Page 58 - November 2021

KVN Corona
economic return, there were so many variables,” — the biggest being that you got only one foal per mare each year so if Murphy’s Law in any form kicked in, your efforts were for naught.
But when Lance told Keith about the Quarter Horse rule allowing embryo transfer, which allowed a greater probability of producing a viable runner two years after foaling, Keith says, “Well, that was a whole different gig!”
So, in fall 2012, the pair bought Little Surfer, a 6-year-old multiple stakes winning mare by First Down Dash and out of Runaway Wave, by Runaway Winner. Her first foal, a 2013 colt called Rip Tide, by Corona Cartel, sold for $300,000 and went on to stakes- winning status. As a freshman, he ran third in his Ruidoso, Rainbow, Golden State Million and Los Alamitos $2 Million futurity trials. At three, he ran second in his Ruidoso Derby trial and the Mr Jess Perry Derby, won his Rainbow Derby trial, ran fourth in his All American Derby trial, and second in his Los Alamitos Super Derby trial, placing sixth in the Grade 1 final. He won the Par-A-Dice Stakes at Delta Downs at 6, following that with a second-place finish in the Esplanade Stakes at Fair Grounds in New Orleans. He finished his running career at 20-6-5-5 having earned $123,283.
In 2017, Little Surfer produced Uncle D — named after Keith’s uncle, Darrell Ricks. “When Uncle D won the Rainbow Futurity, Uncle Darrell and his wife were there to see it,” Keith says. In addition to his Rainbow victory, Uncle D won his Heritage Place Futurity trial, then ran second in the Grade 1 final. He followed that with a second in his All American Futurity trial and a win in the All American Juvenile Stakes. He earned the AQHA Champion 2 Year Old and Champion 2-Year-Old Colt titles in 2019.
His sophomore year, Uncle D ran second in his Ruidoso Derby trial, and third in his Rainbow Derby and his All American Derby trials. He closed his career with $689,165 and stats of 10-4-3-2.
“We were going along and Lance said, ‘If you have one, you might as well have two,’ so we found Executive Looks,” Keith says. Also, a 2006 mare, by Executive Menace and out of Sticky N Picky, by Sticks An Stones, Executive Looks produced Big Lew in 2013 and KVN Corona in 2015.
Big Lew became a Graded stakes winner, ranked 12th by earnings in 2016. His career earnings totaled $638,878 over three years, with eight wins, two seconds and seven thirds from 24 starts. His first year out, he won his Oklahoma Futurity trial and ran second in the Grade 2 final; ran second in his Ruidoso
Uncle Darrel, the inspiration for Uncle D’s name
Uncle D
Futurity trial; won his All American Futurity trial and his Golden State Million Futurity trial; then ran third in his Los Alamitos $2 Million Futurity trial.
At three, Big Lew won his trials to the Oklahoma Derby, the Ruidoso Derby and the Los Alamitos Super Derby, winning the Grade 1 final and running third in the Champion of Champion Stakes-G1. At four, he ran third
in the Leo Stakes-G1 at Remington and the Robert L. Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship Stakes-G1.
In 2015, Executive Looks foaled Big Lew’s full brother, KVN Corona, whom Keith calls his all-time best. KVN Corona was named the 2017 Champion 2-Year-Old Colt and 2018 Champion 3-Year-Old Colt titles and multiple Graded stakes winning status, his best win being the Ed Burke Million Futurity-G1. His earnings totaled $868,077 with 10 wins and one second from 13 starts.
Uncle D, Big Lew and KVN Corona now stand at the Lazy E. “We believe it all starts with the individual,” Keith says. “We look for mares that are the individuals we want to duplicate.
“We also believe that sales prep starts at conception, so we feed everything on our ranch as if it’s the star yearling,” he adds. “They all get fed the same and they all get that same daily process of checking them to make sure they’re all good.”
Branching Out
Although Keith and Lance typically sell all 60-ish yearlings they raise each year, they do occasionally buy a horse or two to race and they raise a few barrel horses each year as well.
This year, Keith ran Hear Me Roarrr, his daughter Preslee’s new barrel prospect. By the Tres Seis son Roarrr and out of the First Down Dash mare Aquafina, the filly earned $48,664 and stakes winner status. She won her Hadley
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SPEEDHORSE November 2021