Page 47 - July 2020

He and Cathy raise, breed, break and sales “...he has compassion for his
prep horses in addition to providing layups.
owners and his horses. I trust him. He’s a man to be trusted.” – Connie Rosenthal
Powerful Favorite, owned by Rosenthal Ranch LLC, won his trial and set the Bob and Connie Rosenthal hold a special place in the Firths’ heart. fastest qualifying time to the Vessels Maturity-G1 (finals on July 5).
run again, but he just climbed up the ladder and ended up making about $72,000. That one kind of got Ron’s heart pumping a little bit!”
In the meantime, Ron and John claimed a horse named Chickitita (Tac It Like A Man-the Devine Miss Em, Corona Cartel) together. “She was running in the handicaps and stakes; she didn’t win them, but she was always in them. She qualified for the La Primera, but didn’t get to run in the finals because she got an abscess. But we’d started getting a little sniff of some good.”
Then Ron bought Forgotten Dynasty (FDD Dynasty-Icy Morn, Crowned Jewel), and the next year Moonist. “Moonist showed a lot of talent as a 2 year old but he didn’t do anything great then because he ran all over the track,” John says. “As
a 3 year old, he really put it together and never looked back after that. Neither did Ron. Moonist has the record for derbies won at Los Alamitos (4) and ended up winning nearly $900,000. Since then, Ron did not have a year without a futurity or derby horse, or both.” Moonist ranked first by earnings in both 2014 and 2015.
Ron also owned Jess A Habit (Separatist-Jess Another Habit, Mr Jess Perry), Princesa Sin Tacha (PYC Paint Your Wagon-Sin Tacha Perry, Mr Jess Perry) and multiple graded stakes win- ner One Proud Eagle (One Famous Eagle-Guy Chasing, Fishers Dash).
HIS STRING OF SUCCESSES
In addition to Ron Hartley [who passed away on Jan. 27, 2020] and John Cooper, the roster
of trainers and owners John has handled horses for includes Lin Melton; Chuck Treece; Rod MacPherson, who owned Separatist; the Track Rats, who owned multiple graded stakes winner Hard Hitting (TR Dasher-Chickasis, Chicks Beduino) and stakes placed Romantic Fire (Walk
Thru Fire-Romanticist, Separatist); Chris O’Dell; and Chuck Stojan, who takes Firth-started sale horses back to Canada each year to race.
Stojan’s winners include the graded stakes winner Toughie (Stel Corona-Hard Lining, Hawkish), ranked 11th by wins in 2018. The mare won 17 of 26 races, including her Ed Burke Million Futurity trial (placing sixth in the final), the Canadian Quarter Horse Cup Futurity-G3, the Evergreen Park Derby Chal- lenge and Evergreen Park Distaff Challenge, and the Canada Quarter Horse Cup Derby.
John says the biggest impact he’s felt through Chris O’Dell’s horses has come from Con-
nie (and the late Bob) Rosenthal of Rosenthal Ranch LLC, last year’s AQHA Champion Owner. “They brought me a couple horses one year and had me pick the one I liked. That was Effortless Effort [Favorite Cartel-Madonna Effort, Special Effort]. That horse made it into
a couple futurities and Connie just gave me so much recognition for the success.”
The next year, the Rosenthals bought Power- ful Favorite (Favorite Cartel-Remember Me Rose, Corona Cartel). “He won his first out and has never looked back,” John says of the 4 year old who has earned $780,222. “The next year, Con- nie bought his full brother, Runforyourlife, and he won the Los Alamitos Million last year; and also last year, Ron Hartley’s Cartel Jess Rockin won the $2 Million. That was pretty awesome.”
Connie says she appreciates John’s down- to-earth honesty. “He’ll tell me right from the get-go [what he thinks a horse is capable of ]. He can see what a horse has and expand on that. And, he has compassion for his owners and his horses. I trust him. He’s a man to be trusted.”
Connie and Bob hold a special place in the Firths’ hearts not only because of the top-notch
horses they’ve brought to the Firths’ operation, but because of their generosity that helped with the Firth boys’ college expenses. “Bob and I had discussed this before Bob passed,” Connie says. “Bob said, ‘I think we should give something extra to John because he puts in a lot of work on those horses before the trainers on the track ever get them, and then they get all the gravy.’ So, when Powerful Favorite started winning, I gave John a percentage. He called me and said, ‘What is this money?’ And I said, ‘John, I feel you earned it.’ Nobody had ever done that for him before, and he was so appreciative. We’ll continue, so I hope the horses I have at the track just win, win, win!”
SHORT TIME, LONG LIST OF HONORS
In the seven years since John and Cathy consoli- dated their operation, they’ve won every derby and handicap at Los Alamitos except the Champion of Champions, and every futurity except the Ed Burke.
This year could mark a career sweep for the der- bies and handicaps as well as the futurities: Powerful Favorite, owned by Rosenthal Ranch LLC, won his trial and set the fastest qualifying time to the Vessels Maturity-G1 (for which a win in the July 5 finals would earn a berth in the Champion of Champi- ons), and Chance To Excel (Favorite Cartel-Elans Last, Separatist), owned by Valeriano Racing Stables LLC, posted the fastest qualifying time to the Ed Burke Million Futurity and won the $1,075,000 Grade 1 finals on June 21.
Despite establishing his and Cathy’s success- ful business from the ground up, John sees his greatest successes as raising his family, coaching baseball for 14 years and helping his kids win
a CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) baseball championship. “In addition to all that,” he says, “I’ve been able to attain my life’s dream, to be a good hand.”
SPEEDHORSE July 2020 45