Heza Dasha Fire wins another horse race
Please pardon the pun, but Kennewick’s Don, Kathy and Shawn Meneely are still on a great ride when it comes to Heza Dasha Fire.
The Meneely’s comprise the ownership group of Dash called S-Quarter K LLC.
On Saturday, Dash blew away the field in Los Alamitos in the Grade 1, $859,400 Los Alamitos Super Derby down in Southern California.
It was the 3-year-old gelding’s 10th win in 11 career starts, and improving his career earnings to $1,389,388.
The win also qualifies Dash, as Kathy Meneely affectionately calls him, for the Grade 1, $600,000 Champion of Champions race on Saturday, Dec. 12.
“This was our whole goal for the year,” said Don Meneely. “We had some options to go to Ruidoso (Downs). But our trainer (Jose Flores) said Dash had a shot to get into the Champion of Champions. It’s the most prestigious race, and you have to win a stakes race to get in.”
It also sets up a race against the legendary Moonist. When Dash was named the American Quarter Horse Racing Association’s 2-year-old gelding of the year in 2014, Moonist was the 3-year-old recipient.
“This is the kind of matchup everyone has been talking about all year down there,” said Don Meneely. “Dash is running really well. He ran faster in the finals of this race than in the trials. That was the fastest 400 yards time he’s ran (at 19.462 seconds).”
The big question, says Meneely, is can Dash go the 440 yards required in the Champion of Champions?
“Everyone talking to me says to just watch him run on the end (of this last race),” said Meneely.
While he chuckles that those people are all in Dash’s camp, it’s also a great point.
In Saturday’s race, Dash got a terrible break out of the gate and fell behind the field. But he didn’t panic, and jockey Cruz Mendez said he never touched the horse.
“He’s just got that unbelievable once-in-a-lifetime ability to accelerate in the middle of a race,” said Meneely.
Whatever happens Dec. 12, Dash still has some racing ahead of him.
“He’ll continue to run in 2016 until he tells us he doesn’t want to run anymore,” said Meneely. “Moonist is a 4-year-old gelding and he still runs. You just take care of them, and hope their body holds up.”
Sometimes geldings end up being barrel racing horses in rodeos.
“My wife is not gonna let that happen,” said Meneely. “This one will end up being out in my (Kennewick) pasture, enjoying green grass.”
Meanwhile, the Meneely family is just enjoying this ride.
W If the Meneely’s don’t have enough success with Dash, meet Ima Fearless Hero, Dash’s younger, 2-year-old gelding brother.
He won the $385,000 Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Association Futurity last month at Los Alamitos. He’s now won four of five races and will compete in the trials Nov. 20 for the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity – the only race Dash lost.
HEDENGREN TAKES PLACE IN BYU HALL: John Hedengren was a standout distance runner at Richland High School in both cross country and track and field.
The 1995 Richland grad went on to BYU to compete for the Cougars — something he was quite good at.
So good, that last month, he was inducted into the BYU Athletic Hall of Fame. Others inducted on Oct. 15 were Willard Hirschi (coach), Rob Morris (football), Nina Puikkonen Mortensen (volleyball), and Luke Staley (football).
Some of the notes on Hedengren from the program: During his time as a BYU athlete, Hedengren was a catalyst on both the men’s cross country and track teams. He was part of a combined 11 conference championship teams in both cross country and track during his BYU career. He earned first-team All-Mountain West Conference honors in cross country three years in a row, highlighted by a MWC individual title in 1999. The next season he earned NCAA All-America status at the NCAA Championships.
In track, Hedengren’s most notable accomplishment came at the 2001 MWC Championships, where he took second in the 10k.
Hedengren was also an outstanding performer in the classroom. He was named a CoSIDA Academic All-America an amazing five times — more than any athlete in BYU history. Hedengren was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America first team in both cross country and track in 2000.
Jeff Morrow: 509-582-1508; jmorrow@tricityherald.com; Twitter: @morrow_jeff
This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 4:26 PM with the headline "Heza Dasha Fire wins another horse race."