Page 70 - June_2023

SPEEDLINES
Apollitical Jess has sired 12 Champions, Including
Apocalyptical Jess, shown winning the All American Futurity-G1.
Apollitical Blood, shown winning the All American Derby-G1.
Hold Air Hostage, shown winning the All American Derby-G1.
Flying Cowboy 123, shown winning the Texas Classic Futurity-G1.
Admiral Sting, shown winning the Two Rivers Stakes-G3.
KJ Despardo, shown winning the All American Futurity-G1.
68 SPEEDHORSE June 2023
Apollitical Jess, a son of Mr Jess Perry and the mare Apollitical Time by Apollo TB.
Steve Holt tells us how the breeding
to Apollitical Jess came about. “I’m kind of an analytics type person and if people look at Equibase, it provides information on how a stallion performs and how they perform on different type families and how their numbers compare to other studs,” he said. “I study that information in my decisions on breeding our mares and I believe Apollitical Jess is second to none since First Down Dash, based on the numbers, and he is the best sire out there. When he first started, he was getting good mares, but he wasn’t getting the blue hen bunch like a lot of stallions get.”
The timing was right for a breeding to Apollitical Jess and Steve explains, “I told Jeff that he was the best sire out there. I told him if we are going to breed to him, we better
do it now because we are just working folks and we have a little money. So, we can’t wait and go pay $40,000 as he is going to jump high and that was the year that he went from $7,800 to $12,000, so that was the time to do it. That is the main reason, and he was a super sire in my opinion.”
Steve then added, “We believed in the mare and bred her. In my opinion,
Crazy Down Corona is probably the best First Down Dash mare you will ever walk around. I thought the Mr Jess Perry on that Thoroughbred family (Apollo) on the First Down Dash crossed on the Corona Cartel would work. I based it on the analytics I saw as I studied to see how it would work, and it ended up being right.”
When I asked Jeff about the breeding to Apollitical Jess, he echoed what Steve told us and added one more thing, “And, sure enough, he was correct.”
Apollitical Jess was the 2010 World Cham- pion, Champion Three Year Old and Cham- pion Three-Year-Old Colt. He quietly started his racing career at two with six starts, two wins and three seconds, including a second in the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity-G1. He won his World Championship at three with eight starts and six wins. His wins include the Los Alamitos Super Derby-G1, where he set a New Track Record for 400 yards in a time of :19.133. His Super Derby win qualified him for the Champion of Champions-G1 where
he won in a New Track Record time for 440 yards in :20.939, that stands today. He earned $1,399,831 in his career with eight wins and four seconds in 14 starts.
Apollitical Jess has become a Leading Sire with earnings of over $59 million since
his first runners hit the track in 2014. His runners include 12 Champions, including Apocalyptical Jess, winner of the All American Futurity-G1; Apolliti- cal Blood, winner of the All American Derby-G1; Hold Air Hostage, winner
of the All American Derby-G1; Flying Cowboy 123, winner of the Texas Classic Derby-G1; and Admiral Sting, winner of the Two Rivers Stakes-G3. Some of his other runners with significant wins in- clude Apollitical Pence, two-time winner of the Champion of Champions-G1; Mr Jess Jenkins, winner of the All American Futurity-G1; and KJ Desparado, winner of the 2021 All American Futurity-G1 who was the 2022 AQHA Champion Three Year Old and Champion Three- Year-Old Gelding.
Apollitical Jess was sired by Mr Jess Perry, the 1994 AQHA Racing Champion Two Year Old and Champion Two-Year- Old Colt. He was the winner of the Texas Classic Futurity-G1 and the Louisiana Quarter Horse Breeders Association Futu- rity-RG1. He showed his ability to run 440 yards with a win in The Texas Classic Der- by-G1, making him one of the few to be a dual winner of the Texas Classic Futurity-G1 and the Texas Classic Derby-G1.
© Dustin Orona Photography
© Gay Harris
© Coady Photography
© Ruidoso Downs
© Jake Rogers, Ruidoso Downs
© Linda Earley, Speedhorse