Page 157 - August 2015

Firecracker Futurity-G2
NOT PERRY PRETTY
by Michael Compton
Not Perry Pretty hasn’t let her curious moni- ker determine her fate on the racetrack. The precocious filly kept her record perfect
through four lifetime starts with a sharp score in the $318,120 Firecracker Futurity-G2 at Delta Downs on July 4.
With David Alvarez riding for trainer Keith Lanny, Not Perry Pretty broke cleanly from post 7 and challenged for the early lead. Despite drifting some in the lane, Not Perry Pretty held sway to the finish, defeating First Fancy Prize who rallied late to finish second under John Hamilton. Odds-on favorite Ivan James, piloted by Raul Ramirez Jr., closed with a rush to secure the show spot.
Not Perry Pretty, who was dismissed at odds of 6-1, stopped the timer for 350 yards in :17.366, earning a speed index of 95. The win was the second futurity victory for Not Perry Pretty who also annexed the Old South Futurity at Delta Downs on May 22. The filly remains unbeaten from her four starts.
The $159,060 winner’s share of the purse raised Not Perry Pretty’s lifetime earnings to $211,072 for owner Kaitlen Emfinger. Not bad for a horse with a catchy name who wasn’t much to look at as a youngster on the farm.
“I was speechless,” said Emfinger of the lucrative win. “I looked at my mom and said
‘I think I am going to cry.’
I was beyond excited. I was confident in her, but I knew she had her work cut out for her. There were a few nice horses in there. I knew she would give it 110 percent.
“Lanny has done a fabu-
lous job with her,” she added.
“He takes exceptionally good
care of her. She loves him to
death. She knows who he is.
She’s such a sweetheart. On
the days of her race, I can go up and rub on her nose. She has a great personality.”
As for the name, Emfinger credits her father, Will, who thought it would be funny to reference the filly’s awkward youth.
“I have to give credit to my dad for coming up with her catchy name,” Emfinger related. “We bought her as a weanling and partnered on her early with (breeder) Steve (Tate), but we bought his share out when she was a weanling. She was not a pretty weanling or yearling. She was ugly; I can’t lie. She was the ugliest horse we had seen. She had a big moose head. She grew to fit her head, and it’s kind of ironic how it’s worked out this way.”
While Not Perry Pretty might not have
been attractive during her formative years, she’s always been fast.
“When we started turning out all of our yearlings in
a pasture together, she was out with our barrel horses,” Emfinger said. “When they would get to playing and running across the pasture,
it was just effortless for her. She would blow by the other horses. You couldn’t catch her.
She floated across the pasture. I knew she had grace; she was just beautiful in the pasture.”
Steve Tate bred the sorrel filly in Louisiana out of graded stakes winner TF MS Special Perry. A winner in two of eight starts during her racing career, TF MS Special Perry also captured the Firecracker Futurity in 2009 en route to amassing earnings of $115,284.
Not Perry Pretty qualified to the Firecracker Futurity during the June 13 trials. She won her heat by a neck in :17.543 under David Alvarez, who was riding her for the first time. The clocking was good for the third- fastest qualifying time.
All told, TF MS Special Perry is the dam of six winners from 10 starters. Not Perry Pretty is her lone stakes winner.
In finishing second, First Fancy Prize (PYC Paint Your Wagon-First Prize Fancy) met defeat for the first time in three starts for owners Scott and Monica Jones and Raymond Loup. The Michael Taylor trainee broke
her maiden her first time out at Remington Park in April and returned to romp home a 2 1/2-length winner over a sloppy track in her trial heat.
Ivan James (Ivory James-First Dashin Bye) also lost for the first time, finishing third
for owner Jorge Meraz and trainer Rodolfo Sanchez. Winner of the Sam Houston Futurity-G2 in just his second lifetime outing, Ivan James has never finished worse than second in his four starts.
Moonflash Garden (First Moonflash-Run Like Katy Did) finished fourth and was fol- lowed by A Kool Secret (No Secrets Here-A Kool Zoom), Tack It Sassy (Tac It Like a Man- Jess Sass Me), Paint Me a Storm (Red Storm Cat-Paint Me Golden), Real Solid Oak (Oak Tree Special-Real Or Imagined), Jess an Angel (Mr Jess Perry-Jennifer Kate) and Sistahrogue (Teller Cartel-Miss Jess Rogue).
Delta Downs $318,120 • 350 yards :17.366 • si 95
First Down Dash
Dash Ta Fame
Sudden Fame
NOT PERRY PRETTY, ‘13-f.
Special Leader
TF Ms Special Perry
Dashadee
Not Pretty Perry & David Alvarez win the $318,120 Firecracker Futurity by 3/4-lengths
SPEEDHORSE, August 2015 155
RACING NEWS
Coady Photography