Page 74 - NM Spring 2019

ZIA PARK
by Michael Cusortelli
Steve Prather Stakes (R)
Abstraction
Pulpit
Andujar
Speedin Excess
In Excess (IRE)
Danish Dessert
HUSTLE UP
Hustle Up, a dark bay or brown son of the Pulpit stallion Abstraction trained by Todd Fincher, earned his third career stakes victory in the Dec.
10 Steve Prather Stakes (R) for New Mexico-bred 2-year-old Thoroughbreds at Zia Park.
Ridden by Shane Laviolette for owners Dale F. Taylor Racing LLC, Bobby J. McQueen, and Suzanne Kirby, Hustle Up covered 1-mile and 70-yards in 1:44.54 22.90, :46.43, and 1:11.69, and his winning margin was 3-lengths from Sunscreen. The gelding earned the $87,000 winner’s share of the $145,000 purse.
Hustle Up was bred by Brad King and Todd Fincher. The gelding is one of five win- ners from 17 starters sired by Abstraction, a Kentucky-bred 8-year-old stallion who won the 2013 Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico Racecourse in Maryland.
A half-brother to stakes winner Marion Ravenwood, Abstraction has sired the earners of more than $437,000. The stallion is owned by a partnership, and he stands for a $3,500 fee at Doubletree Farm at Hobbs, New Mexico.
Hustle Up is also one of three winners from as many starters produced by Speedin Excess, a winning 12-year-old daughter of the Siberian Express stallion In Excess (IRE) who ran second in the ’08 Barretts Debutante Stakes
(R) during the Los Angeles County Fair meet at Fairplex Park. The gelding is a half-brother to On The Low Down, the winner of the 2017 Copper Top Futurity (R) at Sunland Park and Mountain Top Futurity (R) at Ruidoso Downs.
Hustle Up’s second dam, the winning Regal Classic mare Danish Dessert, is a half-sister to Ever Steady, a four-time stakes winner in Canada from 1989-90, and Sparrow Lake, a two-time stakes winner at Woodbine Racecourse near Toronto in 1988. The gelding traces back to his fourth dam, the Mongo mare Barn Swallow. A ’67 foal, Barn Swallow produced stakes winner Cadet Corps, and she was a half-sister to 1968 Donn Handicap winner Favorable Turn.
Campaigned exclusively in New Mexico, Hustle Up has won six of eight starts and has banked $252,143, and his resume includes a 7 1/2-length victory in the April 15, 4 1/2-fur- long Copper Top Futurity, and the 5-furlong, $123,000 Mountain Top Futurity (R) at June 23. He also was a finalist in the 5 1/2-furlong, $110,000 Rio Grande Senor Futurity (R) at Ruidoso Downs on September 3.
Catch Ten finished third, 3 3/4-lengths from Hustle Up, and was followed by Quite Peace, Bashful Bob, Amor N Pasion, Diabolical Ruler, and Special Excess.
Runner-up Sunscreen is a homebred chestnut son of Southwestern Heat campaigned by R.D. Hubbard and Shaun Hubbard. The gelding has won three of seven outs, including the Rio Grande Senor Futurity (R), and the $31,900 runner-up share of the Steve Prather Stakes purse pushed his bankroll to $141,225.
Catch Ten races for Derrick W. Jenkins and Weldon C. Jenkins, who also bred the dark bay or brown son of the Old Trieste stallion Mr. Trieste. Catch Ten has earned $21,000 from two starts.
The Steve Prather Stakes honors the mem- ory of the late Steve Prather, who served on the New Mexico Horse Breeders’ Association board of trustees and was the founder and owner of Doubletree Farm in Hobbs.
72 New Mexico Horse Breeder