DAWNDEE
Appaloosa Mare
 

Registration: ApHC #T-5393
Foaled:  April 13, 1959
Died:     1990
Color:   Chestnut

Born on a beautiful April 13th morning of 1959, was a beautifully marked filly that would be named Dawndee, T-5393. She was out of a daughter of the Old Painter horse used by Claude Thompson, and by the ill-fated Appaloosa stallion called Buster, who sired but four foals before his leg was broken on the race track and he had to be destroyed.

From the start she showed promise of being an outstanding filly by her conformation and action, so it was decided she would follow the steps of her dam and sire and go to the track to see if there was any promise of speed.

Owned by Glade and Isabel Draper of Genola, Utah, Dawndee got off to a rough start on the track. Glade pulled her off the track, bred her to the stallion, War Glory, then, when she was safely in foal, put her back on the track. Not the usual thing done with a two-year-old filly that will be racing hard. But, it appears that Dawndee was not to be a "usual" racing horse. While in foal, she not only won the I.O.N., she dominated the field. Without a lot of Appaloosa races available, the Draper's put her in both Appaloosa and open races. As a two-year-old, in foal, she won seven races and returned to the tracks as a three-year-old with her foal, War Don, with her throughout most of the season. War Don would go on to become a top race and halter horse and was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1988.

In the September 1961 Appaloosa News, Lois Black, Utah Appaloosa Horse Club Secretary, reported the following about the Fourth of July, 1961, Payson Horse Races:

"What really topped the day was when the great Appaloosa filly of Glade Draper's, Dawn Dee, beat the Quarter Horses and the Thoroughbreds by a good length and a half to take First in the 310. As you know, this is the same fillie who took First at the ION show in Filer, Idaho, in the 470 Futurity. This filly went on to take First in Panguitch, Utah, in the 350, which was Open Competition; and finished in third place in Richfield, Utah, in the 1/8th of a mile. We are all really proud as Appaloosa owners to have this outstanding racing stock in the breed."

During her three-year-old season, 1962, Dawndee ran mostly open races throughout Utah, California, Colorado, and Nevada, winning at everything from 250-yard sprints to 5 1/2 furlong distances, matched up with Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses. In 1963, she won four out of eight starts, including the running championship at the National Show, two places and a show. At the two race meets sponsored by the National Appaloosa Club in 1963 (the National Show at Boise in June, and the National Play Off and Open Race Meet at Las Vegas in November) she came out the top money winner of both races. In 1966, Dawndee had produced three foals and was in foal during the season. During that season, she won four out of seven starts, placed in two and showed in one. Ben Johnson, her trainer, took her to Brush, Colorado, where she set a track and Appaloosa world record for 640 yards.

Running at Ely, Nevada, in August 1961, Dawndee may have been the first Appaloosa to run under pari-mutuel.

One of the worries of training a race horse is to keep the individual in peak performance condition and is something pretty difficult if the horse just feels that something is about to happen and refuses to devour the vittles. As many old-timers say, "If you are going to run them, you are going to get beat." Dawndee is no exception. During her racing career, she crossed the finish line behind the likes of Appaloosa horses Apache King S, Aspens Antelope Maiden, Double Hancock, Billy Pepper, and her own stablemate and three-quarters sister, Frae.

From her win in the I.O.N. Futurity in 1961, she went on to win nine of her 17 officially recognized Appaloosa starts, while overall winning more than 40 of the 50 Appaloosa and open races in which she started.

At Halter she had an enviable record. She was Grand Champion and Reserve Champion Mare several times. In 1963, she was named the Champion Halter Mare of the Utah Appaloosa Horse Club.

In addition to War Don, Dawndee's offspring included Dawn Mae, and Camee Dee, producer of Bold Concept, who had five Gold Cup Invitational Handicap victories. In 1975, after Glade Draper passed away, Dawndee went to Jay Thompson, who raised a colt out of her, then to Rex Garrett where she produced some foals and lived out her final days. Isabel Draper retained ownership of the mare all this time, but in 1990, due to the mare's failing health, Isabel asked that she be laid to rest.

The contributions Dawndee made to the world of Appaloosa racing were great. The mare gained a lot of respect for the Appaloosa horse as a serious competitor on the open tracks.

{The above article was compiled from various issues of the Appaloosa News and Appaloosa Journal.}

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