Page 31 - 8 June 2012

Born Runner Classic
AIR BORN LEADER
by John Moorehouse
You’ve heard about people being born in the wrong era? According to trainer Thomas Mosley Jr., Air Born Leader might have been born to the wrong breed. The 4-year-old geld- ing is a Quarter Horse—and a good one, with five wins and nearly $175,000 in prize money after his repeat victory in the $109,000 Born Runner Classic on May 19 at Indiana Downs. However, ask Mosley, and Air Born Leader seems more like a Thoroughbred.
“He’s 16 hands, he’s not very heavily muscled, he’s balanced real well, everything about him is a Thoroughbred,” Mosley said. “He doesn’t look like a Quarter Horse at all.”
And the most significant hindrance to Air Born Leader’s racing career also was a com- mon Thoroughbred problem. As the gelding finished his trial for last year’s version of the Born Runner, Air Born Leader started acting strangely and Mosley immediately picked up on it when he watched the replay.
“After the race, instead of bowing his head, this horse stuck his straight out. Pointed it like a bird dog,” Mosley said.
The horse was evaluated, and Mosley put a tongue tie on his promising gelding. With the tongue tie in place, Air Born Leader went out for the 2011 Born Runner and—as Mosley put it—ran the race of his life.
“Last year, when he won the race, he was actually ahead by two lengths halfway through the race and he ended up winning by a length. He won pretty handily,” Mosley recalled. Repeating in the Born Runner, however, proved to be a battle. Air Born Leader strug- gled to find his legs early and found himself back in the pack while Bugs Dash Of Honey jumped to the lead. Air Born Leader proved best by the time the race concluded, however, making a late surge and beating Havanna Gold to the wire by three-quarters of a length.
“He scrambled real bad the first 50 yards of the race. I don’t think he was getting hold of the race- track. Halfway through the race he exploded and took off,” Mosley said. “There was a point about halfway through the race, even though he wasn’t leading yet, I thought we were in a good place.”
Mosley credited winning jockey Victor Olivo for knowing the perfect time to switch sticks on Air Born Leader. While Air Born Leader certainly wasn’t aware of any expecta- tions to repeat in the Born Runner, Mosley definitely was feeling the pressure.
“Usually the qualifying is the stressful part and the finals, it’s one race but at least you’re in
there,” Mosley explained. “In this particular case, I knew I had a good horse and it was pretty stressful just making sure all the T’s were crossed and the I’s were dotted.”
In his inaugural out of 2012,
Air Born Leader won his trial,
covering the 350 yards in :18.010
to top the qualifying sheet for the stakes final. Air Born Leader wasn’t quite that fast in the final, finishing in :18.066.
Randy Thompson, who owns Air Born Leader, collected a $59,950 payday for his homebred gelding’s latest win. Through 16 outs, Air Born Leader now holds a career bankroll totaling $172,409. Thompson has won the last three Born Runner Classics, as he also owned 2010 winner CT Leader.
“One of the cool things about that is,
one of our classic (races) is named after Born Runner, and both these horses are out of Born Runner mares,” Thompson said. “That makes it kind of special to me.”
Air Born Leader’s dam, Air Born Jazz,
is sired by Born Runner and won the 1999 QHRA of Indiana Stallion Service Auction Derby before becoming a broodmare. All six of her foals are starters including stakes-placed Ima Jr Special.
Thompson made sure to credit Mosley in his role in preparing Air Born Leader to defend his title in the Born Runner.
“I have, I think, one of the best trainers in the Midwest,” Thompson observed.
“Mr. Thompson and his wife last year were the leading owners in the Midwest and the No. 2 leading breed- ers in the Midwest. I appreciate being able to train for them,” Mosley
said. “They’ve got a great breeding program and they’re just great owners.”
Future plans for Air Born Leader include the Bob Woodard Memorial, also at Indiana Downs. Then, the gelding heads for Hoosier Park where he’ll probably run an allowance to maintain his conditioning in buildup to another Indiana-bred stakes at that track.
Runner-up Havanna Gold (Rare Cigar-Oh Jet Rockette) is owned by Jane Lehman and trained by Deane Lehman. Jockey Aron Hunt did the riding.
HQH Forever Sassy (Twaynas Dash- Forever Vegas) beat 52-1 longshot Bugs Dash Of Honey by a head to finish third. Jenifer Haynes owns the filly, a John McCreary trainee who had Julie Veltman aboard.
Rounding out the field were Bugs Dash Of Honey (Twaynas Dash-Honey Bunny Bug) in fourth, followed by Six Chilled Coronas (Chilled Corona-Six Fols Dash), Roughshod Dash (Twaynas Dash-Hobardi TB), Its Chilly (Chilled Corona-Lucks Got It), Avitarr (Royal Quick Charm-Uncommon Class), CT Leader (Leader Of The Class-Air Born Magic) and Chilled Six Pack (Chilled Corona-Six Packin Robin).

Special Leader
Leader of the Class
Zevis Classy Lady TB
AIR BORN LEADER, ’08-g.
Born Runner
Air Born Jazz
Prissy Marshal
A change of equipment helped Air Born Leader reach his true, stakes winning potential.
SPEEDHORSE, June 8, 2012 29
RACING NEWS
Coady Photography