Page 154 - November 2021

AQHA Challenge Championship Weekend
Adequan Derby Challenge Championship-G3
JC WILD KING
The Downs At ALB
$151,750 • 400 yards :19.203 • si 104
by Tracy Gantz
Jose Cervantes Sr. and Jr., a father-and-son team from Mustang, Oklahoma, keep five broodmares, doing all the work them- selves. It makes every victory even sweeter, especially when it comes in a major race such as the AQHA Adequan Derby Challenge Championship-G3. They won that Oct. 23 event at The Downs at Albuquerque with their homebred JC Wild King.
“We bought the mare (Oh Cherokee Rose) at the Heritage Sale from Weetona Stanley,” said Jose Jr. “She did good for us, and the mare has always thrown good babies.
“We took this horse to Heath Taylor, and he told us that this horse has potential. We wanted to pay him into the All American, but we found out he had to have surgery in his ankles.”
That saved the Cervanteses nomination fees, but kept JC Wild King from fulfilling that potential as two. The Oklahoma-bred has really come into his own as a three
year old, however, which he proved in the Adequan Challenge Championship.
James Flores rode JC Wild King, who went off as the 5-2 second choice. JC Wild King broke third and immediately forged to the front. He drifted out slightly at first, but throughout the 400 yards he kept widening his advantage, winning by 1 1/4 lengths
in :19.203.
“He really ran good,” said Cervantes. “He surprised us.”
JC Wild King’s connections were con- cerned going against Bad Monkey, the 2-1 favorite who finished second. Last year on Challenge night in the AQHA John Deere Juvenile Challenge Championship-G2, the results had been reversed, with Bad Monkey winning and JC Wild King running second.
That was JC Wild King’s final start at two. When he returned to the races at three, he ran sixth twice at Remington Park.
“We knew something was up with the horse,” said Cervantes. “He didn’t want to lose his winter coat. He was just not firing like he did at the end of the year.”
They discovered JC Wild King had bad ulcers. Medication for the condition helped the gelding. Without ailments bothering him and now trained by Fidencio Jimenez, JC Wild King has won four races and finished second once in his last five starts. Those wins included the Speedhorse Derby and Will Rogers Downs Derby Challenge Stakes.
JC Wild King wins the $151,750 Adequan Derby Challenge Championship-G3 by 1 1/4-length.
152 SPEEDHORSE November 2021
KISS MY HOCKS
si 109
Bred by: Tyler Graham & John Mayers
Raced to 3 • $1,199,385 12-9(3)-1(1)-0
335 f., 15 SW • $5,668,351
TEMPTING DASH si 112 Bred by: Muller Racing LLC Raced to 2 • $673,970 5-4(2)-0-0
662 f., 33 SW • $12,541,319
Bred by: Jose Cervantes
Raced to 3 $174,605 12-5(4)-3(1)-0
ROMANCING MARY si 103 Bred by: Broken Bones Cattle Co./Ed Leslie Raced to 3 • $163,294 14-4-4(1)-4(4)
17 f., 1 SW • $1,411,946
JESS CHARLENA
si 90
Bred by: Tom & Kathleen McNally Raced to 4 • $12,130
5-2-0-0
5 f., 2 SW • $654,460
TAKE OFF JESS si 101 Bred by: Henry E. Brown Raced to 2 • $380,087 7-2-3(2)-1
133 f., 9 SW • $1,785,069
CHARLENAS CLEAT si 84 Bred by: Charles Hendrix Raced to 4 • $6,367 19-1-0-1
3 f., 0 SW • $53,857
Susan Bachelor, Speedhorse
JC Wild King, 18-g.