 Photo
of Tom Lepic of Iowa City with Spit Curl Diva
Spit Curl Diva retires after winning third
quarter horse title
Jan, 21, 2012 - Spit Curl Diva, co-owned by Tom Lepic of Iowa City,
is leaving the racetrack as a champion.
The mare on Wednesday evening was named the American Quarter Horse
Association's champion aged mare for the second straight year. And
Lepic said Thursday that Spit Curl Diva will be retired from racing
after a career in which she won 19-of-35 races and was a champion at
ages 3, 4, and 5.
"It's our feeling that we can't ask anything more of her," Lepic
said. "She's done everything her we've ever asked her to do. It'd be
selfish on our part to keep her running. We need her to go on to the
next part of her life and have some fantastic babies and hope she
becomes the type of broodmare that she was a runner."
Spit Curl Diva in 2011 beat colts in the Keokuk Stakes at Prairie
Meadows for the second straight year and set a track record of
21.162 seconds for 440 yards while winning the Prairie Meadows
Championship Challenge. She was fifth against males in the national
finals of the Challenge Championship.
"There were some outstanding mares this year," Lepic said. "We feel
very honored that we got that title again this year."
Lepic, who wrestled at the University of Iowa from 1971-75 and is
now an Iowa City realtor, purchased Spit Curl Diva for $180,000 in
Oct 2009 in partnership with Sara Morgan of Oklahoma.
The mare won 11 of 17 races for Lepic and Morgan while setting five
track records from 250 to 440 yards.
Lepic's previous best horse was Eye the Hawkeye, the first Iowa-bred
quarter horse to top $200,000 in earnings. He said Spit Curl Diva
was more than he could imagine.
"I'm going to miss her," Lepic said. "When Eye the Hawkeye was put
in the (Prairie Meadows) Hall of Fame, I thought I'd never have
another Eye the Hawkeye. Now, I think I'll never have another Spit
Curl Diva, but who knows?"
Spit Curl Diva was one of two horses based at Prairie Meadows to be
awarded championships for 2011. De Passem Okey was named as the
champion distance horse for the second straight season.
De Passem Okey swept Prairie Meadows' two 870-yard stakes in 2011,
winning the Covered Bridges and Prairie Meadows Distance Challenge.
He had five victories in eight starts on the year.
Owner Steve Holt claimed De Passem Okey for $7,500 out of a race at
Remington Park in April 2010. He has earned more than $200,000
since.
We thought he'd be a good horse, but we were just hoping he could
win a race, Holt said after winning the Prairie Meadows Distance
Challenge. They just mature a little bit. He's gotten stronger and
he's just grown. He was a little underweight and we felt like he
could improve. Nobody knew he was this good."
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