Page 162 - July 2016

Heritage Place Futurity-G1
DUPONTE
by Tracy Gantz
Duponte may not be known to win his tri- als, but twice now he has come through in the finals. His most recent winning effort
generated a rich reward, as he scored in the $1,083,420 Heritage Place Futurity-G1 at Remington Park on June 4.
“He’s a good horse—we’ve never had prob- lems with him,” said 21-year-old Josue Ponce, who trains Duponte for owner Kristen Ashley Paredes. “I guess in the trials, he doesn’t come good, but in the finals he’s probably one of the best right now.”
Coronas First Diva, winner of the Oklahoma Futurity-G2 earlier in the Remington meeting, went off as the 3-2 favorite in the Heritage Place Futurity final. The filly had won her May 13 trial heat by 2 1/4-lengths.
Kiss My Heineken, the fastest quali-
fier from the May 13 trials, broke on top. Meanwhile, Duponte broke well from the outside post position and battled for the lead for the first half of the 350 yards.
Duponte quickly emerged the leader, gain- ing a head margin at the first call and a length at the top of the stretch. Duponte held on, ultimately scoring by a length in :17.306 with regular rider Francisco Ramirez Jr. aboard.
“The horse does the job—I just try to stay out of his way,” Ramirez stated.
“He broke great, I thought,” the jockey continued. “About 50 yards away, he kept going and I just rode him, and that was that.”
Duponte’s earlier victory came in the $267,700 Harrah’s Futurity at Louisiana Downs in March. He had
finished fifth in the trials
to that race for the final qualifying position, but came back to win the finals by 3/4-lengths.
Duponte competed in the second day of the trials to the Heritage Place Futurity on May 14. He finished sec- ond in his heat to B Double U. Five horses were taken from each day of the trials
to compete in the finals, and Duponte was the last on his day of trials to qualify.
In winning the Heritage Place Futurity, Duponte now has a record of 2(2)-1-0 from four starts and he has raised his total earnings to $578,519 with the addition of the $455,036 winner’s share of the purse.
Bobby Cox bred Duponte in Texas. Paredes bought the colt from Cox for $6,700 at the 2015 Texas Quarter Horse Association Yearling Sale.
Duponte is sired by the Ocean Runaway stallion American Runaway, a two-time Champion of 2010 raced by Cox.
Duponte is out of the Ivory James mare Havanah Goodtime, bred by Bobby Cox. Havanah Goodtime won her only start in 2012. Duponte is the mare’s first starter, a good one with two stakes wins.
Fitting Celebration, Duponte’s third dam, was
a graded stakes winner and named the Broodmare of the Year in 2004. Fitting Celebration’s foals include: Champion Brimmerton, winner of the All American
Derby-G1, Rainbow Derby-G1 and Texas Derby Challenge-G3; multiple graded stakes winner Gone Celebrating, winner of the Championship at Sunland Park-G1, Sam Houston Classic Handicap-G2, Classic Chevrolet Stakes-RG3 and Classic Chevrolet Heartbeat of America-RG3; and stakes winner Mitford, winner of the Alex Picov Memorial Championship and the Picov Maturity.
Trial winner Sweet Annie GL (One Sweet Jess-Grande Annee) finished second with Agustin Silva in the irons. R.L. Robinson trains the gelding for the Garza Laurel Partnership LLC. Sweet Annie
GL earlier ran second in the Oklahoma Futurity-G3.
Francisco Vega’s homebred Widows Devil (Valiant Hero-Wicked Seis) closed well for third under jockey Ivan Carnero. Manuel Almanza trains the gelding, whose previous outings were a third and a second in trials.
Completing the field were Kiss My Heineken (Carters Cartel-Fredaville), Coronas First Diva (Corona Cartel-Spit Curl Diva),
V Power (Valiant Hero-Ferarri Fast Prize),
B Double U (PYC Paint Your Wagon-Sixes Fisher), First Rate Return (High Rate Of Return-Tellin It All), Accountably (American Runaway-Check The Account), and Mia Kine (Dominyun-Mia Jones).
Remington Park $1,083,420 • 350 yards :17.306 • si 94
Ocean Runaway
American Runaway
Allamericandreamgirl
DUPONTE, ‘14-c.
Ivory James
Havanah Goodtime
Jess Celebrating
Duponte (#10) & Francisco Ramirez Jr. finish strong to win the $1,083,503 Heritage Place Futurity
160 SPEEDHORSE, July 2016
RACING NEWS
(c)Linda Earley Photography