Page 86 - September2021

Special Effort, by Raise Your Glass and out of Go Effortlessly was born on April 1, 1979, and Moehrig thought the colt was special from the beginning.
Go Effortlessly is the dam of Special Effort. Raise Your Glass TB, the sire of Special Effort.
“I always liked that little fellow. He had a special look of class to him, which is why we decided to name him Special Effort.”
- Allen Moehrig
breed Raise Your Glass to Go Effortlessly to get Special Effort. Moehrig and Selig later became the breeders of Miss O Toole, a daughter of Special Effort out of Jetta O Toole. Miss O Toole produced 2000 All American Futurity winner Eyesa Special by Mr Eye Opener.
Special Effort was born on April 1, 1979,
and Moehrig thought the colt was special from
the beginning. He reported the following to SPEEDHORSE in 2006, “I always liked that little fellow. He had a special look of class to him, which is why we decided to name him Special Effort.”
Special Effort was special, but he was for sale. He was sold to Allen Taylor and L. E. Willis of Beeville, Texas, for a reported $8,500. He was later transferred to the partnership of Allen Taylor and Inken Willis. Taylor sent the colt to the track with trainer Johnie Goodman, his then son-in-law.
Dennis Blackmon, assistant trainer for Johnie Goodman, told SPEEDHORSE in 2011 the following. “From day one, you just knew he was going to be a good one. We worked him at New Braunfels when he was just a long yearling, and you could tell then.
He just covered the ground quicker than anything else.” Blackmon went on to explain that Special Effort wasn’t “crazy about training, but he liked to race.”
Special Effort made his first start on March 29, 1981, in a maiden race at La Bahia Downs in Goliad, Texas. He went the 330 yards in a time of :17.25, winning by 1 1/2-lengths. Ernest Fennell, the exercise rider for Special Effort, told this about the first race. “The first time we ran him at Goliad, I think he was in the five-hole, I know pretty much he was in the middle of the racetrack. He ran all over the race track from the inside back to the outside and back down on the rail, and he ran like a 96 speed index.”
Tom Dawson, long time racehorse commentator and analyst, was on hand in 1981 for the All American Triple Crown. He recently talked about Special Effort. “My first recollection of Special Effort was when he showed up in
the Kansas Futurity trials. I knew he had been purchased by Allen Taylor. He showed up
with the reputation of a horse that could really run. This was 1981 and Johnie Goodman had
made a pretty good splash the year before with Higheasterjet winning the All American. So
it wasn’t surprising, and I knew Allen Taylor a little, so I knew if he was spending that kind of money then he’s probably got a runner. So we were expecting good things from him.”
Good things did come in the Kansas Futurity trials when Special Effort won his heat in a time of :17.90 for the 350 yards, winning by 4 3/4-lengths. Dan and Jolene Urschel were there watching the colt win his race and that set in motion a big change in the life of Special Effort.
Jolene Urschel will fill us in on what happened next. “We were at the trials for the Kansas, and we watched the trials and Dan was always keeping his eye out for a good horse. He had certain things he looked for and wanted in a horse and sometime the horse had all the characteristics on the outside, but maybe didn’t have the heart - and you can’t see the heart. But Special Effort stood out. He had the fastest time for the trials, and we were very impressed with him. So, Dan decided, ‘Let’s see if we can buy him.’”
84 SPEEDHORSE September 2021