Page 182 - Speedhorse August 2018

TQHA Sale Futurity-RG3
DAK
by Michael Cusortelli
Making his third career start, ninth-fastest qualifier and longshot Dak won the $479,196 Texas Quarter Horse Association Sale
Futurity-RG3 at Retama Park on July 28. Dak defeated LJ Moonrise by a 1/2-length
while stopping the timer in :17.888 and earning a career-best 93 speed index against a reported 15-mph head wind. Nestor Duran rode colt for owner Blue Star Racing and trainer Leon Bard.
Dak was bred by Bullard Farms, whose recent homebreds include Fire On The Fly, a multiple graded stakes winner at the 870-yard distance.
A $14,500 purchase at last year’s TQHA Yearling Sale in San Antonio, Dak is the first starter produced by winner Fleet Elis, a finalist in the 2011 Dash For Cash Futurity-G1.
Dak’s second dam, Fleeta Dif TB, won five Thoroughbred stakes in Oklahoma and Texas from 2002-04, including the ’04 Adena Springs Matchmaker Turf Sprint Stakes at Remington Park. Dak traces back to his fifth dam, Fiesta Lady TB, a Kentucky-bred daughter of 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat who won
the 1984 Matron Stakes-G1 at Belmont Park and Del Mar Debutante Stakes-G2 and was a half-sister to four stakes winners, including Faneuil Lass TB, a two-time Grade 3 winner at Hollywood Park and runner-up in the ’82 Hollywood Oaks-G1.
Raced exclusively in Texas, Dak has won two of three starts, and the $213,242 winner’s share of the stakes- record $479,196 purse from his first stakes score pushed the gelding’s earnings to $215,392. Dak broke his maiden with a 1 1/2-length victory in one of 11 TQHA Sale Futurity trials on July 13.
Bard, one of the most suc-
cessful trainers on the Texas
circuit, has been training Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds since 1981. He was the leading trainer by wins during the Sam Houston Race Park spring Quarter Horse season, which ended May 12, and he was the leading trainer by wins during last year’s Retama Park meet.
In 2017, Bard ranked 11th nationally with starter earnings of $1,154,593. The majority
of his success has come in Texas, but he won the 1987 Kindergarten Futurity-G1 at Los Alamitos with Jerry Windham’s Runaway Winner, as well as the ’02 Ruidoso Futurity-G1 with Gary W. Hartstack’s Zip First.
Bard qualified three 2 year olds to this year’s TQHA Sale Futurity, which began in 1999 and has become the most lucrative race
on Retama Park’s schedule. Bard also sent out 2nd place LJ Moonrise and fourth-place Woulda. The horseman has won this race four times, more than any other trainer.
LJ Moonrise (Separatist- Risen Eagle) earned $105,423 for her owner, P & J Racing Ltd. Jose Alvarez rode the black filly, who has won two of four starts and has banked $112,313.
Hot Beer (Dash Master Jess-Kanzoom) finished third and pocketed $52,711 for his owner, Gerald Aguirre. A $3,600 buy at the TQHA Sale, the gelding was ridden by Manuel Gutierrez for trainer Juan Diaz Jr.
Woulda (Tempting Dash-Passem Up Perry) ran fourth and was followed by Coronas On The Coast (Special Royal Corona-Coasting Rabbit) and Jess Master Angel (Dash Master Jess-Mi Angela), who finished in a dead
heat for fifth. Baller (Jess Zoomin-Panther Speed), Anasttasia (The Louisiana Cartel-Las Alamitos), Gianni Moons U (One Famous Gianni-Chalinashake), and Dashingwithnorate (High Rate Of Return-Ottyes Dashing Gal) completed the order of finish.
Retama Park $479,196 • 350 yards :17.888 • si 93
Mr Jess Perry
Dominyun
Runaway Dee Dee
DAK, ‘15-g.
Fishers Dash
Fleet Elis
Fleeta Dif TB
180 SPEEDHORSE, August 2018
Dak & Nestor Duran win the $479,196 TQHA Sale Futurity-RG3 by 1/2-length
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