by Jeff Apel

Who Doctor Who, a Grade 3 winner whose immense popularity in Nebraska was based in part on a memorable match race, was euthanized on February 22 because of laminitis. He was 24.

Bred by Marvin Iverson, the Doctor Stat gelding out of The Girl Who, by Barnstorming, wrapped up his eight-year racing career in 1992 with 33 wins in 64 starts and $813,870 in earnings.

The dark bay or brown gelding earned 21 of his 26 stakes victories at the now-closed Ak-Sar-Ben in Omaha, Nebraska, where enthusiastic fans wearing hats and T-shirts honoring Who Doctor Who cheered the gelding on to a 3 1/2-length victory over the filly Explosive Girl in a match race on July 23, 1988.

“Even though there’s other horses in Nebraska that ran good, they never were as popular as him,” said trainer Herb Riecken, who campaigned Who Doctor Who along with his wife, Nancy. “People would come over and pet him and be around him. And, of course, they had the caps and T-shirts for the match race.”

The $50,000 match race stands out in Riecken’s mind because of the pressure that the 40-year training veteran felt leading up to it. His concerns intensified when Explosive Girl and jockey Don Pettinger opened a 3 1/2-length lead midway through the one-mile and 70-yard race.

Just when it appeared Explosive Girl may pull off a memorable upset for trainer Donnie Von Hemel, Who Doctor Who and jockey Tom Greer surged to the front and took command in the stretch.

“That made me the most nervous of any race I’ve ever had to run in,” Riecken said. “It was such a big crowd and a week before the race actually went we got all these calls from all these magazines from different states. It was just a lot of pressure. I told my wife, ‘I know one thing. I’ll never do that again.’”

Who Doctor Who earned his lone graded stakes victory in the 1986 President’s Cup Stakes (G3) at Ak-Sar-Ben. The gelding was a four-time winner of the Beef State Stakes at the Omaha track, and captured the City of Omaha and Nebraskaland Handicaps three times apiece.

His career earnings are the second-highest total ever compiled by a Nebraska-bred, trailing only the $904,622 earned by Grade 2 winner Dazzling Falls.

“This horse never seemed to fret over anything. He just went about his job,” Riecken said. “A lot of horses fret and worry and do all that kind of stuff before a race. He never really did that. It was kind of like he knew was pretty good I thought.”

Riecken said Who Doctor Who recently began having more trouble with laminitis in his front feet.

“You could tell by the way he walked and moved he was in a lot of pain,” Riecken said. “If he was looking west and he wanted to turn around and go east it took him a whole lot of steps to get turned around. That’s no good.”

Riecken’s farm in Fremont, Nebraska, is home for around 25 horses, none of whom have matched the racing accomplishments of his multiple stakes winner, known affectionately as “The Doctor.”

“He got to do what a lot of horses don’t get to do,” Riecken said. “He had 15 years of nothing but eating grass and doing what he wanted to. That’s probably more retirement than most people get. I’m glad I was able to do that for him.”

Jeff Apel is a Thoroughbred Times assistant daily news editor