Page 48 - October 2016

IMPERIAL EAGLE FULFILLS HIS DESTINY
Mr Jess
Streakin La Jolla
by Larry Thornton
The initial story behind the 2016 All American Futurity-G1 is that when Imperial Eagle crossed the finish line first, it seemed that he was destined to win the race. The gray gelding carried Esgar Ramirez across the wire in a time of :21.478 for owner Charles “Chuck” Robinson and trainer Tony Sedillo, thus fulfilling their All American dream.
But, Robinson had been trying to win the All American for many years. The interesting part is that Imperial Eagle was the only horse Robinson entered in the 2016 All American Futurity-G1, and he was the only horse Sedillo trained for the race. It was certainly their turn to achieve the All American dream, and they made the most of their opportunity,
fulfilling their destiny to win this race. Now, let’s look at the pedigree side of
the story and the role it played in fulfilling their destiny. Robinson bought Imperial Eagle at the 2015 Ruidoso Super Select
Sale for $40,000 from his breeder, Fredda Draper. Imperial Eagle started his race career with a second in the trials to the West Texas Futurity-G2 and then finished fifth in the finals. He was moved up to second in the finals after some disqualifications.
Imperial Eagle moved on to Ruidoso Downs, winning his trials for both the Ruidoso Futurity-G1 and the Rainbow Futurity-G1, however, he did not qualify to the finals. His third win at Ruidoso came in
the All American Futurity-G1 trials by setting the overall fastest qualifying time of :21.499 in the last of 15 trials on the first of the two days of qualifying races. It looked like it was Imperial Eagle’s time, and they were on the verge of a great opportunity.
It may have been the first time that Robinson and Sedillo had been in the All American winner’s circle, but it wasn’t breeder Fredda Draper’s first trip. Fredda and her late husband, Carl Draper, made their first trip to an All American win with DM Shicago in 2003. Fredda was a partner with Don Moler and Carl was the trainer for this winning team. Carl and Fredda would return to the All American winner’ s circle in 2007 when Heartswideopen, also trained by Carl, won the race.
The story of how Fredda Draper became a breeder of an All American Futurity winner begins back in the 1970’s when
Carl and Fredda left life on the rodeo
circuit and turned to raising and training racehorses. Fredda recently recalled it this way, “In 1978 we moved to Canutillo, Texas, a place by El Paso. We bought a little tiny farm there and raised some colts. That was the year Carl trained in Juarez, Mexico. Then in 1979, we came to Ruidoso. There was so much difference between rodeo horses and racehorses it took us a good while to win a race. Then, we moved into the 80’s and Carl did well. We ran mostly New Mexico bred horses.”
She continued, “Then in 2002, Don Moler approached Carl about DM Shicago. Eddie Willis recommended Carl to Don, but Carl didn’t train for the public. We had partners that we worked with, but Don kept bugging him about this gray yearling colt he wanted him to try.” So they formed the Fredda Draper/Don Moler partnership and DM Shicago went to the Draper racing stable.
Fredda continued about DM Shicago and how great he was, “Carl got DM Shicago
in January of his two-year-old year. I was
Easy Six
Miss Assured Raise Your G La Jolla
Perry
Three Oh’s Vansarita T
One
Famous
Eagle
Chicks
A Classy Chick
Beduino
One
Famous
Lady
Rocket Wrangler
Find A Buyer TB
IMPERIAL
EAGLE
One Slick
Cookie
Super Duper Couper
Streakin Six
Bottom’s Up Sinn Fein
Legs La Scoop Beduino TB
Dash For Cash Pfeffernusse Special Effort
Fly In The Pie
Dash For Cash Genuine Knockout Coup De Kas TB Wendy Feature Young Beduino Real Easy Surprise
lass TB
Tiny’s Gay
Chick’s Fantacia Raise Your Glass TB Go Effortlessly
Kaskaskia
Mor Coup Jerry Crow TB Three Ofeature Beduino TB
Strawfly
Special
Genuine
Strawfly
High
Pie In The Sky
Flying Rockette
Rocket Wrangler
Fashion
Find A Buyer TB
Dash
Special Effort
Jenuine
Possumjet
Joy
Super
Perla
Negra
I Love A Saint Realeasy Chick
Surprising Results
Red Tag
Sale
46 SPEEDHORSE, October 2016
Scoopie
oo Scooper Chick
La Ferne
Fein
Romany Royal
Jo-Ann-Cat Chick’s De
ck Mayshego TB
SPEEDLINES