Legendary horseman and American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame member Charles W. “Bubba” Cascio died November 2, 2022.
Cascio was born in Houston in 1932 and was practically raised in the sport of horse racing. His uncle managed Epsom Downs until pari-mutuel wagering became illegal in Texas. The track was kept open as a training track. When he was 10 years old, Bubba was walking horses for trainer Will McKown. By 12, he was galloping them. At 16, he became a jockey. Cascio rode at Fairmont Park in East St. Louis, as well as many other tracks, and even rode American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame mare Garrett's Miss Pawhuska.
“When I got too heavy to ride, I took up cutting horses with trainer Matlock Rose of Gainesville, Texas. We had a lot of success,” Cascio said.
He rode in the final go of the first National Cutting Horse Association Futurity in 1962 and won at more than a dozen major stock shows.
Cascio also judged AQHA shows in Texas, Kansas, Washington and Ohio, but he is most famous for his work on the racetrack.
For more than four decades, Cascio trained American Quarter Horse racing's top money earners, including the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame stallion Dash For Cash and Hall of Fame mare Dashingly.
He won the All American Futurity twice, with Three Oh's in 1968 and American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame stallion Rocket Wrangler in 1970. He trained Justanold Love, Indigo Illusion and sent out the talented filly Will Be Easy to hand the esteemed First Down Dash his only defeat as world champion in 1987.
Operating in an era where the purse money was miniscule compared to today, Cascio saddled horses that earned more than $13.8 million, leaving him in the top 30 all-time leading trainers, even before adjusting that value for inflation, which adjusted to his last full year of training, is equal to more than $22.3 million in today's money.
His achievements include being awarded leading trainer at 10 different racetracks, becoming the first trainer to reach $1 million in race earnings and training horses that won 15 world racing titles.
In 2001, he trained the Texas Thoroughbred Horse of the Year, Lights On Broadway, and went on to train Thoroughbreds that earned more than $4.4 million on the racetrack.
He and his wife, Judy, resided in Tolar, Texas, during his retirement.
Cascio was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2008. He is also in the Texas Cowboy, Texas Horse Racing, Ruidoso Racehorse and National Cutting Horse halls of fame.
“All I ever wanted to do was be with horses,” Bubba said. “I never wanted to be a doctor or lawyer or run a store somewhere. I wanted to be a jockey. When I was a kid, I'd get in the old starting gate with a stick horse and have somebody ring the bell, and I'd come racing outta there.”
Further information will be shared when it becomes available.
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