Page 53 - 16 March 2012

Eastex Handicap-G2
a Toss UP
by John Moorehouse
running in the fourth stakes event of his career, A Toss Up proved to be unshake- able. James Sills and Abel Flores’ 3-year-old
gelding kicked off his sophomore campaign in fine fashion, going wire-to-wire in the Eastex Handicap-G2 on March 4 at Remington Park in what marked the first graded stakes race of the Oklahoma City racetrack’s 2012 season.
A Toss Up faced 11-1 odds at the betting window at post time but had
no equal when the starting
gates opened. He burst from
the eight hole at the front of
the 10-horse field. Jockey
David Pinon kept A Toss Up
in the lead, and he pulled
away in the final yards to
win by nearly two lengths.
Prepped by trainer Eddie Willis, A Toss Up covered the 350 yards in :17.327, making his inaugural start at that distance and bringing
Mighty Deck Three Handicap
home a $31,980 payday for Sills and Willis that pushed the gelding’s lifetime winnings into six figures at $118,978.
A Toss Up now has four victories in seven outs, with half those triumphs coming in stakes company. He also won last year’s Black Gold 330 Futurity at Will Rogers Downs, and was fourth in the Black Gold Championship and ninth in the Remington Park Juvenile.
Bred by Sills, A Toss Up is the sole stakes winner so far produced by his dam, Shake Cartel, a 2002 mare owned by Sills and Flores. Shake Cartel has three offspring, and the two starters in that brood both hold black type. Miss Okey, a half-sister to A Toss Up, is stakes-placed with a runner-up finish in the Black Gold 330 Futurity.
Jess Special Candy beat Wcrseperateandcool to the
wire by a neck to claim second place. Manny Silva owns Jess Special Candy (Mr Jess Perry- This Candys Special), trained by Bonifacio Almanza and ridden by Adalberto Candanosa. Wcrseperateandcool (Separatist-BCR Really Cool) had his four-race winning streak snapped but still hit the board for owner Saul Acosta. The Harvey Baeza trainee had jockey Ricky Ramirez aboard.
The remaining order of finish was Thru The Fire (Walk Thru Fire-Algonquin), Sm Chicksastreakin (Country Chicks Man-Ms Streakin Stride), Heza Awesome Blue (Jess Louisiana Blue-Prissys Awesome Form), Zoomin With Ease (Azoom-All About Ease), The Rare Corona (The Corona-Rare Shake), Cold Granite Stone (Granite Lake-Hempen Chics Alibi) and Oklahoma Bandido (Take Off Jess-Pure Oklahoma).
Remington Park $54,500 • 350 yards :17.327 • si 98
First Down Dash
Sweet First Down
Sweet Bye And Bye
A TOSS UP, ‘09-g.
Corona Cartel
Shake Cartel
Shake N Quack
PainT a FaMoUs CanDy
by John Moorehouse
Paint A Famous Candy opened his 2012 campaign the same way he concluded last year. By showing plenty of speed.
The 4-year-old gelding posted the third
triple-digit speed index of his career during the $35,000 Mighty Deck Three Handicap held March 4 at Remington Park, clocking a 103 while winning the race by a half-length.
Making a strong break from the one hole underneath jockey Tony Bennett, Paint A Famous Candy rode the rail all the way to the finish line and was never seriously challenged.
Paint A Famous Candy collected his first stakes victory and fifth overall win in 13 outs for owner/breeder Carl Pevehouse. All three
of his 100-plus indices have come since Paint A Famous Candy broke his maiden on
April 10 of last year, a span of seven outs. By the way, five of those seven starts have been victories, including three allowance wins.
A Clinton Crawford trainee, Paint A Famous Candy added a $20,280 payday to his career bankroll, which now stands at $80,914.
Pevehouse also bred the Leaving Memories mare This Candys Famous, the dam of Paint A Famous Candy. A 1995 mare
who was an allowance winner on the track, This Candys Famous has eight foals—all starters.
Five of those eight are winners, but Paint A Famous Candy becomes the first of the brood
to attain black type. Paint A Famous Candy’s second dam is Pevehouse’s blue-hen broodmare Send Me Candy.
Berkley Packer rode Fishin CR (Fishin Kisses-Junos Tiny Gold) to runner-up honors
for owner/trainer Christian Rubalcava. Finche (Tres Seis-Doctor Prospector), the winner
of last season’s version of the Mighty Deck Three and the pre-race favorite at the betting window, broke through the gate pre-start but settled down and finished third. Larry Abney trains the gelding, and co-owns him with Chris Sheehy. Jockey G.R. Carter Jr. was aboard.
Rounding out the order of finish, Mr Chico Corona (SC Chiseled In Stone-Miss Chico Dial) reached the line fourth, followed by Whathaveigottado (Shazoom-Strawberry Silk), Ann Jemima (Country Chicks Man-Mea Brick House), Cuz Iba Okey (Okey Dokey Dale-RG Special), I Am That Hero (Sweet First Down-Miss Fine La Jolla), The Dashing Attitude (Streak And Dash-Miss Desert Chrome) and Blackwater Command (PYC Paint Your Wagon-Soxolene).
Remington Park $35,000 • 250 yards :13.016 • si 103
Corona Cartel
PYC Paint Your Wagon
Dashin Follies
PAINT A FAMOUS CANDY, ‘08-g.
Leaving Memories
This Candys Famous
Send Me Candy
SPEEDHORSE, March 16, 2012 51
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Dustin orona Photography Dustin orona Photography