Page 54 - February 2017

CORONAS BOY si 98, $515,062
Champion Distance Horse
Breeder/Owner: Victor Diaz
Trainers: Martin Orona Jr., Hermengildo Aldavaz
Jockeys: Alejandro Medellin, Jose Ortiz, Isaias Cardenas, Adrian Ramos
2016 Record: 5-3(2)-0-0, $133,100, New Mexico Cup 870 Champ., Herman Jefferson S.
Once Coronas Boy retires, the New Mexico Classic Cup 870 Championship will never be the same. The gelding has dominated the race so completely that maybe it should be renamed for him after his racing career ends.
Coronas Boy has competed in the Zia Park event for the past four years. He has come away with three wins and one third. With his third victory in the race in 2016, he earned one more accolade, that of Distance Champion.
All 10 of Coronas Boy’s lifetime wins have come at 870 yards, even when he broke his maiden at age 3 in 2012. He has also spent his entire racing career in his home state of New Mexico.
Victor Diaz bred Coronas Boy from the Corona Cartel mare My First Corona, and the gelding is by the Dash For Cash stallion Mr Houston. Martin Orona Jr. trains Coronas Boy for the owner/breeder.
In five starts during 2016, Coronas
Boy finished first four times, though he
was disqualified once for interference. His
first victory came in an allowance event at Albuquerque on July 6, when he defeated favored An Absolut Diamond by 1 1/4 lengths.
In the Zia 870 Championship Stakes at Ruidoso Downs, Coronas Boy finished first by 1 3/4 lengths. But, the stewards disqualified him to last because he had drifted in at the five- sixteenths and out at the three-sixteenths.
Then came Coronas Boy’s two finest performances of the year—back-to-back stakes wins in the Herman Jefferson Stakes and the New Mexico Classic Cup, both at Zia Park.
He accomplished the first one by coming off the pace. Jockey Jose Ortiz brought him four wide on the turn, and they began overhauling horses. Coronas Boy got up to win by a neck in :45.838.
Fittingly, Coronas Boy completed his championship season in the New Mexico Classic Cup. This time ridden by Alejandro Medellin, the gelding led from almost the beginning. As the 4-5 favorite, he scored by two lengths, stopping the clock in :45.111 for a 98 speed index. The $84,000 he earned boosted his lifetime bankroll to $515,062.
Dash For Cash
Mr Houston
Mito Kiss
Rocket Wrangler
Find A Buyer TB
Mito Paint TB
Rocket Bar TB Go Galla Go To Market Hide And Seek Mito
Herb’s Miss Easy Jet Cute Kiss
First Down Dash Easy Henryetta Chicks Beduino Sizzling Lil Dash For Cash First Prize Rose Special Effort Tinys Rose Bud
Three Bars Golden Rocket Go Man Go
La Galla Win Market Wise Pretty Does Alibhai Scattered Native Dancer No Strings Roman French Annie Jet Deck Lena’s Bar TB Go Man Go Cute Trick
Dash For Cash First Prize Rose Easy Jet
Babys Henryetta Beduino TB
A Classy Chick Sizzle Te Lilsalady TB Rocket Wrangler Find A Buyer TB Gallant Jet Rose Bug
Raise Your Glass TB Go Effortlessly Tinys Gay
Runnin Rose
Percentage Myrtle Dee Cartago Morshion Top Deck TB Lightfoot Sis Direct Win TB La Gallina V Broker’s Tip On Hand Johnstown Creese Hyperion Teresina Whirlaway Imperatrice Polynesian Geisha Occupation Irvana
Sir Gallahad III Buckup
Goya II
Annie Reigh Moon Deck Miss Night Bar Three Bars Lena Valenti Top Deck TB Lightfoot Sis Be Sure Now TB Husky
Rocket Wrangler Find A Buyer TB Gallant Jet Rose Bug
Jet Deck
Lena’s Bar TB Lanovay
Baby Steel TB Romany Royal Jo-Ann-Cat
Chick’s Deck Mayshego TB Azure Te TB
Jet’s Fair Lady Reb’s Policy
Here’s To Lil Rocket Bar TB
Go Galla Go
To Market
Hide And Seek
Jet Deck
Leo Jewel
Lady Bug’s Moon Casco Rose
Raise A Native Champagne Woman Double Devin
Hijo Beauty TB Tiny Watch
Gay’s Delight
No Trader
Miss Super Hope
Easy Kiss CORONAS BOY, ’09, G.
Corona Cartel
My First Corona
Holland Ease
Corona Chick
First Down Dash
First Down Energy
Tinys Effort
52 SPEEDHORSE, February 2017
New Mexico Cup 870 Championship
Coady Photography