Page 60 - January 2016 Speedhorse

In 2003, Juan had a great racing season. “That year, we felt we had the horse that we had been looking for,” he says. “Party Of One (This Snow Is Royal – Honey Who) won the Nutrena Stakes — my first stakes race — and so I had my first blanket and a trophy. It was very exciting, and we felt immensely happy!”
Juan nominated Party Of One to two maturities for 2004, the first being the trials for the Los Alamitos Winter Championship. When the gelding didn’t qualify, they lowered him to
a $16,000 claiming race on August 5. “He won by 2-lengths,” Juan says, “and his jockey, Cody Jensen, told us that he’d set off running as well as he had the year before. But to our surprise and much sadness, someone had claimed him. It was a very sad night for me and my wife. Just as he’d recovered his speed, he was taken away from us.”
The very next day, Aleman told Juan that he’d seen a filly run that night and for the
same amount as Party Of One. “That’s how we claimed 2-year-old Apollitical Time (Apollo TB – Half Time Attraction),” Juan says. “She easily won by 1-length, but we weren’t the only ones who’d claimed her. There were two other people. So, the draw was made.
“I was in Sinaloa watching the race live
with my wife and on the phone with Juan when he gave us the news that we’d won,” Juan continues. “It was amazing. Just one day before, we’d felt great sadness, and then came great joy. That night my wife and I wanted to celebrate for a new hope.”
Juan’s dream came true when Apollitical Time, shown below winning the 2006 MBNA California Championship Challenge at Los Alamitos, was named 2005 Champion 3-Year-Old Filly. She went on to receive additional honors as the 2006 Aged Champion,
2006 Champion Aged Mare, and the 2010 Champion Broodmare.
THE APOLLITICAL LINE
Apollitical Time’s record didn’t come
easily. As a 2 year old, she failed to win in five allowance races, finishing second three times. But as a 3 year old in 2005, she won an allowance and from there continued with seven wins, including three handicaps and her first stakes win, the Governor’s Derby. She then won the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Super Derby and qualified for the Champion of Champions, placing third in the finals, and was named AQHA’s 2005
Champion 3-Year-Old Filly. “Incredibly, my dream had come true,” Juan says.
Following a Mr Jess Perry embryo transfer, Apollitical Time returned to the track in
2006, winning five more races including one handicap and four stakes and
finishing the year as Aged Champion, Champion Aged Mare and AQHA
Supreme Racehorse.
In four seasons, Apollitical Time
Juan Aleman and Apollitical Time
accumulated a multiple graded stakes-winning record of 35-14(10)-7(2)-5(4) with $904,242.
With two recipient mares carrying Apollitical Time’s Mr Jess Perry and First Down Dash
foals, Juan sadly sold the mare. Not only were Juan and Armida sad, but they knew their daughters, Marbella and Itzel, who were very fond of Apollitical Time, would be heartbroken as well. “We hid the fact that we’d sold her for two years,” Juan says. “When we finally told the girls, they were very sad but understood why we had made the decision.”
A LEADING SIRE
Apollitical Time’s Mr Jess Perry embryo resulted in a beautiful sorrel colt in 2007: Apollitical Jess. Although he had a rocky start in life — spending 16 days in a veterinary hospital recovering from colic as a newborn — he won twice and placed second three times in his six freshman races. He also had the fastest
58 SPEEDHORSE, January 2016