Page 151 - June 2018 Speedhorse
P. 151
Sooner State Stakes-RG1
HOLD AIR HOSTAGE
by Michael Cusortelli
Making the first start of his four-year-old campaign, 2017 Champion 3 Year Old/ Champion 3-Year-Old Gelding Hold Air Hostage
was a prompt 7-10 favorite in the $100,000 Sooner State Stakes-RG1 at Remington Park on May 5. Hold Air Hostage covered 400 yards wire-
to-wire in :19.154 for a career-best 106 speed index. His margin of victory was 3/4-length over Tough To Bee. Rodrigo
Vallejo rode the gelding for
owner Darling Farms and trainer Jimmy Padgett.
Hold Air Hostage had been away from the races since Sept. 3, when he scored a 2 1/4-length win in the Grade
1 All American Derby at Ruidoso Downs.
“Hold Air Hostage is just a freak. He is pure racehorse,” stated Padgett. “Rodrigo came back and said, ‘He’s still very, very fast.”
Heritage Place Juvenile
“We did a little clean-up (knee) surgery
on him and worked him here,” the trainer added, referring to a pair of morning
drills that Hold Air Hostage recorded at Remington Park in April. “That’s the first go, (and it was) pretty impressive.”
Hold Air Hostage was bred by Luis Miguel Albores out of multiple stakes winner/New Track
Record setter Fols Zookie Cookie. Hold Air Hostage is one of 11 winners and three graded stakes winners from
14 starters out of Fols Zookie Cookie. Her other two stakes winners are both 1/2-siblings to Hold Air Hostage, including Zookie Street, winner of the 2003 Bank of America Texas Challenge-G1 at Sam Houston Race Park.
Raced in Oklahoma and New Mexico, Hold Air Hostage has won nine of 12
outs and his four stakes victories also include last year’s Heritage Place Derby-G2 and Rainbow Derby-G1. The $58,200 winner’s share of
the Sooner State purse pushed his bankroll to $1,274,517, of which $1,200,939 was earned dur- ing his championship season.
Runner-up Tough To Bee (Apollitical Jess- Peppermint Seis) raced under Ricky Ramirez for owner Paragon Farms, LLC from the barn of trainer Blane Wood.
AJs High (Apollitical Jess-Regally Rare) and Stormy Smith finished third for owner Michael C. Teel and trainer Charley Hunt.
Gypsys Last Hero (Valiant Hero-Threadbare Gypsysoul), Ferrari James (Ivory James-Ferarri Fast Prize), Double Down (Valiant Hero-Fast Prize Doll), Apolltical Chad (Apollitical Jess-Fast Prize Tracy) and Rarin (Inseperable-Rare Kayoh) completed the order of finish.
Fast Bobby (FDD Dynasty-Little Lazajane) was unbeaten going into the Heritage Place Juvenile, but broke his streak with a second place finished under Omar Reyes for owner Bret Pevehouse and trainer Clint Crawford.
Tuff Copa LBH (Copacorona Special-Tuff Princess LBH), who won his trial to this race, finished third under Edwuin Lujan for owner Laurel Brothers Horses, LLC and trainer R.L. “Rick” Robinson.
Viva Le Don (Rock Solid Jess-Viva Arriba), Separate Jets (Separatist-Senorita Tres), Appolitical Luck (Apollitical Jess-Taka Puna), Mr Corona Crystal (Mr Jess Perry-Corona Crystal), Asteroid Dash (First Down Dash-St Pats Tea), Dash Master Angel (Dash Master Jess-Mi Angela) and Rappid (Ivory James-Azoomin With Jessie) completed the order of finish.
Remington Park $100,000 400 yards :19.154 si 106
Mr Jess Perry
Apollitical Jess
Apollitical Time
HOLD AIR HOSTAGE, ‘14-g.
Fols Gold
Fols Zookie Cookie
Zookie Cookie
THE GRAND LEGEND
by Michael Cusortelli
The Grand Legend notched his first stakes in the $100,000 Heritage Place Juvenile at Remington Park on June 2.
Under Agustin Silva, the gelding broke from the 2-post towards the back of the field. The pair was able to grab second half way through the race and made a late surge to take the lead, crossing the wire 3/4-length in front. The Grand Legend completed the 350 yards in :17.443, earning a 92
speed index while aided by a
reported 8-mph tail wind.
The Grand Legend broke his maiden with a 1/2-length victory as the 2-1 favorite in
a 350-yard Heritage Place Futurity-G1 trial on May 11, the first of two nights of trials to Oklahoma’s richest horse race.
Raced exclusively at Remington Park, The Grand Legend has won or placed in all of his three starts.
The gelding brought home the $25,000 winner’s share of the purse for owner Life’s Good Racing Partners LLC and trainer Clint Crawford, boosting his total earn- ings to $35,954.
Mercy Hinklin’s Horse Farm LLC bred The Grand Legend out of winner Legendary Seis, finalist in the 2009 TQHA Sale Futurity-RG1.
The mare has
produced 100% money earn- ers from five starters, includ- ing graded stakes placers A Noble Jess Elie, who is her top money earner, and Valid Expectations. The Grand Legend is the first stakes win- ner of the brood.
The Grand Legend traces back to his fourth dam,
Miss Bobbie Pac, a winning daughter of the Gold Pacific stallion Pacific Bailey who was multiple stakes placed in Kansas and Oklahoma in ’79.
Remington Park $100,000 350 yards :17.443 si 92
FDD Dynasty
FDD Going Grand
Cash Cartel
THE GRAND LEGEND, ‘16-g.
Tres Seis
Legendary Seis
Valentine Alliance
SPEEDHORSE, June 2018 149
RACING NEWS
Dustin Orona Photography Dustin Orona Photography
