDLINES
racing year with a second by a slim nose in the Leo Stakes-G1 in May at Remington Park. His next start came with a win in the Debbie Schauf Remington Park Invitational Championship Stakes-G1. He was then off to Minnesota, winning the Bank Of America Canterbury Park Championship Challenge Stakes-G3. He went to Ruidoso in September to win the All American Gold Cup-G1. He then made two starts at Albuquerque with
a second in the Downs at Albuquerque Fall Championship-G1 and then a win in the AQHA Challenge Championship Stakes-G1. His final start came in November at Lone
Star Park with a win in the Refrigerator Invitational Championship Stakes-G1. This gave him a record of seven starts with five wins and two seconds, with four Grade 1 wins and one Grade 3 win while running at four different tracks. He earned $651,113 for the year, becoming not only the 2021 AQHA World Champion, but also the AQHA Champion Aged Horse and the Champion Aged Gelding.
Dean Frey is like many in the business today. He got his start as a boy, growing
up around the racetrack. He talked about his entry into the racehorse business as a trainer, breeder, and owner. “My father (Darrell Frey) trained racehorses for many years. He trained Ettago Chickie, the 1980 Champion Two-Year-Old Filly. So, I kind
of got into racehorses through my father.” He then recalled that going to Los Alamitos Race Course as a boy with his dad, “was like going to the big apple.” They were now a part of the big time.
Shez Jess Toxic, dam of Danjer, winning the John Deere Evergreen Juvenile Challenge and setting a New Track Record.
Frey, who was achieving his dream as a breeder. Danjer is owned by the partnership of Frey, Downtime Enterprises LLC (Pat Guthrie) and Billy G. Smith, fulfilling the dream of a World Champion for all three owners. He is trained by Frey and his jockey is Cody Smith, who delivered the dream for these horsemen.
When I called Dean Frey to talk about the story behind Danjer, I found a man who had spent the day at the Heritage
Place Mixed Winter Sale and his day at this event made him feel like a “Champion.” You could truly feel that he was honored
to have his World Champion. He fully appreciated fulfilling that illusive dream and
the magnitude of what that meant to him as a member of the racehorse industry.
Frey had this to say this about Danjer, his 2021 World Champion. “First couple of times I ran him before he broke his maiden, he just hadn’t caught on to breaking or anything, but I took him to Minnesota, and he ran second or third the first time I ran him and he ran a respectable race. But the next time when he broke his maiden, I could tell he had figured it out. If you know what you are looking for, you can tell when a horse is running.”
Well, Danjer has certainly figured it out, he has earnings of $1,503,885 with a record of 26 starts with 15 wins, six seconds and three thirds. He started his winning ways
at two, breaking his maiden at Canterbury Park and then winning his trial for the All American Futurity, then with a win in the All American Juvenile Stakes. He next won his Texas Classic Futurity trial and finished third in those Grade 1 finals. Danjer came back in 2019 to win his trial and then place second in the Ruidoso Derby-G1. He was second in his All American Derby-G1 trial, qualifying for the First Down Dash Stakes that he won. He also finished second in The Championship
at Sunland Park-G1 and third in the Zia
Park Championship-G1 that year. Danjer showed his championship material in 2020, earning the AQHA Champion Gelding
and Champion Aged Horse titles with four wins from six starts, including the Downs
at Albuquerque Fall Championship-G1 and the AQHA Challenge Championship-G1, as well as the Canterbury Park Championship Challenge-G3.
So, with his 2020 Champion titles under his belt, Danjer started the 2021
Jockey Cody Smith was aboard for all seven of Danjer’s starts in 2021.
40 SPEEDHORSE February 2022
1980 Champion Two-Year-Old Filly Ettago Chickie, trained by Dean’s father Darrell Frey.
Susan Bachelor, Speedhorse
J. A.Dodd
Speedhorse Archives