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SPEEDLINES
a chip in the knee was discovered-a chip that may have taken place when he was a foal. So, it was decided to try him in a maiden race
at Laurel Brown Racetrack to see if the chip would affect his running. It didn’t and he set the track record earning a 109 speed index going the 300 yards in a time of :15.260. Needless to say, Dash Ta Fame continued racing, going to Los Alamitos.
Dash Ta Fame was entered in the Dash For Cash Futurity trials. He ran third behind the great Corona Chick and Holland Ease. He came back in the finals to finish second behind Corona Chick with Holland Ease finishing third. His next start was in the Golden State Futurity-G1 trials where he won his trial
and the finals, with Holland Ease coming in second. He made five starts at two with three wins, a second and a third earning $174,197.
Dash Ta Fame’s 3-year-old campaign started almost immediately with the El Primero Del Ano Derby-G1 trials in January. He won his heat and then the finals. He beat Holland Ease in second and 1992 Champion 3-Year- Old Gelding Femmes Frolic in third. Dash
Ta Fame returned to the races in July with a third in the Governor’s Cup Derby-G1 trials, but would only finish eighth in the finals. He followed that race up with a win in the Vandy’s Flash Handicap-G3 and a third in the QHBC Championship Handicap-G3. He won his California Derby trial but finished fifth in the finals, which was a very interesting race in that Rare Form set a track record for the 400 yards in :19.350. Equibase shows that the top six finishers had speed indexes of over 110, with Dash Ta Fame getting a 113. He made eight starts with four wins and two thirds, earning $116,616 at the age of three. His total record stands at 13 starts, seven wins, one second, three thirds and earnings of $290,812.
When we look at the pedigree of Dash Ta Fame, we see the influence of the Phillips Ranch of Frisco, Texas. As we have reported before,
B. F. Phillips Jr. entered the horse business in
a big way in the 1950’s and early 60’s with performance horses. He owned and bred ROM performers, AQHA Champions and High Point Award winners. He had a staff that at one time was headed by the legendary Matlock Rose, and that staff included a young trainer named Bubba Cascio. Bubba rode all kinds of horses, including
his great cutting mare Royal Jazzy. Bubba is the son of Jake Cascio, a successful racehorse trainer. Bubba followed in his father’s footsteps and became the trainer of such runners as Rocket Wrangler and his son Dash For Cash.
Phillips transferred his interest in performance Quarter Horses to racing Quarter Horses in the mid 1960’s. With this interest came a plan that brought about a partnership with the King Ranch, allowing him to utilize the speed bred Thoroughbred mares that were available through this famous ranch and their Thoroughbred racing program. His plan was to breed Quarter Horse racing stallions such as Rocket Wrangler to these mares.
Dash For Cash, by Rocket Wrangler, became a 2-time World Champion and set
a New Track Record for 440 yards at Los Alamitos Race Course in the 1976 Champions of Champions in :21.17. Dash For Cash earned $507,750 winning 21 of 25 starts, including two Champion of Champions.
Dash For Cash is the sire of horses that have won over $39 million with 145 stakes winners, including 1985 World Champion Cash Rate. His daughters have produced
the winners of $71 million, including 1992 Champion 3 Year Old and Champion 3-Year- Old Colt Rare Form.
Rocket Wrangler is by Rocket Bar TB by Three Bars, and he is out of Go Galla Go by Go Man Go. The dam of Dash For Cash is Find A Buyer TB by To Market by Market Wise. To Market is out of Pretty Does by Johnstown. The dam of Find A Buyer is Hide And Seek by the unraced Alibhai, who is by Hyperion. Hide And Seek’s dam is Scattered by Triple Crown winner Whirlaway. The dam of Scattered is Imperatrice, who is by Caruso and out of Cinquepace by Brown Bud. Imperatrice is the dam of Somethingroyal, the dam of Triple Crown Champion Secretariat. This tells us that Dash For Cash and Secretariat came from the same female family.
First Down Dash by Dash For Cash, was bred by the partnership of A. F. Stanley Jr. and B. F. Phillips Jr. When Dash For Cash retired from racing, he was syndicated, and this brought a lot of good mares to his court. Phillips formed a number of partnerships with different people to allow him to bring others to the court of Dash For Cash who
hadn’t become syndicate members. This gave Phillips another way to get access to mares that he liked and thought would be a good potential cross for Dash For Cash.
I had the privilege to interview Mr. Phillips on several occasions. These conversations were most interesting, giving me some knowledge of how he approached his breeding plans. One of the things he
told me was that he would see a successful runner or runners and he would study
their pedigrees. By doing this, he would see something that interested him or a pattern that was successful. So, he would try it and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. If it didn’t, he went to something else.
One of the crosses Phillips was interested in was breeding Dash For Cash to Lady Bug’s Moon mares. Lady Bug’s Moon won the 1968 Kansas Futurity and 1969 Rainbow Derby and was second in the 1968 Rainbow Futurity and All American Futurity. He became a million-dollar sire with his foals earning over $4 million. His leading money earner is 1976 Blue Ribbon Futurity winner Shawne Bug. Lady Bug’s Moon was a leading broodmare sire, with his grandget earning over $13 million. His leading money earner is 1982 All American Futurity winner Mr Master Bug. Lady Bug’s Moon is by Top Moon and out of the great FL Lady Bug.
The Lady Bug’s Moon daughters produced 1,054 ROM. A look at the runners from these mares shows that Dash For Cash sired 17 racing ROM from these starters. Among those are three stakes winners, including Champion and AQHA Dam of Distinction Dashing Phoebe who is by Dash For Cash and out of Phoebe’s Moon Bug by Lady Bug’s Moon.
The Dash For Cash/Lady Bug’s Moon mating that produced First Down Dash is a little different in that his dam is First Prize Rose by Gallant Jet by Jet Deck and First Prize Rose’s dam is Rose Bug by Lady Bug’s Moon. We have to add that this is a very interesting cross, as First Prize Dash is a full sibling to First Down Dash and is an AQHA Dam of Distinction. She is the dam of 30 ROM runners with four stakes winners, including First Carolina, First Prize Leeza, First Prize Robin and Fast First Prize.
“...I went into the Heritage Place Sale catalog and B. F. Phillips had several broodmares in the book and I studied it and I picked out three mares and Sudden Fame was the first one that went through and I bought her.”
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