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[RC] Witezarif - MarineraDick Dawson wrote: "I trotted him out and she (Deb Bennett) immediatly said that I should buy the horse now as he was worth a King's ransom. I then showed her the record of thehorse that Donna Fitzgerald had campaigned, his name was Witezarif and he had been retired for at least a year. Dr. Bennett then took multiple pictures of him and stated that she had never seen a horse that moved with such ease." For those new to the sport, Witezarif and Donna won the Tevis Cup 5 times and tied a 6th time. He won a bunch of Virginia City 100s and a lot of other rides. He was a phenomenal horse who I think lived to be 34 or maybe even 36. Witezarif for all of his ability, did not win a lot of Best Conditions. If you knew the horse you understood why. On the trail he just flowed so smoothly it would make your heart beat faster to watch him, but once he arrived at the vet stop, he totally let down. Just a laid back little bay horse that acted half asleep. His joy was in movement, pure unbridled joy at going down a trail. He never saw the importance of wasting much energy being animated for the vets. If I were to pick one horse that defined our sport at the highest level it would be Witezarif. He outshone anything else our sport has seen so far. I have only seen one other horse in my lifetime I thought moved as freely as Witezarif. I think he was in two rides—50 milers. He won the first. I think he tied up on the second. The girl who owned him moved and had other interests and we never saw or heard anything more about him. Julie Suhr
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