Page 59 - NMHBASummer2019

New Mexico Breeders’ Derby (R)
by Michael Cusortelli
Southwestern Heat
Gone West
Xtra Heat
Playoftheday
Attila’s Storm
Play The Favorite
SUNSCREEN
Ry Eikleberry rode Sunscreen to a 1 1/2-length win in the March 26, $100,000 New Mexico Breeders’ Derby (R) for state-bred 3-year-old Thoroughbreds at Sunland Park.
Prepped by Casey Lambert for owners R.D. Hubbard and Shaun Hubbard, Sunscreen cov- ered 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.61. The homebred son of Southwestern Heat earned the $60,000 win- ner’s share of the purse from his fourth victory in 10 starts and second stakes score.
Sunscreen was stretching out in distance off
of his second-place finish, 5 1/2 lengths behind winner Hustle Up, in the 1-mile, $85,000 Red Hedeman Mile Stakes (R) for New Mexico-bred sophomores at Sunland Park on February 2. The chestnut gelding is one of 63 winners from 93 starters sired by the late Southwestern Heat, a son of the Mr. Prospector stallion Gone West and 2001 American champion 3-year-old filly Xtra Heat.
Racing in five states, including Kentucky and Maryland, from 2006-08, Southwestern Heat earned $155,340 from 17 outs, and his four wins included the 6-furlong, $50,000 Sonny Hine Stakes at Laurel Park in 2007. The stallion, a half brother to stakes winner Elusive Heat and the stakes-placed X Rated Cat, has sired five black-type stakes winners and the earners of more than $3.4 million from six crops.
Southwestern Heat died due to colic in January 2017.
Sunscreen’s dam, Playoftheday, is a homebred winning 9-year-old daughter of the Forest Wildcat stallion Attila’s Storm who has produced two win- ners from as many starters. The gelding’s second dam Play The Favorite, is a homebred daughter
of the Robin des Bois stallion Gentleman (ARG) and a full sister to Man Among Men, a two-time stakes winner at Santa Anita Park from 2002-03.
Sunscreen’s third dam, the Nikos (GB) mare La Favorita (FR), was a stakes winner in France and ran second in the ’92 Ciga Prix de L’Opera (G2). A 1989 foal, La Favorita was a half sister to Group 3 winner Sudaka (FR).
Sunscreen traces back to his fourth dam, Didia Clara (FR), a stakes-placed daughter of Sea Break (IRE) and full sister to stakes winner Riehmann (FR).
An earner of $226,725, of which $141,225 was banked during his 2-year-old campaign, Sunscreen began his career with a come-from- behind, 1 1/4-length victory in a 4 1/2-furlong, $20,900 maiden-special-weight race for New Mexico-bred juveniles at Sunland Park on April 17, 2018. At Ruidoso Downs last summer, the gelding won the 5 1/2-furlong, $110,094 Rio Grande Senor Futurity (R) for state-bred 2-year- old colts and geldings, and he ran second, 1 1/4
lengths behind winner Hustle Up, in the 5-fur- long, $122,688 Mountain Top Futurity (R).
Quite Peace finished second and was fol- lowed by Dom Right, Daux, Catch Ten, Bashful Bob, and Sandia’s Beat.
Quite Peace is a homebred Abstraction geld- ing owned by C. Donnell Echols. Quite Peace has banked $58,300 from six starts, all in New Mexico, and he was coming off of a third-place run in the Red Hedeman Mile.
Dom Right races for Tom and Sandy McKenna’s Judge Lanier Racing of Taiban, New Mexico, which also bred the gelded son of the Storm Cat stallion Dominique’s Cat. Dom Right has won two of 11 starts, and the $10,000 third-place share of the New Mexico Breeders’ Derby purse pushed his earnings to $61,346.
SUNLAND PARK
SUMMER 2019 57
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