Page 132 - NM Winter 2023

THE DOWNS AT ALBUQUERQUE
O.D. McDonald Handicap (R)
Photos by Coady Photography
Marking
Bernardini
Seventh Street
On Stride
Ghostly Moves
Be Mindful
DELBERT TOO
Delbert Too, a 5-year-old son of Marking owned and trained by Filiberto Quiroz, won the October 29, $100,000 O.D. McDonald Stakes (R) for New Mexico-bred Thoroughbreds at Albuquerque Downs.
Ridden by Alejandro Medellin, Delbert Too covered 7 furlongs in 1:21.25, and his margin
of victory was a neck from One Mark. The bay gelding earned the $58,000 winner’s share of the purse from his third career stakes win.
Delbert Too was bred by Fred Alexander, and the gelding was claimed by Quiroz for $15,000
at Zia Park on November 16, 2021. Delbert Too is one of eight official black-type stakes winners from 82 starters sired by Marking, an 11-year- old Kentucky-bred son of the A.P. Indy stallion Bernardini. Campaigned from 2015-16, Marking won three of eight races and earned $426,200, and he ran second in Runhappy’s 2015 Malibu Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park.
From four crops, Marking has sired the earners of more than $5.2 million, including Slammed, the winner of last year’s Grade 2, $350,000 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky, and multiple stakes winner Better Believe. The stallion is owned by Fred Alexander and Todd Fincher, and he stood the 2023 season for a $6,000 fee at Fred and Linda Alexander’s A & A Ranch at Anthony, New Mexico.
Delbert Too is also one of three winners from four starters produced by On Stride, a winning New Mexico-bred daughter of the Silver Ghost stallion Ghostly Moves. His second dam, the unplaced Master Derby mare Be Mindful, foaled five winners from seven starters, including a pair of stakes-winning half siblings to On Stride: Bethreefullpockets, the winner of the 1999 Ruidoso Horse Sale Stakes (R) at Sunland Park, and Pocketfullapozzies, the winner of the 2000 Copper Top Futurity (R) at Sunland Park.
Delbert Too’s third dam, the unraced Better Bee mare Bet Her Name, produced Dusty Heart, a winning half-sister to Be Mindful who ran second in the 1984 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Stakes (G1) at Hollywood Park. The gelding traces back to his fourth dam, Name
It, an unplaced Summer Tan mare who foaled Clemanna, a multiple stakes winning half-sister to Bet Her Name.
Delbert Too was purchased as a yearling by B4 Farms for $25,000 at the 2019 New Mexico- Bred Sale at Ruidoso Downs. All told, the gelding has won seven of 38 races -- including four of 26 since the claim by Quiroz -- and he has earned $479,400, of which $124,864 has been banked from 11 starts this year. His stakes resume includes a three-quarter length victory in the 2020 Rio Grande Senor Futurity (R) at Ruidoso Downs, and a half-length victory in last
year’s 6 1/2-furlong, $100,000 Jamison Memorial Handicap (R) at Sunland Park.
Strawberry Whisky finished third and was followed by McThanks, Thunder Dome, No Pasa Nada, Evacuee, Bye Bye Matty P, Lonzo Who and Spinning Black.
Runner-up One Mark is a 5-year-old son of Marking owned by Fincher Racing LLC. The bay gelding has won six of 21 races, and the $20,000 runner-up share of the O.D. McDonald Stakes purse bumped his bankroll to $239,398.
A 6-year-old son of the Sunday Silence stallion Fusaichi Zenon (JPN), Strawberry Whisky races for Celio Trujillo Jr. The dark bay or brown gelding has earned $299,601 from 23 outs, and his six wins include last year’s New Mexico Classics Sprint Championship (R) at Zia Park.
130 New Mexico Horse Breeder