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Donna, James and Mindy McArthur after Eastex won the 1984 All American Futurity-G1 at Ruidoso Downs
in the World’s Championship Classic. She won her trial to the All American Derby and stood poised to become the first horse to capture both the Futurity and the Derby. In what was one
of the most thrilling finishes in the history of the race, Easy Date finished in a dead heat for second with Jet Commanche, an inch behind Clarence Scharbauer’s Vim And Vigor.
Upon Easy Date’s return to Los Alamitos, the reigning queen of California’s older females, Native Empress, beat her (by a nose, of course) in the Cypress Invitational, leaving the 1975 Champion of Champions a wide-open contest. There was certainly no longer any aura of invin- cibility surrounding Easy Date. However, in what would be the final first-place finish of her career, Easy Date pulled off one more hair-rais- ing victory, winning by a nostril and securing her title as overall World Champion.
Certain racehorses have a flair and a flam- boyance which adds luster to their performances. When the name Dash For Cash is mentioned, everyone thinks of his historical :21.17 day-
light win in the Champion of Champions-G1. Mention Special Effort and we think of his 4-length win in the All American Futurity-G1 or his 6-length win in a Rainbow Futurity-G1 trial. Easy Date conjures up no such images.
But victories are victories and her career record through two busy seasons is difficult to match.
“She would just do what she had to do to win,” said her jockey Donnie Knight, explain- ing her propensity to barely win her races.
After that Champion of Champions-G1 win, Easy Date was a finalist in two more stakes races at Los Alamitos in January 1976, and then went
back to Sayre, Oklahoma, to begin a broodmare career which can only be described as disap- pointing. No one knows why so many great run- ners don’t become great producers. Some might project that it was because Easy Date’s dam, Spot Cash, was a cheap Thoroughbred claimer, racing in $1,500 claiming races in New Mexico in which she nearly always made a wide early lead in her races before fading. Walter Merrick
bought her for only $1,200. But if she was good enough to produce Easy Date, it doesn’t seem logical that her genetic influence would limit her daughter’s production.
James McArthur, on the other hand, went
on to a training career few will ever equal. Boosted by his accomplishments with Easy
Date, McArthur began to attract more clients and better horses. Recognizing the talents of his wife Donna, McArthur set up a division on the west coast under her care, as well as the Texas/ New Mexico division he oversaw directly. In 1984, a decade after his win with Easy Date, James McArthur won a second All American Futurity-G1 with Eastex, who went on to become the sport’s leading money earner with $1,869,406—one million dollars more than Easy Date’s $849,710. In 1997 Donna McArthur, won the All American Futurity-G1 with Corona Cash, securely and permanently chiseling the McArthur family name into the cornerstone
race of our sport. And it all took flight when one master horseman told another master horseman, “James, you might ought to take that lop-eared filly over there.”
James’ wife Donna and daughter Mindy.
SPEEDHORSE February 2023 145
Corona Cash winning the 1997 All American Futurity-G1 at Ruidoso Downs.
© Speedhorse Archives
© Speedhorse Archives
© Speedhorse Archives