Page 66 - 28 December 2012

LQHbA breeders’ Futurity-rG1
oPEN ME A CoroNA
by Tracy Gantz
When Dr. Tommy Hays, a veterinarian with the Elgin Veterinary Hospital in Elgin, Texas, worked on the stakes-winning colt Coronas Leaving You, the horse impressed him greatly.
“He was tremendously talented,” said Hays. “He had a lot of mind and a lot of heart.”
That recollection led Hays and his rac- ing partner and friend, Charles Forbes Jr., to Open Me A Corona. The colt, a son of Coronas Leaving You, won the $1,000,000 LQHBA Breeders’ Futurity-RG1 for them at Evangeline Downs on Nov. 17.
“He doesn’t want to be beat,” said Hays about Open Me A Corona, who has never lost in three starts. “He showed a lot of talent even in his schooling races. The first time we ever broke him out of the gate, he didn’t break and was trapped behind horses. He just stuck his head between them, push them apart, and won anyway.”
The second-fastest qualifier to the Futurity when he won his trial, Open Me A Corona went off as the 3-1 second choice to fastest- qualifier T Boy C in the final. When the gate opened, Open Me A Corona broke a little out- wardly. Jockey David Alvarez, who has ridden him in all of his starts, straightened him out immediately, and they led throughout the 400 yards. Toward the wire, Open Me A Corona
drew away from the rest of the field to win by a half-length in :19.660.
Coronas Leaving You had a big day at Evangeline. Not only did the stallion sire Open Me A Corona, he also sired Beer And Peanuts, winner of the LQHBA Breeders’ Invitational Stakes on the same card.
Hays and Forbes have horses with trainer Bobby Martinez. Martinez
had selected Open Me A
Corona for $22,000 out of the
2011 LQHBA Yearling Sale for John Gorman. When the colt was in training with Martinez, he came up for sale, and Hays and Forbes decided to take a look at him.
“Once I saw him, I liked him,” said Hays. “And the female side is tremendous too.”
Martinez, Hays, and
Forbes unveiled Open Me
A Corona at Delta Downs
in May for the Louisiana Breeders’ Laddie Futurity-RG2 trials. The colt won by 1 3/4 lengths and tied with Perrys Runaway as the fastest qualifier, but he came out of the race with sore shins. The partners scratched Open
Me A Corona from the $225,337 final and gave him several months off.
“We decided to save him for the big one because it was the first year they had a million- dollar race,” Hays said of the LQHBA Breeders Futurity, the first million-dollar state-bred race ever in Quarter Horse racing. “We didn’t want to take
a chance on hurting him. If you do the right thing,
usually it turns out right.” They rested Open Me
A Corona until it was time to prepare him for the Oct. 26 trials. The colt nailed the trial and final to remain undefeated. Hays said that they will likely stop on him for the year and point him toward major derbies in 2013, possibly in places like Ruidoso Downs.
Dr. Natalie Montgomery bred Open Me A Corona in Louisiana from the lightly
raced In The Open. The Mr Eye Opener mare has produced two winners from three starters, including another 2-year-old of 2012, Surf N Turf Dude, who finished second in the Four Corners Futurity-G3.
Evangeline Downs $1,000,000 • 400 yards :19.660 • si 102
Corona Cartel
Coronas Leaving You
Lil Bit Rusty
OPEN ME A CORONA, ’10-c.
Mr Eye Opener
In The Open
Ocean Memories
The winner’s circle of the LQHBA Breeders Futurity-RG1, the first million-dollar state-bred race in Quarter Horse racing history.
64 SPEEDHORSE, December 28, 2012
Racing news
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