Page 24 - Speedhorse March 2018

Cocked An Loaded Conn Creek Coronado Cartel
2017 FRESHMAN SIRE OF THE YEAR
Hez Our Secret Wins 2017 Freshman Sire Title
by Stacy Pigott
In 2014, as Hez Our Secret left the racetrack to start his career at stud, owner Johnny Trotter was quoted as saying, “If he can
produce like he ran, he’ll make an awfully good sire.” Three years later, Hez Our Secret proved just how prophetic those words were by ending 2017 as the American Quarter Horse Association’s Leading Freshman Sire.
Horses sired by Hez Our Secret made 29 starts in 2017, with 12 winners recording 18 wins. Of those, five were stakes-placed runners, 17 earned their Register of Merits, and four earned speed indexes of 90 or above. Hez Our Secret’s money earners banked $487,622 in 2017, more than $170,000 better than the second-leading freshman sire, Fast Prize Cartel.
Other freshman sires in the top 200 were: Lota PYC, Fast Prize Jordan, Krash Cartel, Jess Cuervo, Jess Lips, One Famous Versace, JR Dynasty Mountain, Tres Seis Nuevo and First Prize Doc.
While Hez Our Secret wasn’t represented by
a stakes winner last year, several of his foals were stakes placed. Hez Our Secret’s first foal crop got off to a fast start in 2017 when Hez Our Boy won a trial to the Harrah’s Entertainment Futurity
on March 4 and Hez Our Prize won Remington Park’s first maiden 2-year-old race on March 10.
Hez Our Prize, a then-colt out of PYC Oh Whatta Rose, scored an impressive 1-length victory, covering the 250 yards in :13.119 under
Hez Our Secret
Horses sired by Hez Our Secret made 29 starts in 2017, with 12 winners re- cording 18 wins. Of those, five were stakes-placed runners, 17 earned their Register of Merits, and four earned speed indexes of 90 or above.
jockey Daniel Torres. Owned by Preston Cloud and trained by Clinton Crawford, Hez Our Prize followed up that maiden win with a 1 3/4-length win in a trial to the Remington Park Oklahoma Bred Futurity-G2. His third-place finish in the finals was worth a cool $102,575.
Moving to Ruidoso Downs for the summer, Hez Our Prize ran third in a trial to the Ruidoso Futurity-G1, then finished second in the Ruidoso Downs Juvenile Stakes. He ended the year with earnings of $138,153, making him Hez Our Secret’s second-leading money earner.
Hez Our Secret’s top earner for the year was Mr Secret Glory, a gelding bred and owned by Trotter, of Hereford, Texas. Out of the Mr Eye Opener mare Eye Of Glory, Mr Secret Glory raced exclusively at Ruidoso Downs in 2017. He contested the trials of all three Ruidoso Triple Crown futurities, winning twice but making the finals just once, in the Grade 1 All American Futurity.
“When Ricky got back, he said, ‘This horse is just like his daddy – he’s fast, and he runs all over the place,’” trainer Trey Wood said of Mr Secret Glory. Trey and his father, trainer Blane Wood, also trained Hez Our Secret, who was ridden during his championship career by Ramirez.
A Labor Day win by Mr Secret Glory would have repeated a rare feat accomplished by another Trotter-owned stallion: One Famous Eagle sired an All American Futurity winner
Jess Being Valiant Jettastic Junior June Bug
22 SPEEDHORSE, March 2018
Marie Littlefield