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SOPH SENSATION COYOTE LEGEND TAKES ON OLDER TEXAS-BREDS IN PREMIERE
At this time of year, 3-year-olds seldom take on older horses, but Clarence Scharbauer’s homebred sophomore sensation Coyote Legend will go up against nine older Texas-breds when the field kicks off the 2010 Lone Star Park racing season with the 14th renewal of the $50,000 Premiere Stakes, the traditional one-mile first race of the meet.
Coyote Legend, a full brother of Texas champion Gold Coyote (being by Gold Legend and out of Coyote Cafe), enters the Premiere off three dominating stakes wins in the Groovy on Texas Champions Day at Sam Houston Race Park, the Triple Sec at Delta Downs and the Jim’s Orbit Division of the Texas Stallion Stakes, also at Sam Houston. Gold Coyote won those three by a cumulative 18 lengths and proved his ability to win around two turns in the last two stakes.
Conditioned by Bret Calhoun, Gold Coyote is listed as the 8-5 choice over Heiligbrodt Racing Stable’s 5-2 Ablaze With Spirit, a winner of nearly $350,000 in a 28-race career. Lissa’s Star, owned by the partnership of George Ditola and Charles and Coby Tresner, and Kindred Thoroughbreds LLC’s Poltergeist are co-third choices at 8-1. Huntersrunaway, Ninian, One Tough Buck, Texas Tycoon, Valid Stripes and Windy Lou complete the field. Post time is 6:35pm CDT and the race will be on HRTV.
TEXAS-BRED TAPTAM AMONG 4 APPLE BLOSSOM RIVALS FOR UNBEATEN ZENYATTA
Jerry and Ann Moss’ unbeaten Zenyatta, the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, goes for her 16th consecutive victory in an undefeated career when she takes on four older fillies and mares in Oaklawn Park’s $500,000 Apple Blossom Invitational on Friday and one of the four is the stakes-winning Texas-bred Taptam, owned by Wayne Sanders and Larry Hirsch, and trained by Calhoun.
Zenyatta, 14-for-14 on synthetic surfaces in California, is making her second start at Oaklawn Park and, therefore, her second start on conventional dirt. Her other three opponents in the 1 1/8-mile race are the speedy Wayne Lukas-trained Be Fair, the Steve Asmussen-trained War Echo and the Cindy Jones-trained Just Jenda.
Trainer John Shirreffs will again tighten the girth on Zenyatta before boosting the mare’s regular rider, Mike Smith, into the irons. The stakes is slated to go off at 6:25pm CDT and will be seen on HRTV.
GLOBAL GAMING OWNERSHIP GROUP INCLUDES TEXANS ADAMS, KNOX, MOSTYN
The application of Global Gaming, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, to acquire the ownership license of Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie, arrived at the Texas Racing Commission offices last week and identified the names of three Texas participants, Phil Adams of Bryan/College Station, Ricky Knox of Austin and Steve Mostyn of Houston.
The Texas Racing Act includes a provision calling for Texas residents to own majority interest in any Texas racetrack unless it is a publicly traded company, such as Magna Entertainment Corporation, the bankrupt present owner of Lone Star Park. Global Gaming complied with statutory provisions by creating LSP Partners as a subsidiary with Adams, Knox and Mostyn participating in that entity.
Adams is an insurance executive operating Phil Adams Co. in Bryan. He also has small ownership interests in two licensed, but as yet unbuilt tracks, in Laredo and McAllen in South Texas. Adams played football at Texas A&M when Gene Stallings coached.
Knox is well known for the lead roles he played to pass pari-mutuel legislation in Texas in 1986 and the Texas Lottery in 1991. Knox helped form Texas Horse Organizations for Racing, Showing and Eventing (Texas HORSE) in July 2008 and has served as a consultant to the organization in its work to unify owners, breeders and trainers involved in both racing and non-racing activities in a legislative effort to legalize video lottery terminals to be located at licensed Texas racetracks.
Mostyn, a trial lawyer, founded Mostyn Law Firm, which has offices in Houston.
Knox had previous opportunities to participate in track ownership but turned them down. Gary West, writing in Wednesday’s edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, reported that Knox accepted the offer to be part of the ownership group because of his confidence in Global Gaming and the Chickasaw Nation. With the state’s horse industry more united than ever before, West also reported that Knox foresaw “a chance” that favorable legislation could be passed in 2011.
MANOR DOWNS FUTURITY TRIAL WINNERS BECOME FIRST FOR THEIR STALLIONS
Texas stallion Primal Storm and 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo had their first winners in the two divisions of the Manor Downs Thoroughbred Futurity Trials run last Saturday. The Finals will be run on Sunday, April 18, the closing program of the 14-day meet.
Primal Storm’s 2-year-old filly Lady Primal drew off in the stretch to an easy 5-length tally in :53.53 for the 4 ½ furlongs. Giacomo’s daughter, Blushing Sis, could not have been more impressive as she rolled to an 8-length win in :52.88 without needing to be encouraged in the late stages. Both winners were ridden by Tony McNeil and trained by Cash Asmussen.
Primal Storm, a stakes-winning 8-year-old son of Strom Boot, stands at Asmussen Horse Center in Laredo for a $1,500 fee.
TTA SALES FUTURITY PAYMENT AND LATE NOMINATION DEADLINES UPCOMING
The final sustaining payment for foals of 2008, who were originally nominated and paid up to date for the 2010 TTA Sales Futurity, is due on Thursday, April 15, in the amount of $350.
Late nominees to the 2010 TTA Sales Futurity will be accepted until Saturday, May 1, on payment of all nomination and sustaining fees totaling $750 plus a $2,500 late fee for a total amount of $3,250. In order for a 2-year-old to be eligible to late nominate, the 2008 foal must have been through the ring at a Fasig-Tipton Texas sale, and have not already been nominated.
Fast furlongs...The third and final telecast of the “Road to the Kentucky Derby” series airs on NBC from 4-5pm CDT on Saturday, April 10, when the $1,000,000 Arkansas Derby and the $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes, two major 1 1/8-mile Grade 1 preps for this year’s Run for the Roses, are renewed at Oaklawn Park and Keeneland respectively...New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation is scheduled to close on Sunday, April 11, but don’t be surprised if the state’s legislative leaders find a way to provide an infusion of capital to keep the patronage-bloated entity afloat at least through the Kentucky Derby and probably through the Triple Crown races...Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has signed a bill into law requiring the Breeders’ Cup to decide by November 4 whether the 2011 or 2012 renewals will be located in Kentucky, and, if a decision is not forthcoming, an estimated $1 million in tax breaks may be lost...A memorial statue will be unveiled at the Kentucky Horse Park next Friday, April 16, at the grave of 1988 Kentucky Derby winner Alysheba, who lived out his last days at the picturesque site in the heart of the Bluegrass...Through the first three months of 2010, wagering in the U.S. has declined 10.35%, purses have dropped 10.03% and the number of race days is off 9.19% compared with the first quarter of 2009...The state of Florida and the Seminole Indian Nation smoked a peace pipe after four years of haggling over types of gaming at seven Seminole locations and the amount to be paid by the tribe to the state, which will reap $1.5 billion over five years, along with some benefit to Dade and Broward County pari-mutuel interests, whose tax rates on slots drop from 50 to 35%...Massachusetts is moving towards legalizing gaming with the speaker of the House rolling out a plan for two casino licenses selling for at least $100 million and four racino licenses selling for at least $15 million with the state tax rate being 25% of casino revenue and 40% of racino revenue and proceeds directed to schools, community colleges, tourism and the state’s rainy day fund...Liam’s Legend, an unraced 3-year-old son of Saint Liam, has been introduced as a new Texas stallion standing for $1,500 at Cedar Creek Farm in Brenham...American Champ has returned to stud duty in Texas and is standing at Ward Animal Hospital in Nacogdoches...An online photo gallery for Texas-bred foals is the most recent addition to TTA’s website, www.texasthoroughbred.com, with links at the top center of the home page and also on the left navigation bar that will take you to the page where there is information on how to submit photos and how to view the gallery.