Keeping Up With The PCQHRA Board Of Directors at Los Alamitos Race Track - John Bobenrieth
John and Kathie were in their early 20’s and had been married a couple of years. They started a Date Night thing, and one night they bopped into the Los Alamitos Race Track with a $20 budget in hand. They got in the parking lot, in the door, and in a seat with a program, a cup of beer, and a glass of wine. They now had $10 left over to last them the rest of the night. So they slowly leaked out that money with wild guesses on some horses at $2.00 a crack. As neophytes, they looked at the field and came up with their own magical formula for winning races. It went something like this: “Long-legged horses win short races, and short-legged horses win long races.” Anyone with any knowledge of horses would have laughed them back out on to Katella Avenue. But the amazing thing was, when the night was over, they were sitting there with their bellies full of more beer and more wine and $5.00 still in their hands. They NEVER went home broke. Not once. Little did they know that the hand of Good Fortune was doling out its blessings upon them. It was coming in the form of Beginner’s Luck and was about to morph into the Midas Touch. Who could have known that such innocence would turn into such success?
Success was not something that on the surface one would think about if he watched John Bobenrieth go through the educational system till he graduated from Huntington Beach High School in 1968. All John could think about was how soon and how fast he could get out of that joint. It didn’t help any that the Pacific Coast Highway and the golden beaches were only four blocks away either. When Fridays came, as far as John was concerned, school had been dragging on in slow motion for too long. He went to PE for the first period, and since he already had on his track suit, the second period was the same thing as if the Principal was on the horn yelling, “The school is on fire. Everybody make a run for it.” So he did. He bolted through the front door and bounded like a gazelle to and through the head shops at Huntington Beach and into the waves.
With no particular ambition in mind and just going along like your average student who is out of school looking for a job, he shortly walked into his best friend (Rory Muniz) dad’s office and met Joe Muniz who owned a pipeline business that put sewer, water, and storm drains into new tract housing developments. In time, that man and that job would be the springboard to every facet of his life from that day forward. He didn’t know this at the time, of course, but his life had just turned good and the pixie dust was just starting to fall from the heavens like light snow and light upon on his shoulders.
Muniz was more than an employer. He became John’s mentor in so many things. John came on the job as a heavy equipment operator. The outdoors with fishing, backpacking, and the like had a natural appeal to John. So moving the levers out in the hot, sweaty sun made John come alive. Joe supplied John with all the gas he could drive through on the weekends, and John would play with and practice heavy equipment war games till he could handle one of those behemoths like it was part of his anatomy. Joe gave John a reason to live and enjoy life.
But Joe was about to give John THE reason to live and enjoy life. One day Rory invited John over to the Muniz house for the Muniz Taco Night. Lo and behold, John sat down across the table from a Princess whose face seemed to be framed in stars from over the top of the Disneyland Castle. Her name was Kathie Muniz. Suddenly John’s concept of time and space came to a stand-still. He was in Carnaval and the mariachis were playing. You know the rest of the story. A boy named John Bobenrieth Jr. (29) is in this world today along with his older sister, Janene (31), 38 years later.
John and Joe, John’s new father-in-law, worked together for over thirty years. They even bought some heavy equipment together and shared in the ownership of a small business. That business in time became John’s family business that he manages today, which is renting water trucks and tractors and supplying labor for new home tract developments for storm water protection and erosion control.
But we are getting ahead of the story because the snowstorm of blessings from above was about to begin. John and Kathie by this time were in the middle of their Date Night thing down at Los Alamitos and enjoying their take home pay of $5.00 when one night they invited along Joe and his wife to join the fun. Unlike John, Joe had some knowledge about this venue. Next thing you know, they are down at Los Alamitos watching the morning workouts. Then they met a trainer and listened to him sing his siren song to prospective owners. Two months later, you guessed it, they claimed a horse named Speedy Policy for $10,000.00
In a couple of weeks, Speedy Policy came out of the gate like California Screamin’ over at Disneyland and WON! If only they had the ability to look up right then, they would have seen an avalanche of divine favor far above just starting to break off and begin its descent upon them. The old-timers and naysayers swarmed in like flies after that race and told them that this was a Biblical miracle. Well, yes, it would have been except that somebody who knew nothing but “horses with short legs win long races” had been siting there taking wild guesses and winning money for weeks. Speedy Policy was on a roll and galloped almost all the way to eligibility for the Governor’s Cup Race! In the end, Speedy Policy faltered with an injury. But it didn’t make any difference. The excitement of this steed and John and Kathie’s unlikely choice of such a horse was like stepping on a bellows aimed at the base of a fire. It yanked John up out of the water like a sailfish with a hard set hook about 1979-80.
So Joe, his daughter, and John charged back down to the track and claimed another horse. This time they got themselves a Philly named A Classy Chick. Oh, my. Little did they know that that avalanche from above was picking up speed. It did not appear that way at first, however. A Classy Chick was hauled over to the Dixie Downs Derby Trials in St. George, Utah. The gate opened, and A Classy Chick shot out of the shoot like a rocket and into the lead. The coast was clear ahead as if she was on top of a tidal wave when she spotted a puddle of water. She leaped over it only to injure herself. So A Classy Chick was through. The avalanche stopped dead in mid-air. But the way she could come out of the gate like a cannonball was magical. To her fortune, A Classy Chick was introduced to the man of her life, a big, gray stallion named Beduino. This was a marriage made in heaven because these two had a son, a colt - more like a golden boy - named Chick’s Beduino. No one could have known then that his name was going to go down into history on the same level as that of Samson. If only John and Kathie and Joe had known then what they know now, they would have dropped to their knees then and there and thanked the heavens for smiling on them. The avalanche resumed its drop with even greater speed toward the Bobenrieth cabin below. Again, however, like his mother, Chick’s Beduino sustained an injury. He went under the knife and was marked with a prominent scar that seemed to seal his doom. Wisdom said to sell him. But no one in his right mind would have bought Chick’s Beduino. Again, the avalanche suspended itself. It seemed all was lost. But remember Connie Hall. She was on the bridge of the Titanic and had seen the iceberg in the nick of time. She took Chick’s Beduino under her care. As she did, the avalanche continued its plunge and made a bee line straight for the Bobenrieth’s checkbook.. Chick’s Beduino went on to win the Bay Meadows Futurity, the Governor’s Cup Futurity, and a number of other smaller races. But THAT was not Chick’s Beduino’s major calling. His work in this world was Don Juan. I am talking stud here. And I mean a STUD. In 2006, he was voted into the AQHA Hall of Fame. In 1990-2000, he was voted - now get this - “The Sire of the Century.” If you were a horse, having Chick’s Beduino in the barn was like having SuperMan for your husband. The avalanche finally arrived at the front door like a freight train as Chick’s Beduino began to crank out an amazing line that includes Chooglin, Air Beduino, Chicks Got Pazazz, A Sisstar, Ah Commotion, A Fortunate Son, A Ransom (who is an AQHA World Champion and Champion Gelding), and standing stallion Righteous Brother. In 2009 John bred and raced Streakin Laquinta who won the prestigious Ed Burke Million Futurity.
Fortunately Chicks Beduino’s stock is still around. Two of his offspring - Million Dollar Dash and A Sweet Look - have been consigned to the Los Alamitos Equine Sale in October. John also has a colt named J.B. Ketchum, who is the last of Chicks Got Pizzaz. He is in training at Los Alamitos along with a Philly who is the full sister of Streakin Laquinta. J.B. Ketchum and Streakin Sisstar will both be in futurities this coming year.
John was just elected AQHA Director for the state of California. There are five people in California who hold this position. Before that, John spent 10 years on the PCQHRA board. Today he is an ex officio member.
John looked up the road and opined that today Los Alamitos needed more younger people involved - just like in the days when he and Kathie floated into the grandstand years ago and sat down in the bosom of their future. It may not have made any sense to a real horseman if he had sat behind these two when they conjured up total nonsense for winning a horse race in the hot California sun. But to imagine a Chick’s Beduino in somebody’s future and the possibility of frolicking in a house filled with even just a few snowflakes of pleasure - maybe even an avalanche - is what horse racing is all about.
Success was not something that on the surface one would think about if he watched John Bobenrieth go through the educational system till he graduated from Huntington Beach High School in 1968. All John could think about was how soon and how fast he could get out of that joint. It didn’t help any that the Pacific Coast Highway and the golden beaches were only four blocks away either. When Fridays came, as far as John was concerned, school had been dragging on in slow motion for too long. He went to PE for the first period, and since he already had on his track suit, the second period was the same thing as if the Principal was on the horn yelling, “The school is on fire. Everybody make a run for it.” So he did. He bolted through the front door and bounded like a gazelle to and through the head shops at Huntington Beach and into the waves.
With no particular ambition in mind and just going along like your average student who is out of school looking for a job, he shortly walked into his best friend (Rory Muniz) dad’s office and met Joe Muniz who owned a pipeline business that put sewer, water, and storm drains into new tract housing developments. In time, that man and that job would be the springboard to every facet of his life from that day forward. He didn’t know this at the time, of course, but his life had just turned good and the pixie dust was just starting to fall from the heavens like light snow and light upon on his shoulders.
Muniz was more than an employer. He became John’s mentor in so many things. John came on the job as a heavy equipment operator. The outdoors with fishing, backpacking, and the like had a natural appeal to John. So moving the levers out in the hot, sweaty sun made John come alive. Joe supplied John with all the gas he could drive through on the weekends, and John would play with and practice heavy equipment war games till he could handle one of those behemoths like it was part of his anatomy. Joe gave John a reason to live and enjoy life.
But Joe was about to give John THE reason to live and enjoy life. One day Rory invited John over to the Muniz house for the Muniz Taco Night. Lo and behold, John sat down across the table from a Princess whose face seemed to be framed in stars from over the top of the Disneyland Castle. Her name was Kathie Muniz. Suddenly John’s concept of time and space came to a stand-still. He was in Carnaval and the mariachis were playing. You know the rest of the story. A boy named John Bobenrieth Jr. (29) is in this world today along with his older sister, Janene (31), 38 years later.
John and Joe, John’s new father-in-law, worked together for over thirty years. They even bought some heavy equipment together and shared in the ownership of a small business. That business in time became John’s family business that he manages today, which is renting water trucks and tractors and supplying labor for new home tract developments for storm water protection and erosion control.
But we are getting ahead of the story because the snowstorm of blessings from above was about to begin. John and Kathie by this time were in the middle of their Date Night thing down at Los Alamitos and enjoying their take home pay of $5.00 when one night they invited along Joe and his wife to join the fun. Unlike John, Joe had some knowledge about this venue. Next thing you know, they are down at Los Alamitos watching the morning workouts. Then they met a trainer and listened to him sing his siren song to prospective owners. Two months later, you guessed it, they claimed a horse named Speedy Policy for $10,000.00
In a couple of weeks, Speedy Policy came out of the gate like California Screamin’ over at Disneyland and WON! If only they had the ability to look up right then, they would have seen an avalanche of divine favor far above just starting to break off and begin its descent upon them. The old-timers and naysayers swarmed in like flies after that race and told them that this was a Biblical miracle. Well, yes, it would have been except that somebody who knew nothing but “horses with short legs win long races” had been siting there taking wild guesses and winning money for weeks. Speedy Policy was on a roll and galloped almost all the way to eligibility for the Governor’s Cup Race! In the end, Speedy Policy faltered with an injury. But it didn’t make any difference. The excitement of this steed and John and Kathie’s unlikely choice of such a horse was like stepping on a bellows aimed at the base of a fire. It yanked John up out of the water like a sailfish with a hard set hook about 1979-80.
So Joe, his daughter, and John charged back down to the track and claimed another horse. This time they got themselves a Philly named A Classy Chick. Oh, my. Little did they know that that avalanche from above was picking up speed. It did not appear that way at first, however. A Classy Chick was hauled over to the Dixie Downs Derby Trials in St. George, Utah. The gate opened, and A Classy Chick shot out of the shoot like a rocket and into the lead. The coast was clear ahead as if she was on top of a tidal wave when she spotted a puddle of water. She leaped over it only to injure herself. So A Classy Chick was through. The avalanche stopped dead in mid-air. But the way she could come out of the gate like a cannonball was magical. To her fortune, A Classy Chick was introduced to the man of her life, a big, gray stallion named Beduino. This was a marriage made in heaven because these two had a son, a colt - more like a golden boy - named Chick’s Beduino. No one could have known then that his name was going to go down into history on the same level as that of Samson. If only John and Kathie and Joe had known then what they know now, they would have dropped to their knees then and there and thanked the heavens for smiling on them. The avalanche resumed its drop with even greater speed toward the Bobenrieth cabin below. Again, however, like his mother, Chick’s Beduino sustained an injury. He went under the knife and was marked with a prominent scar that seemed to seal his doom. Wisdom said to sell him. But no one in his right mind would have bought Chick’s Beduino. Again, the avalanche suspended itself. It seemed all was lost. But remember Connie Hall. She was on the bridge of the Titanic and had seen the iceberg in the nick of time. She took Chick’s Beduino under her care. As she did, the avalanche continued its plunge and made a bee line straight for the Bobenrieth’s checkbook.. Chick’s Beduino went on to win the Bay Meadows Futurity, the Governor’s Cup Futurity, and a number of other smaller races. But THAT was not Chick’s Beduino’s major calling. His work in this world was Don Juan. I am talking stud here. And I mean a STUD. In 2006, he was voted into the AQHA Hall of Fame. In 1990-2000, he was voted - now get this - “The Sire of the Century.” If you were a horse, having Chick’s Beduino in the barn was like having SuperMan for your husband. The avalanche finally arrived at the front door like a freight train as Chick’s Beduino began to crank out an amazing line that includes Chooglin, Air Beduino, Chicks Got Pazazz, A Sisstar, Ah Commotion, A Fortunate Son, A Ransom (who is an AQHA World Champion and Champion Gelding), and standing stallion Righteous Brother. In 2009 John bred and raced Streakin Laquinta who won the prestigious Ed Burke Million Futurity.
Fortunately Chicks Beduino’s stock is still around. Two of his offspring - Million Dollar Dash and A Sweet Look - have been consigned to the Los Alamitos Equine Sale in October. John also has a colt named J.B. Ketchum, who is the last of Chicks Got Pizzaz. He is in training at Los Alamitos along with a Philly who is the full sister of Streakin Laquinta. J.B. Ketchum and Streakin Sisstar will both be in futurities this coming year.
John was just elected AQHA Director for the state of California. There are five people in California who hold this position. Before that, John spent 10 years on the PCQHRA board. Today he is an ex officio member.
John looked up the road and opined that today Los Alamitos needed more younger people involved - just like in the days when he and Kathie floated into the grandstand years ago and sat down in the bosom of their future. It may not have made any sense to a real horseman if he had sat behind these two when they conjured up total nonsense for winning a horse race in the hot California sun. But to imagine a Chick’s Beduino in somebody’s future and the possibility of frolicking in a house filled with even just a few snowflakes of pleasure - maybe even an avalanche - is what horse racing is all about.