(Saturday, October 4, 2003) - Jim and Marilyn Helzer’s Hadtobenuts was the fastest of 10 qualifiers to the Grade 1, $393,120 Dash For Cash Futurity on Oct. 18 with a 400-yard clocking of :19.843 on Saturday night in front of 6,225 fans at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas.

Each race on the 12-race program was a trial for the seventh running of the Dash For Cash Futurity. The 10 fastest times advance to the final worth a hefty $157,248 to the winner. The next 10 fastest times will be invited to the $43,680 Dash For Cash Juvenile Stakes.

Of the 113 juveniles who went postward, Hadtobenuts was most impressive in the sixth heat. The Strike The Cash colt broke well then exploded to the lead for a commanding 1 ¾-length victory as the 4-5 favorite. Gilbert Ortiz rode the winner for trainer Heath Taylor.

“All I wanted him to do was just get away with them,” Taylor said. “I’ve had just the utmost amount of confidence in the horse from the first day. I’m just thrilled he got a chance to show how he can run on a premier stage tonight. I’m very pleased and I want to thank Mr. Helzer for stepping up to buy the horse. When I showed him the horse and told him about the horse, we went and evaluated this video, and it took him about ten seconds to decide he wanted the horse.”

The Helzers, prominent owners and breeders who reside in Arlington, Texas, also qualified a pair of horses to the Dash For Cash Derby, Snow Me and Dazzling Reflection.

“When he broke good I thought it was all over and he just widened up on the horses,” Jim Helzer said. “He had a fairly easy race so we’re elated to be here.”

The complete list of qualifiers: Hadtobenuts (:19.843 for 400 yards; owned by Marilyn and Jim Helzer; trained by Heath Taylor; ridden by Gilbert Ortiz); Sixes Royal (:19.876; F. Graham, S.J. and F. Martinez; Frankie Martinez; Jacky Martin); SS Bug N Bubba (:19.884; J. Reuben Shealey; Shealey; Michael Phillips); Ima Perry Girl (:19.889; Sylvia Shaw Pitman; John Buchanan; Juan Vazquez); Jess Rapid (:19.935; B.G. Smith; R. Eastburg, D. Daskalos and K. Ray; Mike Joiner; G.R. Carter Jr.); Will To Win 123 (:19.949; T Bill Stables; Jack Brooks; Jacky Martin); Counting Sheep (:19.956; Bobby Moore; Lance Moore; Modesto Pina); I Make Em Shake (:19.974; Betty Jo Spence; Phillip Calais Jr.; “Bubba” Brossette); Executive Menace (:19.977; Scarlett Hill Farm; “Sleepy” Gilbreath; Roy Baldillez); and Overlook Easy (:20.002; Jim Pitts; Jack Brooks; Jacky Martin).

Racing at Lone Star Park resumes Wednesday night at 6:35 p.m. Simulcasting continues seven days a week in the Post Time Pavilion. On Sunday, the simulcast center will open early at 10 a.m. for a simulcast of Europe’s prestigious Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe from Longchamp in France.

Additional Dash For Cash Futurity trial quotes:

Trainer Lance Moore (Race 1 winner Counting Sheep): “He’s been trying hard all year and he’s just been coming up a little short. Maybe this’ll be the one that works for him. He’s a great horse and does everything right. He’s just been doing super. I hope we have some luck.

Owner Gus Barakis of Scarlett Hill Farms (Race 3 winner Executive Menace): “I was pleased. The horse ran a big race in the Rainbow Futurity trials. He won by two and came back with, I thought, a solid effort in the finals. He got beat a little over a length. He was a little flat in the All American trials. [Trainer] Sleepy [Gilbreath] told me right before we came to the track he thought he was better tonight than he’s been all year. We’re out in Weatherford and we have a breeding farm where we breed mares for the public. We stand six or seven stallions. This is a homebred out of one of our own mares. We bred her with Chicks Beduino via cooled semen. The only thing we race is homebreds and we don’t buy any yearlings. We’ve tried over the last thirty years to narrow the mares down to where they’re good-producing mares. We don’t have a runner every year. Sometimes you go several years without a runner, but we’re fortunate to come up with another one this quick. It’ll be a sweat [tonight]; there’s some nice horses running.”

Trainer John Buchanan (Race 4 winner Ima Perry Girl): “She just hadn’t really matured into herself. She’s really training good. She’s a real good eater and a good doer and that really helps a lot. We came up here to Lone Star, been up here about a little over a month, and the weather’s been really good and cool. She really likes it. She’s just doing good up here, really blossoming. She ran a big race. We’re proud of her.”

Jockey Jacky Martin (Race 10 winner Sixes Royal): “My horse left fairly well. He was just a little bit hesitant on the gate. The seven horse just left so fast it made us all look like we had a bad start. I didn’t know if I could run him down or not, he was so far out in front of me at one time. But he came on and ran a big race on the end of it. I think he might’ve been looking at the Jumbotron there a little bit, because he was really watching it in the post parade. But he was still running; it wasn’t a problem. He wasn’t going out that bad and he was out in front of everything on the outside of him. I was pleased with him.

“I was really concerned. The last three or four trials have been kind of slow with the wind picking up like it was. For him to run that kind of time, he was really running.”

Jockey G.R. Carter Jr. (Race 11 winner Jess Rapid): “This colt ran real good for us early in the year. Mike did a real good job with him and he just got eat a nose in the Ruidoso Futurity. He missed qualifying for the Rainbow and he wasn’t paid up in the All American. We gave him a little time off and he didn’t seem to come back really craving it. Mike and his son really had to get after him to get him back on his toes. I asked him before the race if he was going to make me look good tonight because I’d been getting whipped on all night, and then came through and made me look good.”

Trainer Mike Joiner (Race 11 winner Jess Rapid): “He had a little time off and he was wanting to be pretty flat for us. I was real pleased with the way he ran tonight and he usually comes back and runs better in the finals so we’ll see how it turns out. There’s one more trial left so it’d take quite a heat to knock us out.”