Page 75 - 8 February 2013

EL DUERO si 103, $285,378
Champion 2-Year-Old Gelding
Special Task
Oak Tree Special
Easy Lady Oak
EL DUERO, ‘10 g.
Streakin La Jolla
La Jolla Rocket
Holme By Rocket
Special Effort
Miss Prevel TB
Easy Dozen
Lady Bailey Oak
Streakin Six
Bottom’s Up
Rocket Wrangler
Happy Holme
Raise Your Glass TB
Go Effortlessly
Fort Prevel
Bold Accent
Easy Jet
Twelve Five
Lady Bug’s Moon
Miss Bailey Oak
Easy Six
Miss Assured
Raise Your Glass TB
La Jolla
Rocket Bar TB
Go Galla Go
Away From Holme TB
Calera Reward
Raise A Native Champagne Woman Double Devil
Hijo Beauty TB Barachois Chaperon Rouge Bold Lark
Docile Doge Jet Deck Lena’s Bar TB Azure Te TB Double Rose Top Moon
FL Lady Bug
Malford
Pearl Baileybauchman
Easy Jet
Peggy Toro
Little Request TB Assured
Raise A Native Champagne Woman St Bar
Top Pretty TB Three Bars
Golden Rocket
Go Man Go
La Galla Win Noholme II Courthea
Big Reward
Calera
Native Dancer Raise You Barbizon L’Amour Toujours Double Bid
Bella St Mary Spotted Bull Hijo Lanty Northern Dancer Ciboulette
Hail To Reason Justakiss Nasrullah
Lea Lark
The Doge Docility
Moon Deck Miss Night Bar Three Bars Lena Valenti Nashville
Blue One
Double Bid Easter Rose Moon Deck
Rica Bar Sergeant Yeager’s Lady JA Beans
Lucille Reed Joe Bailey Black Pearl
Jet Deck
Lena’s Bar TB
Hijo The Bull TB Prescott Peggy Joe Requested
Little Wichita Direct Win TB
Sally Rand V Native Dancer Raise You Barbizon
L’Amour Toujours Three Bars TB Bella St Mary
Top Deck
Minkerry Percentage
Myrtle Dee Cartago
Morshion
Top Deck TB Lightfoot Sis Direct Win TB
La Gallina V
Star Kingdom Oceana
Supreme Court Dorothea II
Shellas Reward TB Paula Thomasina Grey Badger II Miss Blue Rock
Breeder: Jorge Haddad
Owner: R/T Stables
Trainer: Toby Keeton
Jockeys: Agustin Silva, G.R. Carter Jr. and
Francisco Ramirez
2012 Record: 4-1(1)-3(1)-0(0), $285,378, 1st
West Texas Futurity-G1, 2nd Heritage Place Futurity-G1
El Duero did all of his running early in the 2012, but voters didn’t forget about him at the end of the year, when he won a run-off to
determine the Champion 2-Year-Old Gelding from a solid field of juveniles.
Trained by Toby Keeton, El Duero’s lone win in 2012 came in the $217,147 West Texas Futurity-G1. The Oak Tree Special son made his debut in the West Texas trials, finishing just a nose behind the winner in second place to set the sixth-fastest qualifying time for the final. Lacking a win or a qualifying time in the top half of the field, bettors overlooked and underestimated El Duero in the finals.
“(El Duero) lugged out the whole way,” Keeton said of El Duero’s performances in that West Texas trial, where he had drawn the inside post position. “He was kind of scared of the inside fence.”
With the experience of an official start under his belt and a better post position in the final, El Duero broke his maiden in the West Texas Futurity, winning by a half-length.
“He might have surprised them, but he didn’t surprise us,” said Keeton, who always had faith in the gelding.
From Sunland Park, El Duero went on to Remington Park, where he faced the best of the best in the Heritage Place Futurity-G1 trials and finals. Both times, he finished in second place, getting outnodded by just a head in the $1 million final.
El Duero’s 2-year-old season ended after that race, giving him a record of one win and three seconds in four career starts. It was good enough to earn him the year-end champion- ship title after a run-off in the voting with Carters Cookie.
El Duero is owned by R/T Stables, which is comprised of Joel Valeriano, his brother Sammy Valeriano and business partner Lionel Zapata, who own Reliable Transportation in Odessa, Texas. They purchased El Duero, who is named after a river in Spain and Portugal, for $11,000 at the 2010 TQHA Yearling Sale from breeder Jorge Haddad.
El Duero is out of Grade 3 stakes winner La Jolla Rocket and is a half-brother to Grade 3 stakes-placed La Jolla Suspect.
El Duero scores a half-length victory under jockey Agustin Silva in the Grade 1 West Texas Futurity.
SPEEDHORSE, February 8, 2013 73
Tommie Morelos: Coady Photography