Page 222 - April2022

RACING NEWS
Francisco Pasquel Classic
DIVAS FIRST ANITA
by Luis Prieto Zamudio, translation by Speedhorse
Agroup of six runners aged three and
older, bred in Mexico, competed in the Francisco Pasquel Classic, the only one that takes place at the Hipodromo de las Americas at the minimum distance of 110 yards. It was the second classic of the meet calendar that took place on Feb. 13, the first day of races for Quarter Horses. The purse assigned to the race was $344,600 pesos ($16,673 U.S. approx.).
The list of participants included four recognized winners, who are stakes placed, with Feuture Horse attracting the most attention at the betting windows. Among the three females of the group Divas First Anita stood out, winner of the Mexico Derby and third in the Mexican Breeders Derby Challenge.
They soon reached their starting positions, and the race began. At first, it seemed that Feuture Horse (#3) and Rex Sambaso (#2) would define the race, but it was Divas First Anita, who from the outside 6-post took away their intentions taking the lead by 3/4 lengths in the final strides, due to the excellent support of Yair Daniel Báez, who took his record to two classics on opening day.
The race time was :6.66 (SI 116) a new track record, which, if approved by the American Quarter Horse Association, will be a New World Record for 110 yards, besting the :6.744 seconds achieved by
RG Chosen Jewel, on Feb. 28, 2021, in the Francisco Pasquel Classic itself.
Bred in Mexico, by Arturo
Olvera Bernal, for his Cuadra Zamarrero, Divas First Anita is an imposing four-year-old filly, daughter of the stallion Divas First Down (First Down Dash) out of the mare Julies
Lil Jess (Mr Jess Perry), and trained by José Norberto Bastida Díaz.
Her passage through the 2019 Select Yearling Sale was very discreet, because she reached only $ 110,000 pesos ($5,447 U.S. approx.), being repurchased by her breeder.
She debuted with a triumph on March 15, 2020. After a seven-month break due to the suspension of activities because of the COVID 19 pandemic, she won her qualifying trial
to the Garañones Futurity Consolation, where she finished in second place. She immediately qualified in the same way to the final of the Subasta Selecta Futurity, where she closed in fourth place.
In her sophomore season she participated in the finals of the Mexican Breeders Derby Challenge
(second place), Mexico Derby (first place) and Garañones Derby (seventh place), where she suffered a tear that led her to rest for six months, until her return in the Francisco Pasquel Classic. Her current record is 6-4-0 in 12 starts, as well as earnings that already exceed 2 million pesos.
Feuture Horse, current Track Record holder at 300 yards, finished second, under Rosalino Alcudia. Sea Horse Corona’s son out of Feature By Jess (by Dashin Bye), is owned by Cuadra Cartas Blancas and his trainer is José Eduardo Baltazar Carmona.
AS Macho, winner of multiple classics and Mexican Champion, took third place, ridden
220 SPEEDHORSE April 2022
Divas First Anita wins the Francisco Pasquel Classic.
Hipodromo de las Americas
$16,673 • 110 yards :6.66 • si 116
First Down Dash
Divas First Down
Really A Diva
DIVAS FIRST ANITA, ‘18-f.
Mr Jess Perry
Julies Lil Jess
A Lil Known Fact
Miguel A. Espinoza/Hipódromo de Las Américas