Page 57 - NMHBASummer2019

New Mexico Breeders’ Oaks (R)
MCWEND
A strong stretch rally helped McWend score a one-length victory in the March 26, 1 1/16-mile New Mexico Breeders’ Oaks (R) for state-bred 3-year-old fillies at Sunland Park.
Ridden by Elvin Gonzalez and sent to post at odds of 5-1 in the field of 10, McWend stopped the timer in 1:44.76 while earning the $60,000 winner’s share of the $100,000 purse. Miguel Hernandez saddled the homebred daughter of McKenna’s Justice for Tom and Sandy McKenna’s Judge Lanier Racing of Taiban, New Mexico.
McWend is one of 13 winners from
18 starters sired by McKenna’s Justice, a 12-year-old son of the El Prado (IRE) stal- lion Medaglia d’Oro who won the 2011 Zia Park Distance Championship at Zia Park. A half-brother to multiple listed stakes winner Wholelottabourbon, the stallion has sired the earners of more than $671,000.
McWend is also one of five winners from six starters produced by Lady Ruthie, a Kentucky-bred 17-year-old daughter of the Gone West stallion Mr. Greeley. The filly is a half-sister to Dueling Dom, a winning son of Dominique’s Cat who ran second in the 2016 Dine Stakes (R) at SunRay Park and University of New Mexico Handicap (R) at Albuquerque Downs.
McWend’s second dam, the winning Horatius mare Phi Beta, ran second in the ’94 Landaura Stakes at Laurel Park in Maryland. A Maryland-bred, Phi Beta foaled six winners from nine starters, including Fifty Proof,
a half-brother to Lady Ruthie who won
the 2011 Eclipse Stakes (G3) at Woodbine Racecourse near Toronto. Phi Beta’s full sister, Smartly, was a stakes winner at Pimlico Racecourse in ’96.
McWend’s third dam, the unraced Kentucky-bred Majestic Prince mare Carefully Taught, was a half-sister to two graded stakes winners: Accipiter, the winner of the Saranac Stakes (G2) at Aqueduct and Withers Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park in 1974, and Star Spangled, the winner of the ’79 San Bernardino Handicap (G2) at Santa Anita Park.
Raced exclusively in New Mexico, McWend has won two of nine starts and has banked $87,740. The filly began her sopho- more campaign with a second-place finish, two lengths behind winner Singing Mary, in a 6-furlong sprint for $12,500 claiming New Mexico-bred fillies on January 6.
Let It Roll finished second and was followed by Beautiful Bounty, Singing Mary, Singing Nicole, Santita S S, Precious Looker, M G M’s Victoria, Shesa Goldigger, and Flight Song.
Let It Roll is a homebred daughter of the Hennessy stallion Roll Hennessy Roll owned by R.D. Hubbard and Shaun Hubbard. A $12,500 claimer earlier in the Sunland Park meet, the dark bay or brown filly has won
two of nine starts, including a 5 1/2-furlong, $32,500 maiden-special-weight sprint for New Mexico-bred 2-year-old fillies on September 25 at Zia Park, and the $20,000 runner-up share of the New Mexico Breeders’ Oaks purse increased her earnings to $71,263.
Beautiful Bounty outran her 35-1 odds to finish third, five lengths behind McWend,
for owner Kamil Ozhan. A dark bay or brown daughter of the A.P. Indy stallion Harris, Beautiful Bounty has banked $31,005 from six outs.
by Michael Cusortelli
SUNLAND PARK
McKenna’s Justice
Medaglia D’oro
Regretfully
Lady Ruthie
Mr. Greeley
Phi Beta
SUMMER 2019 55
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