Page 46 - 28 September 2012

Gordon Mobley Futurity
BALL BALL COROnA
by Michael Compton
Ball Ball Corona’s victory in the $112,400 Gordon Mobley Futurity on Sept. 15 at Hoosier Park in Anderson, Indiana, car-
ried special sentiment for owner and breeder Maurice Locklear. Ball Ball Corona is named for Locklear’s late mother-in-law, Sarah, who passed away in May of 2009.
“When my oldest daughter, Belinda, first started talking she couldn’t pronounce grandma,” Locklear said. “She called her grandmother ‘Ball Ball.’ I told my wife, Sandra, after her mother passed away that if our mares foal fillies the following year I am naming one of them in honor of her. Sure enough, we got a filly, and she was foaled on April 6, two days after Sarah’s birthday.”
That filly, Ball Ball Corona, made the family proud in the Gordon Mobley Futurity, the premier event for Indiana-sired Quarter Horses. With Harold Collins in the irons, the 2-year-old filly broke sharply from post posi- tion four, but bore out midway through the race. She kept to task late, however, was never headed and won by a half-length. She covered the 350 yards in :18.278 for Hoosier Park’s leading conditioner Ron Raper, Locklear’s longtime trainer.
“Once she got straightened out she looked good,” said Locklear. “She might have shied away from a shadow, but she finished strong once she gathered herself. We couldn’t be happier with the win. I ordered enough win- ner’s circle pictures for the whole family. It’s a special win.”
Locklear has been involved in racing and breeding American Quarter Horses for 30 years and currently has three mares on his 100-acre farm in Maxton, North Carolina, where he raises cattle and hogs. Locklear is quick to credit Raper for the success of his homebred runners.
“He is so patient with the young horses,” Locklear said of Raper. “Our relationship is real important to the success of the horses. I raise them and he runs them.”
Winless in five starts prior to the Gordon Mobley Futurity trials, Ball Ball Corona had finished second in her two previous starts
at Hoosier, including a narrow defeat in her trial. She lost by a neck in that race to Streak Ta Dash, who was the second-fastest qualifier while Ball Ball Corona’s time was the third- fastest. Streak Ta Dash wound up fourth in the finals.
“She’s definitely a barn favorite,” Raper said of Ball Ball Corona. “She is the
46 SPEEDHORSE, September 28, 2012
culmination of a breeding program we started a long time ago. She’s always been a nice little mare who is always close. Today, she picked the right time to run a big one.”
Ball Ball Corona is the first foal from Locklear’s stakes-winning mare She My Payoff, by SC Payoff. She My Payoff won the 2007 GLQHA Stallion Service Sale Futurity and the following year’s cor-
responding derby. All told, she
won six of 13 for earnings of
$22,770. Locklear also owns
She My Payoff’s dam, Easyette
Cash, who has produced three
additional winners in Hemp
Easy Cash, Sam Little Chic
and Kool Quick Cash.
“I’ve always had high hopes
for her,” Locklear said of Ball
Ball Corona. “It took her a
little while to come around,
but that is typical of her
family. All the horses in that
family were a little green to start with. They all got better late in the 2-year-old year and even into their 3-year-old seasons. Ball Ball Corona is no different.”
Chilled Too The Bone, piloted by Jose Beltran for owner and trainer Roy Moore, fin- ished second in the Gordon Mobley Futurity
after getting bumped from both sides in a roughly run race. Dash To Win and jockey Cesar Carrilo held on for third after racing head and head with the winner in the early stages. Dash To Win is owned and trained by Jim Roysden.
Even-money favorite and fastest qualifier Kitticelli was never involved after getting
squeezed at the start and ultimately, taken up by rider Julie Veltman. A claim of foul was lodged by Veltman against the runner-up Chilled Too The Bone for alleged interference at the break. Following a review
of the films, no action was taken by the stewards.
Reporting home behind the top three in the Gordon Mobley Futurity were Streak Ta Dash (Doreme Fasolasi-Here in My Heart),
Robins Corona (Mito Corona-Six Packin Robin), Hopen To Smokem (Mito Corona-Lill Bita Zevi), Night Beat Ranger (The Rainbow Ranger-Arza), R Cigar (Rare Cigar-Flashin Dee Dee), Zoomin For Daddy (Leader of the Class-Alpha Zoie) and Kitticelli (Genuine Botticelli-Kittens Line).
Hoosier Park $112,400 • 350 yards :18.278 • si 80
Corona Cartel
Mito Corona
Mansini Moon
BALL BALL CORONA, ’10-f.
SC Payoff
She My Payoff
Easyette Cash
Ball Ball Corona (#5) and jockey Harold Collins scored a half-length victory over Chilled Too The Bone (#1) in the Gordon Mobley Futurity.
Racing news
Jamie Linscott: Hoosier Park