Corona Cash in Line for Quarter Horse Racing’s World Title

It could be a weekend like no other for Corona Cash. The 2-year-old filly could win Los Alamitos’ richest race and also lock up the world championship, which is quarter horse racing’s version of horse of the year.

Winning the race, tonight’s $1,186,310 Los Angeles Million Futurity, may be easier for Corona Cash than winning the election. There are four other strong candidates for the world championship, all of whom will be running Sunday night in the $300,000 Champion of Champions Stakes at Los Alamitos.

The best scenario for Corona Cash is for Winalota Cash, SLM Big Daddy, Dashing Folly and Heza Ramblin Man to all get beaten in the Champion of Champions, although that’s very unlikely.

Donna McArthur trains Dashing Folly and Corona Cash, and she has another good shot in the Futurity with This Snow Is Royal, who ran the fastest race in the trials.

“I guess I’ll be rooting for a dead heat,” McArthur said. “If This Snow Is Royal really behaves and gets away from the gate, he’ll probably win the Million. I don’t know if Corona Cash is as fast as This Snow Is Royal right now. What I do know is that Corona Cash will give me a 100% effort and she’s certainly more mature than the colt.”

Since May, when she was winless in three starts, Corona Cash has gone undefeated. She has won seven in a row, including the $1.8-million All-American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico on Sept. 1. Corona Cash’s earnings, slightly more than $1 million, would increase by $466,524 with a victory tonight.

This Snow Is Royal broke badly in his Futurity Trial on Dec. 5, but still won the 400-yard race by a half-length in 19.86 seconds. Wicked Winner and Dash For Kay, who were second and third, respectively, in the trial, are also running tonight.

Tami Purcell, who rides Corona Cash, will also be aboard Dashing Folly in the 440-yard Champion of Champions. Dashing Folly won the Champion of Champions last year, sewing up the world title.

Since then, Dashing Folly has won two of five starts, and was fourth, behind Heza Ramblin Man, Winalota Cash and SLM Big Daddy in the Los Alamitos Championship on Oct. 10.

Dashing Folly wore blinkers winning last year’s Champion of Champions, and has worn them in all her races this year, but McArthur, in a daring move, is taking them off Sunday night.

“I want her to see where the other horses are during the race,” McArthur said. “She’s not afraid of hooking up with the big horses, and she’s mature enough to handle this type of a change.”

This is the lineup, in post-position order, for the Champion of Champions:

Winalota Cash, Joe Badilla Jr. riding; Air Beduino, Eddie Garcia; Devine Wind, Jerry Rodriguez; SLM Big Daddy, Jacky Martin; Dashing Folly, Tami Purcell; Winning Rhythm, Carlos Bautista; Western Heart, Jim Lewis; Blues Dash, Jerry Winters; Royal Shake Em, Rodrigo Vallejo, and Heza Ramblin Man, G.R. Carter.

The pattern this year has been for many of these horses to take turns winning. After Heza Ramblin Man won the Los Alamitos Championship, he ran second three weeks later, finishing a half-length behind SLM Big Daddy in the MBNA America Challenge Championship.

Heza Rambling Man, helped by a 15-mph tail wind, ran 440 yards on Oct. 10 in 21.18 seconds, just missing the 21.17 clocking that Dash For Cash registered in winning the 1976 Champion of Champions. That’s been the track record ever since.

Trainer Blane Schvaneveldt, who has won the Champion of Champions nine times, including four in a row before Dashing Folly’s victory last year, will saddle Heza Ramblin Man, Winalota Cash and Devine Wind for this running. Schvaneveldt said Heza Ramblin Man is over the ulcerated throat that was a problem earlier in the year.

SLM Big Daddy, who has won six of 10 starts and earned $364,569 this year, ranked first in the American Quarter Horse Assn.’s poll of leading horses on Dec. 8, collecting 15 of the 27 first-place votes. Dashing Perfection, who got 10 votes and ranked second, won his seventh consecutive race Nov. 15 in the Texas Classic Derby at Lone Star Park near Dallas.

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The last five winners of the Native Diver Handicap at Hollywood Park have been Gentlemen, Alphabet Soup, Best Pal, Slew Of Damascus and Sir Beaufort. The Native Diver was just a small part of their hefty resumes, and eight horses will try to put a notch on theirs in the stake Sunday, the next-to-last day of the Hollywood season.

The field for the 1 1/8-mile Native Diver, in post-position order, consists of Refinado Tom, Boggle, Steel Ruhlr, Percutant, Le Triten, Old Chapel, Kukulcan and New Century.

The high weight, at 119 pounds, is Percutant, who will spot the others five to eight pounds. Percutant, whose 24 previous starts have been on grass, is making a quick comeback from a seventh-place finish in the Hollywood Turf Cup last Sunday. The French import, scratched in the post parade of the Pacific Classic at Del Mar in August, won his first two U.S. starts, then ran a couple of capable thirds while Marlin was winning the Sunset Handicap at Hollywood and the Arlington Million in suburban Chicago.