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Timeto Thinkrich, the sire of Denim N Diamonds, with Jerry and Millie Vessels in 1975.
Primarily on the strength of her La Primera vic- tory, Brace has earnings of over $107,000.
Two other Timeto Thinkrich offspring, Lets Do It To It and Timeto Takeoff, are in the midst of their best seasons. Lets Do It To It showed much promise early in his two- year-old campaign last year, but has really developed this year. Under the tutelage of Gene Chambless’ son Mike, Lets Do It To
It has a second in the Golden State Derby at Bay Meadows and a third in the Los Alamitos Derby to his credit since April.
Timeto Takeoff, who is Brace’s stable mate for the Blane Schvaneveldt shedrow, was second to Denim N Diamonds in the Vessels Maturity. The four-year-old mare also has seconds this year in the Miss Peninsula Championship and the California Breeders Championship, and a third in the Chicado V Handicap.
Timeto Thinkrich is sired by Ed Baker’s Thoroughbred stallion Aforethought and out
of a solid Vessels’ breeding program family. Aforethought has gained stature in Quarter Horse racing as the sire of two All American Futurity winners, Timeto Thinkrich and Hot Idea. Hot Idea was named Champion Two-Year- Old Filly and retired with career earnings of over $368,000. She was also second in the World’s Championship Classic at Ruidoso Downs.
Aforethought is sired by the Champion sprinter Intentionally, a stakes winner of over $652,000. Intentionally traces to Man O’War in his tail-male line through his son War Relic and Intent Intentionally is out of a daughter of noted broodmare sire Discovery, who is also the sire of the dams of Bold Ruler and Native Dancer. Intentionally’s second dam is by Three Bars’ sire Percentage.
Aforethought is out of the blue hen Aspidistra, a daughter of Better Self and out of a granddaughter of Bull Dog. Aspidistra is also the dam of Horse Of The Year and twice Champion sprinter Dr. Fager and twice Champion sprinter Ta Wee.
Timeto Thinkrich is out of the Tiny Charger daughter Chronometer, a full sister
to stakes winner Chargeability. Chargeability counted the Johnny Dial Handicap among her nine wins. She also picked up thirds in the Bay Meadows Futurity, the Golden State Futurity and the Golden State Derby. The second dam of Timeto Thinkrich is a half-sister to the stakes-placed Chudej’s Rhoda, a daughter of Chudej’s Black Gold. Since Chudej’s Black Gold and Tiny Charger are both sired by Depth Charge, Chronometer and Chudej’s Rhoda share the same cross.
runners at the San Mateo track with easy wins in an allowance race and the Miss Peninsula Handicap over members of her own sex.
Denim N Diamonds’ mettle was set to be tested in her first out at Los Alamitos as she was set to go against the star of the winter season at Los Alamitos... Vespero. Vespero was coming into the race off a layoff since his win in the $100,000 HQHR A Championship, but the 350 yards of the Shue Fly Handicap was custom made for the gelding.
Vespero flew out of the gate to gain a clear advantage and looked like he had the race under control. But then the mare came run- ning and at the wire Denim N Diamonds was a neck in front with a sizzling :17.56 clocking. Vespero came back in his next out to equal the 300-yard track record.
The Shue Fly Handicap put Denim N Diamonds on edge for the Vessels Maturity trials and she responded with the fastest quali- fying time of :21.74 for the 440yards. In her most recent race as of this writing, Denim N Diamonds had posted an easy win by a length and a quarter in the $164,000 Vessels Maturity.
In several ways Denim N Diamonds career has been similar to her sire Timeto Thinkrich’s campaign as a two, three and four year old. Denim N Diamonds and Timeto Thinkrich both showed the soundness, strength and class to compete against the top stakes runners over three straight years.
As has just been stated, Denim N Diamonds is in the middle of a consistently excellent career, while her sire earned championship title in his juvenile, sophomore and four-year-old years. Timeto Thinkrich retired with earnings of over $612,000, which made him the leading money earner until Easy Date passed him.
Gene Chambless has been the manager of Vessels’ Stallion Farm for nearly four years and he has probably seen more Timeto Thinkrich puts in his foals and a trait that Denim N Diamonds certainly possesses. “The beauti-
ful part of this horse is that he is passing on soundness.” Chambless was quick to relate while seated at his desk. “Also, all of his foals have out- standing dispositions and are easy to work with.
“It makes the trainer’s work a lot easier when he has a sound horse. Having a good sound horse is a trainer’s dream,” Chambless added. “He is the type of horse that distributes his weight well when he is running and this keeps him sound. He never put too much pres- sure on his front end or his hind legs.”
Timeto Thinkrich has stood to a full book of mares in each of the past three years, and his fee will be raised form $3,500 to $5,000 for the 1982 breeding season.
The success of the Timeto Thinkrich offspring this year is not limited to Denim N Diamonds. This year started off with the Timeto Thinkrich filly Brace accounting for the $210,000 La Primera Del Ano Derby at Los Alamitos.
50 SPEEDHORSE, March 8, 2013
Milt Martinez