Page 139 - Speedhorse, October 2021

Danjer’s winning connections include Dean Frey, breeder, co-owner and trainer; Billy Smith and Downtime Enterprise’s Pat Guthrie, co-owners; and Cody Smith, jockey.
“The jockey was concerned as well. I guess he was stepping back when they kicked the gates. That always makes you anxious.”
Cody Smith rode Danjer, and neither the jockey nor the gelding panicked.
Fourth early, Danjer rallied like the true professional he is, surging forward and just getting up at the wire. His margin was a head, and he completed 440 yards in :21.308.
“We were playing catch-up the entire race,” said Cody Smith. “But this horse doesn’t seem to know how fast he really is. He turned it on when he needed it, and we got there just in time.”
Billy Smith was sitting in the Turf Club, and he noted that Danjer “was behind when they came by me.”
The co-owner also knew that Mi Amor Secreto, who broke on top and was on the lead, is extremely talented.
“That horse is always in the hunt—he’s always there,” Smith said of Mi Amor Secreto. “I thought going into the race that was the horse we had to outrun. We were fortunate to outrun him.”
Frey not only owns Danjer with Smith and Guthrie, he bred the gelding in Oklahoma and trains him. Frey claimed Dashing Fly Lady, Danjer’s second dam, for $2,500 for an owner who gave her to the trainer upon the end of her racing career because the owner wasn’t in the breeding business.
Frey bred Dashing Fly Lady to Take Off Jess and got Shez Jess Toxic, who would become the dam of Danjer. Frey raced Shez Jess Toxic to earnings of $235,296, and she won three stakes and placed in 11 others.
“Dean’s probably as good a caretaker as there is,” said Billy Smith. “He keeps his stable small, and he takes as good care of his horses as anybody I’ve been around.”
Smith has owned horses for many
years and is a current member of the New Mexico Racing Commission. He co-owned Champions FDD Dynasty and Kates Dynasty (a daughter of FDD Dynasty), and when Frey retired Shez Jess Toxic, Smith suggested that he breed the mare to that stallion.
“Dean said, ‘I’m listening,’ so I made him a deal he couldn’t refuse,” said Smith.
Danjer resulted from that breeding, and Smith and Guthrie bought into him midway through his two-year-old season.
Danjer is one of two winners Shez Jess Toxic has had from five starters. The All American Gold Cup was Danjer’s eighth stakes victory, and he has placed in six other stakes for total earnings of $1,184,827.
Juan Pulido rode Mi Amor Secreto (The Louisiana Cartel-Streakin In Secret) to second for owner Carol Ann Mays and trainer Santos Carrizales Jr. A six-year-old gelding, Mi Amor Secreto won the 2019 Downs at Albuquerque Fall Championship-G1, 2020 Remington Park Championship Challenge Stakes-G2, and 2018 Ruidoso Derby Challenge.
Powerful Favorite (Favorite Cartel- Remember Me Rose), ridden by Eduardo Nicasio, trained by Christopher O’Dell, and owned by Rosenthal Ranch LLC, finished third. The five-year-old gelding won the 2021 Brad McKinzie Winter Championship Stakes-G1, 2020 Go Man Go Handicap-G1, 2019 Governor’s Cup Derby-G3, 2019 El Primero Del Ano Derby-G3, 2019 Los Alamitos Winter Derby-G1, and 2018 Governor’s Cup Futurity-G2.
Completing the field were KJ Mucho Macho Man (Apollitical Jess-Wild Six), A Dangerous Flash (First Moonflash-Flame N Flash), Mitey Political (Apollitical Jess-Mitey Moon), and Perrys Double Down (Mr Jess Perry-Double Down Darling).
RACING NEWS
SPEEDHORSE October 2021 137
Linda Earley, Speedhorse
Linda Earley, Speedhorse