TEXAS CLASSIC DERBY & FUTURITY QUALIFIERS

TEXAS CLASSIC FUTURITY QUALIFIERS

All-American Futurity winner and all-time highest money winning two-year-old Quarter Horse in history Stolis Winner, ridden by G.R. Carter, Jr., was the fastest qualifier with a 400-yard time of 19.622 to earn a speed index of 101 in the trials for the Grade 1, $1.15 Texas Classic Futurity over a fast track on Saturday night at Lone Star Park.

After a delay at the starting gate, Stolis winner broke sharply and won impressively by a length-and-a-half ahead of his nearest rival Streakin Six Cartel, who qualified with the sixth best time (19.842) of the night.

ALL-AMERICAN FUTURITY WINNER STOLIS WINNER DOESN’T DISAPPOINT IN TEXAS CLASSIC FUTURITY TRIALS
Runs 400 Yards in 19.622 Seconds to Post Fastest Qualifying Time

Stolis Winner, owned by Jerry Windham and trained by Heath Taylor, was the fastest qualifier with a 400-yard time of 19.622 to earn a speed index of 101 in the trials for the Grade 1, $1.15 Texas Classic Futurity over a fast track on Saturday night at Lone Star Park.

Ridden by G.R. Carter, the All-American Futurity winner and all-time highest money winning two-year-old Quarter Horse in history had to overcome a delay at the start when Lightning Lass got loose behind the gate just prior to the seventh race. After unloading and reloading the gate, Stolis winner broke sharply and won impressively by a length-and-a-half ahead of his nearest rival Streakin Six Cartel, who qualified with the sixth best time (19.842) of the night.

“I was real proud of the starter letting him back out instead of making him stand there the whole time while they caught that other horse back there,” said winning jockey G.R. Carter, Jr. “He went back in and was real focused. When you have a horse like this, it makes the jockey’s job real easy.”

Taylor and Carter also teamed up with Mighty Corona, who ran the fifth fastest time (19.786) of the night, making Taylor the only trainer and Carter one of two jockeys to qualify two for the Nov. 29 final. Jockey Rodrigo Vallejo also rode two of the top qualifiers -- Mr Queens Mystery and Streakin Six Cartel.

The 10 qualifiers (in order with time, jockey and trainer in parenthesis) for the Texas Classic Futurity are:
Stolis Winner (19.622, G.R. Carter, Jr., Heath Taylor), Mr Queens Mystery (19.686, Rodrigo Vallejo, Robert Touchet), Double Chiseled (19.689, Christopher Zamora, Jorge Valenzuela), King Brimmerton (19.731, Russel Hadley, John Buchanan), Mighty Corona (19.786, G.R. Carter, Jr., Heath Taylor), Streakin Six Cartel (19.842, Rodrigo Vallejo, Guillermo Valdivia), First Down Mr Jess (19.864, Gaspar Garcia, Dwayne Gilbreath), Specially Alluring (19.882, Manuel Garcia, Judd Kearl), Cuz Eye Said (19.925, Adalberto Candanosa, Luis Villafranco), and Thecoloroftheblues (19.950, Luis Ramirez, Angel Sanchez).

Lake View Dreams finished 11th and missed qualifying by .003 of a second with a time of 19.953.

Lone Star Park’s 31-day, 2008 Quarter Horse Fall Meeting of Champions will be run from September 26 to November 29. Live racing will be held every Wednesday through Saturday in November, except Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 26-27 when there will be no live racing due to the Thanksgiving holiday. First post time for all dates will be 6:35 p.m. For more information, visit the track’s Web site at www.lonestarpark.com.

TEXAS CLASSIC DERBY QUALIFIERS

Easy Dashin Sixes (# 7), owned by Oscar Cantu Ramirez and trained by Eusevio Huitron, was the fastest qualifier in the trials for the Grade 1, $383,750 Texas Classic Derby held Friday night at Lone Star Park.  Ridden by Julian Cantu, the winner ran his 440-yard trial in 21.038 earning a speed index of 108 to top the list of 10 qualifiers for the Nov. 29 final.

Photo Credit:  Lone Star Park