Page 77 - NM Spring 2019

Jess Burner Mem. Handicap (RG1)
Facing older runners for just the second time, Daddys Blushing ended his 3-year-old season with a head victory in the Dec. 28, $85,000 Jess Burner Memorial Handicap (RG1) for New Mexico-bred Quarter Horses at Sunland Park.
Daddys Blushing covered 400 yards
in :19.665 and earned an 87 speed index. Francisco Calderon rode the bay Big Daddy Cartel gelding for owner Gary W. Hartstack of Houston, Texas, and trainer Jackie Riddle.
Daddys Blushing was bred by Mac and Janis Murray’s MJ Farms at Veguita, New Mexico. His sire, Big Daddy Cartel, is a 9-year- old gray son of Corona Cartel who earned $121,800 from five starts during his juvenile campaign and was a finalist in the 2011 All American (G1) and Rainbow (G1) futurities.
Big Daddy Cartel has sired the earners
of more than $4.4 million from three crops, including multiple graded stakes winners Bigg Daddy and Mamacita Cartel, and graded stakes winner A Super Sonic Boom. A half-brother to stakes winner Racy La Jolla, the stallion is owned by and stands for a $5,000 fee at MJ Farms.
Daddys Blushing’s dam, the unraced Blushing Bug mare Sandy June Bug, has
produced three stakes winners, including Junior June Bug, a half-brother to Daddys Blushing who won the 2013 Zia Derby (RG2) at Ruidoso Downs, and Hedge Fund, a half to Daddys Blushing who won the
’06 New Mexican Spring Fling Stakes-R at Sunland Park.
Daddys Blushing’s second dam, the winning Dash Ta Fame mare Sandys Fame, ran second in the 1997 Diamond Classic Futurity (RG1) in Wyoming.
A $14,000 purchase by Hartstack at the 2016 Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale, Daddys Blushing has won six of 11 races, and the $51,000 winner’s share of the Jess Burner Memorial purse pushed his bankroll to $290,422. The gelding has won three stakes, including the 2017 Mountain Top Futurity (RG3) at Ruidoso Downs and Sam Houston Juvenile Invitational Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park.
Daddys Blushing was sent to post at
odds of 10-1 and returned a $22.20 win mutuel. Percyjones, the 19-10 favorite, and Mr Klee, an 8-1 longshot, finished in a dead heat for second.
Jesse Lane, Magnifico Dragon, Bigg Daddy, Siximoons, Swiss White Wine,
Comin To Your Town, and Jess Hot com- pleted the order of finish.
Percyjones is a 4-year-old son of Jesse James Jr owned by Terry and Irene Stennett, who acquired the sorrel gelding as a yearling for $35,000 at the 2015 New Mexico-Bred Sale at Ruidoso Downs. Percyjones has won eight of 16 races, including the 2017 Zia Derby (RG2), and he has earned $366,153.
Mr Klee is a 4-year-old bay son of Jesse James Jr campaigned by Sergio Holguin. Mr Klee has won three of 14 races and has banked $65,944, and he was a finalist in the 2017 New Mexico Cup Derby (RG2) at Zia Park.
by Michael Cusortelli
SUNLAND PARK
Big Daddy Cartel
Corona Cartel
Miss Racy Eyes
Sandy June Bug
Blushing Bug
Sandys Fame
DADDYS BLUSHING
SPRING 2019 75