HQHRA Invitational Ends in a Dead Heat

Monday’s $100,000 Horsemen’s Quarter Horse Racing Assn. Invitational Championship at Los Alamitos Race Course was more than just a re-running of December’s $200,000 Champion of Champions.

It was also a reunion for the last two HQHRA winners. Windy Dash, a 5-year-old mare, won the 440-yard stakes feature last year and the 6-year-old gelding Scott Lewis won in 1983.

Monday night, Windy Dash and Scott Lewis welcomed Dashs Dream and Rise N High to their HQHRA winners’ circle.

It was a dead-heat photo finish for Rise N High and Dashs Dream in 21.72 seconds. This was the first dead heat in a $100,000 race since the Los Alamitos Championship in 1982.

Rise N High, a 4-year-old gelding trained by James Brookfield and ridden by jockey Steve Treasure, got a little bit of revenge on Dashs Dream Monday night. Rise N High, the favorite in the Champions, placed seventh in that race, which was won by Dashs Dream.

Indigo Illusion was a neck behind the dead-heat duo for third.

Dashs Dream paid $2.40, $3.00 and $2.20. Rise N High paid $3.20, $5.80 and $2.80. Indigo Illusion paid $2.80.

“She stumbled really bad coming out of the gate,” jockey Danny Cardoza said of Dashs Dream. “She saw the rail and tried to get away from it a little bit.”

Dashs Dream, who was in the No. 1 post, managed to overcome the poor inside position to share the victory. Only two of the horses in nine races Monday night won on the inside.

“She’s the only woman I know that never makes a mistake,” Brookfield said of Dash Dream earlier in the week.

Monday night, however, Dashs Dream did make one mistake and her miscue proved lucky for Brookfield.

Quarter Horse Notes

If Dashs Dream is named 1984 World Champion as expected it will be trainer Mike Robbins’ second World Champion in three years. Sgt Pepper Feature won the title for Robbins in 1982. . . . In the fourth race Monday night at Los Alamitos, Raise Smoke, a 60-1 shot with jockey Joe Ruiz, scored the highest win pay off of the season, paying $126.80, $48.80 and $20.60 to win. Raise Smoke combined with second place, Mistiful Day, for the all-time high $2 exacta pay off at Los Alamitos--$2,277.40. . . . Tonight, jockey John Creager will win his first HQHRA meet title. As of Saturday, Creager had 54 wins, 11 ahead of Kenny Hart. Creager also won the Bay Meadows title last spring and the Los Alamitos title last summer. . . . Trainer Blane Schvaneveldt won five races Saturday night, four of them consecutively (the sixth through ninth races), to equal his own record, which he shares with C.W. (Bubba) Cascio, for the most wins in a single night. Schvaneveldt swept the daily double Monday night. . . . Tonight’s closing night feature race at Los Alamitos will be the $30,000 Bull Rastus Invitational Handicap at 870 yards. Shawnee Suit, a 5-year-old gelding trained by Bruce Jackson, is favored. Shawnee Suit won both 870-yard stake features at the winter meet and is looking for a victory tonight to sweep all three.