Page 84 - September2021

to rub together. We worked for a salary, and he talked his mother into buying her. And that is how we got into racing.”
Annie June was a 1962 mare by Mr Bar None and out of Chicaro Annie C by Chicaro Bill. She was a half-sister to Cee Bars, a AAA rated son
of Three Bars that was a stallion for the Burnett Ranches. Annie June ran AAA time with 12 wins in 32 starts. She was a multiple stakes finalist and stakes placed with a second in the Timberline Handicap. She was the dam of eight foals and seven ROM from seven starters. Her leading money earner was Texas Fire Fight, a stakes winner in the 1982 Northeast Colorado Derby and Colorado State Fair Derby.
The next phase of the Urschel’s venture into racing was winning the 1973 Rainbow Futurity. Again, it was the purchase of a mare that moved them deeper into racing. “Fly Straw was a mare that Dan’s mother bought at the Haymaker Sale that Dale Robertson, the movie star, and his brother Chet owned. This was the name of the sale before it became the Heritage Place Sale.”
Fly Straw was a 1958 mare by Jackstraw and out of Flying Bobette by Lucky Bob Blanton. She had 53 starts with 19 wins and $39,743
in earnings. She was named the 1961 AQHA Racing Champion Three-Year-Old Filly. She won several stakes, including the 1961 Sunland Championship and in 1962 the Chicado V Handicap and the Barbra B Handicap. She was the dam of eight starters with seven ROM and two stakes winners. Her foals won $191,754. Her second stakes winner was Jet Miles by Easy Jet. He won the Independence Day Handicap.
Jolene continued, “Dan and I owned a share in Rocket Bar and we used one of our breedings and that is how we came up with Flying Rockette who won our first Rainbow Futurity.” In addition to her Rainbow win, Flying Rockette had 15 starts with six wins and
The Urschels bought Easy Dimple at the 1978 Ruidoso Yearling Sale.
earnings of $103,558. Flying Rockette had 11 starters with 11 ROM, and one stakes winner in Easy Flying, winner of the 1979 Lubbock Downs Spring Derby.
As we often see in life, we have our highs and our lows. The high in this case was Flying Rockette winning the Rainbow. A low at this point was that Lester Urschel died the night they won the Rainbow Futurity. This would necessitate the Urschel family cutting back on their racing activities. They returned to racing in about 1978 with the plan to buy the horses they were going to race.
So, about the time they were getting
back to racing that low in life returned. Tragedy struck again with a head on collision involving Dan and son Ken in a crash with their other son Greg at the top of a hill on the ranch. The accident injured Dan and Ken,
but the crash was fatal and Greg was killed. It would be horse racing that would bring them back in hopes of attaining the highs we can have in life. But that high would have to wait as they had another setback.
Easy Dimple was a filly they bought at the Ruidoso Yearling Sale in 1978. Jolene proceeded with their story, “We bought Easy Dimple, a filly, and she was fast. She was so fast, and Leo Wood was our trainer. In her first start, she broke from the #2 hole in the Kansas Futurity trial and on the inside, there was a bad spot
on the track where the oval and straightaway came together and she popped her knee. You could hear her knee pop and even with that she was ahead at that point and ran a close second despite running on three legs.”
Easy Dimple, by Easy Jet and out of Chicks Dimple Too by Three Chicks, got her ROM
Champion Pie In The Sky with Danny Urschel, Danny Cardoza and Leo Wood after winning the 1979 All American Futurity.
“If you have ever seen a picture of Pie In The Sky at the finish line of his All American it shows him taking a funny step or jump across the finish line. That is because people had
to walk on the track to get to the infield. And when Pie In The Sky got there, he a saw a line and jumped it. So, I guess he jumped into All American Futurity history as the 1979 winner.”
– Jolene Urschel
82 SPEEDHORSE September 2021