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ALBUQUERQUE DOWNS
Carlos Salazar (R)
Attila’s Storm
Forest Wildcat
Sweet Symmetry
Charlotte’s Drone
B.G.’s Drone
Charlotte’s Ego
BELLA DONA
Shugs Charlie, Flaxy Lady, Lemon Drop Gold and Overtide completed the order of finish.
Proofsinthepuddin banked the $20,000 runner-up share of the Carlos Salazar Stakes purse to bring her earnings to $147,584 from
15 starts for her owner, Reliance Ranches LLC. A half-sister to 2017 Copper Top Futurity (R) runner-up Red Raider, the 4-year-old chestnut daughter of the Bernardini stallion Marking has won three races, and her lifetime resume includes second-place finishes in last year’s Petticoat Stakes (R) at Albuquerque Downs and Sierra Starlet Stakes (R) at Ruidoso Downs.
Shugs Charlie is a 5-year-old daughter of the Indian Charlie stallion Shame On Charlie campaigned by Humberto Munoz and Karla J. Munoz. A full sister to 2020 New Mexico Cup Juvenile Championship (R) winner Champ Spirit, the bay mare has won four of 21 outs
-- including the open 6 1/2-furlong, $82,200 Toni Samora Memorial Stakes at SunRay Park on May 21 -- and the $10,000 third-place share of the purse bumped her bankroll to $170,389.
Run every year at Albuquerque Downs, the Carlos Salazar Stakes honors the memory of the late Carlos Salazar, a longtime sportswriter for the Albuquerque Tribune and supporter of horse racing in New Mexico.
Bella Dona continued her dominance of the New Mexico-bred distaff division with her wire-to-wire, one-length victory in the August 27, 6 1/2-furlong Carlos Salazar Stakes (R) at Albuquerque Downs.
Trained by Simon Buechler for owners Robert M. Driggers, Del Rae Driggers and Ben Lee Ivey, Bella Dona set fractions of :22.29
and :45.81 before reaching the wire in 1:16.32. Luis Fuentes rode the bay 3-year-old daughter of Attila’s Storm, who earned the $60,000 winner’s share of a $100,000 purse.
Bella Dona was bred by Robert Driggers and Del Rae Driggers, and the filly was stretching
out in distance off of her 4 1/4-length win in the 5 1/2-furlong, $50,000 Lincoln Stakes (R) for state-bred distaffers at Ruidoso Downs on August 7. She is one of 27 black-type stakes winners sired by Attila’s Storm, a graded stakes winning son of the Storm Cat stallion Forest Wildcat.
Attila’s Storm earned $534,983 from 18 starts from 2004-07. From a dozen crops, the stallion has sired the earners of more than $16.8 million, including five-time stakes winners Waltzing Attila and Stormin The Jewels. Attila’s Storm died on June
23, 2021, after sustaining a heart attack following colic surgery.
Bella Dona is one of five winners from as many starters produced by Charlotte’s Drone, an unplaced daughter of B.G.’s Drone. A 2005 foal, Charlotte’s Drone has foaled two other stakes winners: Tilla Cat, a full sister to Bella Dona who won three stakes in New Mexico from 2016-18, and Lariat, a half-brother to Bella Dona who won the 2020 New Mexico Cup Derby Championship (R) at Zia Park.
Bella Dona’s second dam, the Tilt The Odds mare Charlotte’s Ego, won four stakes from 1997-2001, including the $56,400 New Mexico Distaff Handicap (R) at SunRay Park in 2001. The filly’s fourth dam, the Crimson Falcon mare Fanny Falcon, won the 1981 New Mexican Stakes for 2-year-olds at The Downs at Santa Fe.
Bella Dona traces back to her fifth
dam, Tuff Ruler, a winning daughter of the Nasrullah stallion Sir Ruler and a full sister to stakes winner May Ruler. Raced in two states, including Arizona, Bella Dona has won 10 of 11 starts, including eight stakes, and she has earned $615,068.
Bella Dona was sent to post as the 2-5 favorite in the field of six and returned a $2.80 win mutuel. Proofsinthepuddin, an 8-1 longshot, ran second to complete a $14 ($2) exacta.
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Coady Photography