F E A T U R E
Cal-Bred Millionaires’ Row
#45 McCann’s Mojave: Fast, Versatile & Durable
by EMILY SHIELDS McCann’s Mojave was an unlikely candidate to become the 45th California-bred millionaire. Not only did he nearly die as a three-month-old, but his dam also cheated death prior to foaling her most famous offspring. Undeterred, the robust bay McCann’s Mojave became something of a rebel against the odds and grew up to be a three-time graded stakes winner who captured several of the state’s major racing prizes in his seven-year career. The saga starts with the career of Joni U. Bar, a daughter of Nordic Prince who won 16 of her 37 starts while being campaigned later in her career by Dr. Rick Arthur. The dual stakes winner earned $320,050 before retiring to a productive life as a broodmare, with her first six named foals winning a combined 15 races. The best of those was Big Find, a stakes-placed, two-time winner by Geiger Counter. Joni U. Bar came up barren as a 17-year-old in 1998, and Dr. Arthur sold her to Santa Anita Park’s publicity director Mike Willman. Willman had been a longtime admirer of the mare’s breeder, Frank Cozza, who passed away before Joni U. Bar made it to the track. Willman bred his new mare to Memo (Chi), but before foaling, Joni U. Bar colicked. “I went to bed believing that she would be euthanized,” Will-
man recalled. “The next morning, she was up but she’d lost the foal. Long story short, I only got one baby out of her.” That foal was McCann’s Mojave, bred in partnership with Alix Nikki Hunt and born in 2000, when Joni U. Bar was 20. What seemed a joyous event was quickly marred when the flashy youngster fell ill and was rushed to an equine hospital. “He was deathly sick,” Willman explained, “and they had to wean him at only three months old. But he survived.” After the ordeal, Willman outlined a simple goal for his colt’s career; he wanted McCann’s Mojave to break his maiden. The colt was turned over to trainer Leonard Dorfman, who had also conditioned Joni U. Bar. While still a yearling, both Dorfman and Willman could tell that McCann’s Mojave had an excellent way of moving, and after he outworked an older stakes winner in his first gate work, they knew they were sitting on dynamite. “I’d talked to Nikki (Hunt) when the time came to pay the fee for the Breeders’ Cup nomination, and we both agreed that after all he’d been through, we just wanted him to break his maiden, so we didn’t make the payment,” Willman explained. “But when a horse works like that, you just get this feeling believing that you have something very special.”
McCann’s Mojave at Tom and Nancy Clark’s Rancho San Miguel in San Miguel, California.
60 CALIFORNIA THOROUGHBRED • FEBRUARY 2011
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