RACINE — “Beduinos Cat,” a racing quarter horse owned and bred by Jennings Beegle of Racine, has been crowned “Ohio Horse of the Year” by the Ohio Quarter Horse Racing Association.

The Meigs County race horse won top honors in competition among some of Ohio’s fastest sprinters. Beegle was presented the trophy at the annual awards ceremony of the Racing Association held Feb. 7 in Columbus.

Beegle said that early last June in only his second start, the bay gelding gave notice that he might be a contender when he earned his AQHA Register of Merit in a stakes trial and qualified for the final. In July he had two more starts with a win and second in allowance competition.

On Oct. 14, Beduinos Cat entered the time trials of the Buckeye Futurity, a $20,000 stakes race at Beulah Park for Ohio’s best two-year-olds. The Meigs horse not only won his race but posted the fastest time of the trials. Then on Oct. 25, Beegle said, he easily won the final and boosted his earnings to over $17,000.

“Beduinos Cat became Ohio’s two-year-old champion by earning more AQHA racing points than any of his competitors,” commented his owner. “Finally he competed on paper, with horses of all ages in Ohio, to earn the most prestigious award for the state’s racing quarter horses — Horse of the Year.”

Beduinos Cat’s dam, also owned and bred by Beegle, is no stranger to awards having earned championships in both Michigan and Ohio as well as a track record at Cincinnati’s River Downs.

Also his sire, Panther Mountain, is a national champion with earnings of nearly half a million dollars.

Beegle says his horse will return to the racing circuit in April to compete again in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.

Beegle’s horses have won numerous racing awards in past years. In 2004 he took three of the four top awards presented by the Ohio Quarter Horse Racing Association.

Beegle’s Beholdanotherbeduino was named Ohio champion three-year-old, and Buckeye Futurity winner, Reubens Luck, was named Ohio champion two-year-old. That year’s Racing Quarter Horse of the Year was Beegle’s Reubens Luck.