Garrett's Miss Pawhuska facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Garrett's Miss Pawhuska

– Garrett's Miss Pawhuska at 15 years old –
Breed	Quarter Horse
Discipline	Racing
Sire	Leo
Grandsire	Joe Reed II
Dam	Jenny Dee
Maternal grandsire	Jimmie Allred
Sex	mare
Foaled	1946
Country	United States
Color	sorrel
Breeder	Bill Rowe
Owner	Dee Garrett
Honors
Racing record
6-6-0-0
Race earnings
$250.00 (approximately $3,100 in 2025)
Racing awards
AQHA Racing Register of Merit
Honors
American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame
Last updated on: May 18, 2009.

Garrett's Miss Pawhuska (born in 1946, died in 1975) was a famous Quarter Horse mare. A mare is a female horse. She became a mother to eight foals, and three of them grew up to be world champion racehorses!

When she was a young horse, called a yearling, she was sold even though her owner didn't plan to sell her. One of his workers accidentally told a customer that the young horse was for sale.

Garrett's Miss Pawhuska's official race record shows she won all six of her races. However, this record is not complete and doesn't include all her earnings or races. After racing for two years, she stopped competing to become a broodmare, which means a mare used for breeding. She passed away in 1975 when she was 29 years old. Her son, Vandy's Flash, was the first gelding (a male horse that cannot breed) to be named a World Champion Quarter Running Horse. Garrett's Miss Pawhuska was honored by being added to the American Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame.

Early Life of a Champion Horse

Garrett's Miss Pawhuska was a sorrel (a reddish-brown color) mare born in 1946. Her father was a horse named Leo, and her mother was Jenny Dee. Jenny Dee's father was Jimmie Allred.

Garrett's Miss Pawhuska was born at Bill Rowe's farm in New Mexico. But by the time she was a yearling, she was owned by Earl Jackson in Oklahoma. It's not clear if Jackson bought her as a baby or if he bought her mother when she was pregnant with Miss Pawhuska.

One day, a man named Dee Garrett visited Jackson's ranch. One of Jackson's ranch workers told Garrett that the young mare was for sale for $200. Even though Jackson hadn't planned to sell her, he felt he had to complete the sale because his employee had already set a price.

Racing Career and Wins

Dee Garrett's wife later said that Garrett's Miss Pawhuska looked "scrawny" and "like a jackrabbit" when she was young. But Garrett trained her for racing, and she competed when she was two and three years old.

Her very first race was the Oklahoma Futurity in 1948. She won her first race to qualify, and then she won the final race by just a nose! The start of the final race was delayed, but Garrett's Miss Pawhuska still won. She beat other horses like Savannah G and Red River Pride. She ran the 220-yard (about 201-meter) race in 12.7 seconds.

The American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) officially lists Garrett's Miss Pawhuska with six wins in six races. However, some early records were not put into the AQHA's computers. Old race charts from the 1940s show she actually lost a match race (a race between only two horses) to a horse named Gin High. In that race, she was leading until she tripped over a stake in the ground, causing her to lose.

She earned a Race ROM (Register of Merit) award and $250 in her official records. However, these official earnings only show one race. They don't include other money she won, like the $1,000 prize from the 1948 Oklahoma Futurity. She is also said to have won an unofficial match race worth $2,500.

Her jockey, C. W. Cascio, once said about her, "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 very last race was a match race against a horse named Bob K K, which she won.

Reproduction: Her Breeding Career

After her racing days, Garrett's Miss Pawhuska became a broodmare. Her owner, Dee Garrett, bred her with his champion stallion, Vandy. Together, they produced three world champion horses: Vandy's Flash, Vanetta Dee, and Vannevar.

Another one of her foals, Vansarita Too, set a new track record. Vandy's Betty and Miss Vanity also earned AAA speed ratings, which means they were very fast.

• Her first foal was Vandy's Betty. She was a fast racehorse and later became the mother of another famous horse, Mr. Van Deck.
• Next came Vanetta Dee. She raced 94 times, winning 31 races and placing second or third many other times. She earned over $83,000 in her racing career.
• Vannevar was her next foal. He was named the AQHA Champion Racing Gelding in both 1956 and 1957.
• In 1954, Garrett's Miss Pawhuska had Vandy's Flash. He was the first gelding to be named World Champion Quarter Running Horse in 1960.
• She also had Miss Vanity in 1958, another very fast racehorse.
• Her last foal by Vandy was a stallion named Vandy's Flash (not the same as the gelding). This Vandy's Flash never raced but became a father to many foals.
• Her very last foal was a gelding by a different stallion, but he never raced.

Death and Lasting Legacy

Garrett's Miss Pawhuska passed away in 1975 at the age of 29. She was buried on the Garrett family's ranch in Pawhuska, Oklahoma.

Dee Garrett's grandson remembered her fondly. He said, "She was very gentle, the kind of mare you could do anything with." He also added, "I guess you could say she was a family pet. I used to ride her out to the pastures to round up other mares, things like that."

From 1959 to 1969, Garrett's Miss Pawhuska was known as one of the top mothers of Race ROM earners. This means many of her children earned the special Register of Merit award for racing.

In 2006, Garrett's Miss Pawhuska was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame. This is a very high honor for a horse. There is also a special race named after her, called the Garrett's Miss Pawhuska Stakes, held at Remington Park Track in Oklahoma City.

Pedigree