LOS ALAMITOS : Opportunity at a Price for A Classic Dash

Considering some of the obstacles A Classic Dash has cleared this summer, the $139,100 Dash For Cash Futurity tonight may seem like an evening stroll.

A Classic Dash is a 2-year-old colt who has won four of his five starts. And he was second in his other race, the California Sires Cup Futurity over Memorial Day weekend.

After the California Sires Cup Futurity, Abigail Kawananakoa and Connie Hall, A Classic Dash’s owner and trainer, respectively, shipped him to Oklahoma City for the Heritage Place Futurity trials at Remington Park, instead of staying in California for the Kindergarten Futurity. Because of the large number of horses entered in the Heritage Place Futurity--30 trials over two days--luck, the direction of the wind and the air temperature were factors in qualifying for the final.

A Classic Dash won his trial by 1 3/4 lengths, but a few hours later, after the temperature and wind had gone down, the times quickened. A Classic Dash had run the best race of his young career in the trials, but failed to qualify.

He was shipped back to California, and Kawananakoa immediately paid more than $22,000 in supplemental fees to make him eligible for the Dash For Cash Futurity.

Before the trials were run on July 16, however, a protest was filed by trainer Charlie Bloomquist, questioning the eligibility of A Classic Dash in the Dash For Cash Futurity.

To supplement for the Dash For Cash Futurity, a $12,950 payment was due on June 15. But A Classic Dash didn’t run in the Heritage Place trials until June 24. After he failed to qualify for that race, his handlers decided on the Dash For Cash Futurity. By then, the supplemental fee was even more expensive, $22,950, because the deadline was past.

Last Thursday, before the races, the stewards conducted a hearing on the eligibility of A Classic Dash. By a 2-1 vote, they decided the colt was eligible for the futurity, and in the trials, A Classic Dash won by 2 1/4 lengths over six others in 20 seconds, slightly faster than Jumping Tac Flash, who won the other 400-yard trial in 20.05 seconds.

Hall breathed a sigh of relief when the stewards announced their decision. She was finally about to concentrate, not on legal manners, but on the horse, who is still winless in stakes races. Tonight, she will have to worry about Jumping Tac Flash, a 2-year-old Tolltac filly who has won two stakes this summer.

Owned by John Andreini of San Mateo and trained by Blane Schvaneveldt, Jumping Tac Flash has won five of six starts, including the Miss Kindergarten and California Sires Cup futurities at Los Alamitos.

Those two victories have left her fourth in a poll of 2-year-olds conducted by the American Quarter Horse Assn., behind Rainbow and Kansas Futurity winner Treacherously, Heritage Place Futurity winner Zipuino and Firecracker Futurity winner Develop A Plan. Those three are expected to enter the All American Futurity trials at Ruidoso Downs next month, but Jumping Tac Flash and A Classic Dash probably will not because both would have to be supplemented for $50,000.

For the most part, the Dash For Cash Futurity is a two-horse race. Only 15 horses entered the trials, with 10 advancing to the final. Besides A Classic Dash and Jumping Tac Flash, the only horses with stakes experience are Streakin Millie and The Money Crunch, who were fourth and seventh, respectively, in the Miss Kindergarten Futurity in June.