Looking Back to Desperate Lady (09/02/10)

Posted Thursday, September 2, 2010

By Mike Paradise

This is another in a weekly feature exclusively on www.harnessillinois.com. Every week I’ll post a least one “Looking Back feature. Mostly they’ll be of the great horses who have competed in our state through the years. At times they’ll be pictures from the winner’s circle, special celebrations, and in some cases old memorable race track scenes. Some of these photos haven’t been printed or posted in decades . . . others have never been printed at all.

Just by right clicking your computer mouse, going to “Save Picture As”, you can make your own jpeg copy of any Looking Back photo posted. You can e-mail them and share with a friend or maybe start your own computer file of “Looking Back” memories.

To view Archived Notes and Quotes click here.

Looking Back

                                                             DESPERATE LADY

   Trained by Illinois Hall of Famer Joel Smith for owners Maria Delacruz (Moline, IL) and Joyce Swartz (Davenport, IA) this daughter of the Illinois bred sire Rory Hanover was the 1983 Illinois Horse of the Year when she put together a spectacular three-year-old campaign that saw her capture 26 of 33 starts and earn $273,240.

Desperate Lady is shown here winning with Dave Magee at Sportsman’s Park in 1983. She was also driven by Jim Curran who was at her lines when she won the Golden Miss Pacing Stake Final that June in 155:4. Only Cam Fella (1:54 and 1:54.2) and Sharvid Skipper (1:55) went faster in 1983 on the Cicero, IL five-eighths oval.

Desperate Lady would lower her mark to 1:54.1 at that summer’s Springfield State Fair. She would follow her sophomore season with 10 more victories as a four-year-old. She retired as a broodmare in 1985 after finishing her racing career with 40 wins in 70 starts in a three-year span and banking over $307,000