Montrose - Daily Press

Two hours, 57 minutes; a faster finish time than many expected from riders along the rugged, 12,000-foot, rain-drenched route between Telluride and the historic gold mining camp of Dunton (near Rico). On Sunday, Aug. 26, 1973, cowboy Garvin Griffin of Delta rode to a first place finish riding a horse owned by Gary Iverson of Montrose and trained by Jim Cheatum of Delta. Griffin was one of seven riders who participated in the first annual Wilson Mesa Ranch Marathon Horse Race, a 26-mile, cross-country, high-altitude competition that pitted riders against the clock. The event was organized by the late Charles Hughes, area developer, rancher and businessman who promoted his race with a sizable purse (individual horse owners were required to pay $1,000 per entry). The fees, in turn, were to be shared by the top three finishers. Despite the fact that two of the cowboys walked their horses to the finish line, and one failed to finish the race (due to problems with his horse), there was still cause for celebration as close to 250 spectators cheered for the returning riders.

It was a scene that could have played out a century earlier.

Not only was horse racing a favorite pastime among the native Utes, and later settlers on the Western Slope, it was a lucrative business--if you had a good horse.

Spectators, left, watch as racers drive their horses on the 26-mile rugged, cross-country race between Telluride and the Dunton mining camp back in August of 1973. (Daily Press File Photo) Advertisement

Two young men, Matt Warner and Tom McCarty, were well-acquainted with the betting sport, taking their mare "Betty" to mining camps across southwestern Colorado. In Telluride, the two were particularly successful in emptying miners' pockets. It was here, in the 1880s, that they met a man named Robert LeRoy Parker (later known as Butch Cassidy). Warner lured Parker into a friendly wager where the latter ended up losing his entire outfit (of horses and gear). Warner, in a quick change of heart or better judgment, returned Parker's belongings and invited him to join in the horse racing business.

For a time, the three men traveled with "Betty," winning races against "Gypsy Queen" at Durango, the Cavanaugh stud at Mancos and "White Face," a one-eyed Indian pony, at McElmo Gulch.

Winnings were plentiful, but the trio soon found themselves living a lifestyle that required a greater source of income like robbing banks and trains.

Horse racing was a popular pastime in the early days of the Uncompahgre Valley where distance was no obstacle. Two of the most popular horses of the day were Swayback Johnny, described by Disappointment cowboys “as quick on the start as a jack rabbit” and Sagebrush Jack, a much touted racehorse from the Paradox Valley.

The race between the two horses was scheduled to take place near the Dolores River near Rico on Dec. 10, 1884, but with a series of false starts and “horses off their feed,” the match was postponed until the next fall in Montrose where a more formal track could be constructed.

It was to be a 400-yard race with the winner receiving 20 head of three-year-old steers.

Tracks were made by dragging heavily weighted wagon wheels over the surface of the ground through thickets of sagebrush, adjoining the new townsite on the south. Water was hauled to wet the tracks down and then packed and dried by leading saddle horses back and forth across the course.

On race day, the horse from Paradox (Sagebrush Jack) was unruly from the start. Bordering the tracks, spaces were lined with all kinds of people, full of soda pop and such, ready to bet their last cent on the race. Sagebrush Jack was the favorite, and wagers on Swayback Johnny found plenty of takers at favorable odds.

On the scheduled day and hour of the race, the two horses were ridden into place behind a preconstructed starting blind. Terrified when confronted by the mounds of hay which formed a boundary alongside the tracks, Sagebrush Jack’s rider was unable to keep the horse running on course. Swayback Johnny’s experience on the cattle range, however, had equipped him to ignore all manner of distractions. He ran the quarter-mile track without faltering---to win a decisive victory and 20 head of steers for his rider.

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