Garrett's Miss Pawhuska - Race Career

Race Career

Although Garrett's widow later described Miss Pawhuska as "scrawny—she looked like a jackrabbit then", Garrett trained her for the track and she raced as a two-year-old and three-year-old. Her first race was the Oklahoma Futurity in 1948, where she won her qualifying heat and won the finals by a nose. The finals' start was delayed, but even after the delay, Miss Pawhuska won, beating Savannah G, Lapped, and Red River Pride. Her time for the 220 yards (200 m) race was 12.7 seconds.

Although Miss Pawhuska's official record with the American Quarter Horse Association (or AQHA) is six starts and six wins, the early records are not all entered into the AQHA's computers and the official charts published in the 1940s show she lost a match race to Gin High. However, the published race chart for the race noted that she was leading the race until she ran over a stake 50 yards (46 m) before the end of the race, which caused her to lose the race. She earned a Race ROM and $250.00 (approximately $2,400 in current dollars) in her official records. The official earnings only reflect one race, a match race in 1949, but they don't list the other purses she earned, including the $1,000 (approximately $9,700 in current dollars) purse for the 1948 Oklahoma Futurity. She also is claimed to have won a match race worth $2,500 (approximately $24,400 in current dollars), although this was an unofficial race.

Miss Pawhuska's jockey at the time, C. W. Cascio, said of her when he raced her at Del Rio, Texas, "I thought she was going to have to go all out just to keep up with those big two-year-olds—what with her little enough to run under their bellies." Her last race was at Enid, Oklahoma, and it was a match race against Bob K K, which she won.