da Val en ti n o — t i me le s s Pe rfe cti o n
by Mary KirKMan In the show ring, he was never defeated. Not once, in a career that recorded 14 shows, including six national championships, four regional championships, and two Scottsdales (four titles there). He went through the in-gate 24 times and always was handed the trophy; more than 30 individuals judged him in his career, and seldom did they award him less than a unanimous victory. Three Nationals judges told his owners, Dan and Maureen Grossman, that he was the most perfect Arabian horse they had ever seen, and one went so far as to comment that the U.S. Nationals trophy should be redesigned in his image. For those in the Arabian breed, DA Valentino soared across the show scene like a meteor in the brief nine years of his life.