LOS ALAMITOS, CA—JULY 22, 2021—The Tami Purcell Handicap, the featured stakes race on Saturday night at Los Alamitos is named in honor of Quarter Horse racing’s all-time leading female rider and the first woman to win the Champion of Champions and the All American Futurity.

A native of Dripping Springs, Texas, Tami Purcell trained to be a firefighter before changing her mind and becoming a jockey. Trainer Donna McArthur spotted her galloping horses at Manor Downs and shortly after the two began working together.

At Los Alamitos Race Course, Tami piloted the 1996 World Champion Dashing Folly in a year in which the filly went a perfect 10 for 10, including winning the Champion of Champions for the team of Purcell and McArthur.

The following year, Purcell and McArthur teamed up with the great Corona Cash to win the Ed Burke Futurity and Governor’s Cup Futurity before going to Ruidoso Downs to win the All American Futurity. The win made Purcell the first female rider to win the All American.

A winner of over 1,500 races, Purcell piloted Champagne Lane to win the La Primera Del Ano Derby, Toast To Dash to victory in the Texas Classic Futurity, Kool Kue Baby to an AQHA Challenge Championship score and Feet Down First to win the Rainbow Futurity. Purcell won 23 Quarter Horse stakes races at Los Alamitos from her 84 wins.

She was inducted into the Ruidoso Horse Racing Hall of Fame earlier this month.

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