By Bill Finley
Desert Dawn (Cupid) doesn't know where she was bred, and maybe that's a good thing. Horses bred in Arizona are not supposed to win the GI Kentucky Oaks.
But this year one of the country's smallest breeding programs will have a chance to make some history. Desert Dawn was bred by and is owned by H and E Ranch Inc., a 400-acre spread in Globe, Arizona owned by the mother-daughter team of Elena and Hollie Crim.
“This is what dreams are made of,” Elena Crim said. “This is a real thrill for us.”
Elena Crim started the Thoroughbred breeding and racing operation with her late husband Hollis. They built up their breeding band over the years to the point that H and E now has 40 broodmares. About 25 are in Kentucky, but the Crims have made sure that they still stick to their roots and will breed a handful of horses each year in Arizona.
“We want to support the program in the place where we live,” Elena Crim said.
One of their Arizona breds was Ashley's Glory (Honour and Glory), the dam of Desert Dawn. She won five times in her career, including four allowances at Finger Lakes, before being retired in 2008. Initially, she had little success as a broodmare, but that changed when the Crims decided to breed her to Cupid, a young sire at Coolmore who has exceeded expectations.
“We came to the Keeneland sales and visited some stallions” Crim said. “We saw Cupid and that's when we decided to breed to him. He was striking. Just a beautiful horse.”
Elena Crim said that the team decided to have Desert Dawn bred in Arizona because that was also where her dam was bred.
“That mare was always one of our favorites because we raced her and bred her,” she said. “She was also an Arizona bred. It just seemed to be a good fit to have the next one in line also be bred in Arizona.”
Many of the Crim-bred horses go through the sales, and Desert Dawn was no exception. As a yearling, she was put into the 2020 OBS October sale, where she RNA'd for $32,000. The decision was then made to keep her and point her for the races.
“The bidding only got up to $30,000 and we thought she had too much quality to sell for that price,” Crim said.
It turned out to be a smart move. Desert Dawn was sent to the California-based trainer Phil D'Amato. She finished third in her debut and then won an Aug. 21 maiden at Del Mar. She picked up some black-type when third, beaten six lengths, in the GII Chandelier S., but struggled a bit after that. She was sixth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and then fourth in the GI Starlet S. and fourth in the GIII Santa Ysabel S. The longest shot in the field at 14-1 in the GII Santa Anita Oaks, she appeared to be in a bit over her head, but she turned in the performance of her life to win by a neck.
It was the first-ever graded stakes win by a horse bred or raced by H & E Ranch. In terms of earnings, the second best horse they have ever raced is Overdue (Overanalyze), who is still in training and has earned $161,521. Prior to Desert Dawn, perhaps the best horse that they ever bred is Grimm (Hansel), an Arizona-bred who won five stakes races, all of them at Turf Paradise.
After the Santa Anita Oaks win, the Kentucky Oaks was the next logical spot. There, she will face 12 Kentucky-breds and one New York-bred.
“Can she win the Oaks? Why not?” Crim said. “We are positive thinkers.”
If she can pull it off, it will be an historic win for the Arizona-bred program. Like many small regional programs, it has struggled to produce not just quality but quantity. Desert Dawn was one of just 97 foals born in the state in 2019. In 2005, there were 381 Arizona-breds born.
Berdette Felipe of the Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders Association said she cannot recall an Arizona-bred ever starting in either the Kentucky Oaks or the GI Kentucky Derby. The leading Arizona bred of all time is Coyote Lakes (Society Max), who earned $728,337 and won the GIII Gallant Fox H. in 2001 and 2002. A win in the Kentucky Oaks would make Desert Dawn the leading money-earner ever to come out of that state.
“We are very proud of Desert Dawn,” Felipe said.
For good reason.
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