Page 83 - September2021

SPECIAL EFFORT &
The All American Triple Crown
by Larry Thornton
Alot has been written about Special Effort and they told the family they would have to move horse she called Smoky Joe. He was like sitting
and his winning the 1981 All American Triple Crown. This year marks the 40th anniversary of this great accomplishment as the only horse to wear this crown. Many have tried but none have done it. So, how did it all come about and was there a special quality that gave him the ability to do it?
Our story starts with Dan and Jolene Urschel and how this family developed their love of Quarter Horse racing. Jolene Urschel recently talked about the family’s early history and how it led to racing. “Dan and I grew up in Canadian, Texas. He was born in Kansas and his family had come from Germany. They landed in Ohio and built a lime mine. But his dad’s little sister died,
to a dryer country and so his grandfather moved them to Kansas and that is where Dan was born. His grandfather came down here in about 1932 and bought the ranch here in Canadian. There was like 30,000 acres. When they came down
to the ranch one time, they found out that the foreman was branding the calves with his brand instead of the Urschel brand, the Square Top Three Brand, and that was when Lester and Mary moved down here. Dan was four years old.”
She continued, “Dan lived on the north side of the river. I was born in Canadian and lived on the south side of the river. We went to church together and went to school together. Dan had always been around horses. His mom Mary had a big ole sorrel
on a rocking chair. I never sat on a horse that was that easy to ride. She was riding when she carried Dan. So, he grew up riding horses from the very beginning. He always loved horses and had his own horses that he would break and ride.” Jolene went on to explain that it was his mother Mary that ran the livestock side of the ranch. His father Lester did the ranch labor of building fence and other activities like that.
Jolene explained how a neighbor got them into Quarter Horse racing, “Reed Hill worked on a ranch on down the river, on the Big Bull Ranch. He had a stud and some mares and some racehorses. Dan saw this beautiful filly named Annie June. Dan and I didn’t have two nickels
Annie June was Dan & Jolene’s
first racehorse.
Dan saw this beautiful filly named Annie June. Dan and I didn’t have two nickels to rub together. We worked for a salary, and he talked his mother into buying her. And that is how we got into racing.”
SPEEDHORSE September 2021 81