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POST PARADE MARCH 12, 2014 Hall of Fame missing an Old Hat by Vance Hanson Among the four Thoroughbred finalists on the 2014 Hall of Fame ballot, announced last week by the National Museum of Racing, is Ashado, who was named champion three-year-old filly in 2004 and champion older mare in 2005. Whether Ashado is inducted this year or at some future time, she would join a lengthy list of fillies and mares in the Hall of Fame who secured divisional championships in multiple years. Members of this group currently include Azeri, Bayakoa, Bed o' Roses, Bewitch, Cicada, Desert Vixen, Flawlessly, Gallant Bloom, Gamely, Go for Wand, Miesque, Paseana, Ruffian, Shuvee, Susan's Girl, Ta Wee, Tosmah and Two Lea.
Though there is a stakes run annually at Gulfstream Park in her honor, few apparently remember how good Old Hat was. One possible explanation is that she rarely competed on the turf's biggest stages. Old Hat raced in New York only twice, losing by wide margins to Hall of Famers Tosmah and Affectionately, and not at all in California. Suffice it to say her performances in the 1964 Maskette Handicap and 1965 Top Flight Handicap do not begin to tell the whole story. Old Hat raced 80 times, winning 35 starts and placing in 27 others. In her last three seasons of racing, when she was at her peak, Old Hat was first or second in 29 of 38 starts and was out of the money just five times. Two of those unplaced efforts were on turf, a surface she never quite mastered. Old Hat broke into the national consciousness in 1963 in an abbreviated (by her standards) campaign which saw her beat or finish ahead of that year's champion older filly, Cicada, twice in three meetings. Though she was getting weight in both instances, it was no small feat to upset a horse who would become the first filly to win championships at ages two, three and four. In 1964 Old Hat was named champion older mare in the Thoroughbred Racing Association (TRA) poll based on wins in the Delaware Handicap (at the time the richest race in the country for fillies and mares), the Spinster and the Falls City Handicap. She also finished second in the Arlington Matron and Maskette to Tosmah, a three-year-old rival who was named divisional champion in both major polls as well as Daily Racing Form's "Handicap Mare" category, which three-year-olds were eligible to be considered for at the time. It was in 1965, at age six, when Old Hat clearly establish her Hall of Fame credentials. Not only did she defeat members of her own sex in the Columbiana, Black Helen, Suwannee River, and Arlington Matron, but she also defeated males twice, including the one who would be voted Horse of the Year in the DRF poll. Old Hat was no stranger to facing and beating males. Prior to 1965, she had won four of six starts against males, albeit all in allowance sprints. But in her second championship season, she proved her mettle three times in stakes company against the boys. In her first attempt, the seven-furlong Appleton Handicap at Gulfstream, she was beaten a mere neck by Ampose while conceding that foe, who subsequently won the 1 1/4-mile Gulfstream Park Handicap, seven pounds. Later in the year, in the Michigan Mile and One-Eighth Handicap at Detroit, Old Hat defeated Roman Brother by a half-length. Old Hat carried 115 pounds to Roman Brother's 118, essentially equal weight on the scale when the three-pound sex allowance is considered. Roman Brother, a leading three-year-old the previous year, would go on to win the Woodward, Manhattan Handicap and Jockey Club Gold Cup by a combined margin of 23 lengths. In a close vote, he was named 1965 Horse of the Year in the DRF poll. Old Hat's third and final stakes attempt against males that season was in the Fayette Handicap at Keeneland. Again carrying equal weight on the scale with her closest pursuer, she won by a neck over Lt. Stevens, later to be famous as the broodmare sire of Hall of Famer Alysheba. Two disappointing efforts prevented Old Hat from being a serious Horse of the Year candidate in 1965. In her final appearance in New York, Old Hat conceded seven pounds to Affectionately in the Top Flight, and that rival got an easy lead which she never surrendered. And 12 days after winning the Fayette, Old Hat ran a puzzling fourth in the Spinster at odds of 2-5. Nonetheless, Old Hat was awarded champion older mare honors by both the DRF and TRA. "Hattie" was not in championship form in 1966, but her campaign had its moments. The highlights included a second win in the Falls City at Churchill Downs and a second-place effort in the Spinster, where she finished between Open Fire and Summer Scandal, the respective DRF and TRA champion older mares of the year. Old Hat's racing career ended following an allowance score against males at Tropical Park on December 2, 1966. She died in 1987 at the age of 28. Old Hat was the quintessential champion mare of an earlier era. She was durable, excessively so by modern standards, a winner going short and long over 10 different racetracks, and was one of the very few fillies in history to have defeated the best male of her year straight up. It's these attributes that make her worthy of induction into the Hall of Fame. Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com
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