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CALL ME FISHER AND SECRET BATTLEGROUND SHINE IN ADEQUAN TRIALS
LOS ALAMITOS RACE COURSE, CYPRESS, CA…. Thoroughbred owners David and Jorge
Landeros are now starting enjoy the thrills of Quarter Horse racing at Los
Alamitos with their most recent winner being the newly purchased Secret
Battleground in the first of two trials to the Adequan California Derby
Challenge on Saturday at Los Alamitos.
Secret Battleground won the first trial in a time of :19.612, second only behind
fastest qualifier Call Me Fisher’s fastest qualifying time of :19.503. Secret
Battleground, Call Me Fisher and eight other qualifiers will return for the
Adequan California final on Sunday, August 22. The winner will earn a berth to
the Grade 1 Adequan Derby Challenge to be held on November 20 at the Fair
Grounds in Louisiana.
The Landeros Brothers have only been involved in Quarter Horse racing for the
past two months, but they’ve already won two races from their first four
starters. Their first win came courtesy of Trinity One a week ago in an
allowance race after they recently purchased the runner privately from Jose
Santos. Secret Battleground was also purchased privately and the horse had only
been in Southern California for about two weeks before winning this race.
“(Trainer) Felipe Quintero found this gelding,” said David Landeros. “He asked
us if we were interested in purchasing him and we jumped at the chance. We’ve
been racing Thoroughbreds for five years and we are enjoying the Quarter Horse
game.”
The Landeros are originally from Jerez, Zacatecas in Mexico, but grew up in
Chino, California. The family now owns a commercial and residential glass and
aluminum factory that specializes in making building glass doors, shower doors
and other metal and glass products. The owners of a ranch in Moreno Valley, they
currently own some 40 Thoroughbreds, including 20 babies sired by their home
stallion Bat Mobile, a son of Dynaformer out of a Storm Cat mare.
“We claimed him for $55,000 but he injured himself in that race and we kept him
as a stallion,” Landeros continued. “We enjoy racing our Thoroughbreds at Santa
Anita, Hollywood Park and just last week we won a race at Del Mar. When I was a
kid I wanted to have a racehorse. Now we have a ranch full of Thoroughbreds and
we’re starting to get more and more involved in Quarter Horse racing. The dream
is to find a Zenyatta in the Thoroughbred game and to find the next Freaky in
the Quarter Horse game. “
David, Jorge and their brother Roberto first became interested in owning horses
at Los Alamitos when Daniel Vizcarra, a popular and well-known groom at the
track, spent some time working with their horses at their ranch.
“Daniel talked to us about Quarter Horses and it sparked our interest,” David
continued. “And here we are now. Secret Battleground already has a berth to the
Challenge final from when he won a regional final in Idaho. If he continues to
train the way he is training right now, we’ll send him to Louisiana to race.”
Bred in Texas by Burnett Ranches Ltd., the Brimmerton gelding improved his
record to four wins from 15 starts. He has hit the board 12 of those starts.
“Before we ran him in this race we gave him a workout under the lights,” said
assistant trainer Felipe Quintero Sr. “He benefited a ton from that workout. It
was an ideal practice because he had never raced under the lights. My son Felipe
worked hard to find this horse and he felt that he had a nice future. If tonight
is any indication, I think my son was right.”
The fastest time of the evening went to the Jim and Marilyn Helzer and Patricia
Pott’s Call Me Fisher, who raised his record to two victories from seven
outings. Sired by Fishers Dash, the gelding was making his first start of 2010.
“Trainer Sleepy Gilbreath deserves the credit on this horse,” said trainer Cody
Joiner. “I’ve only had him for about a week. Sleepy had the horse in perfect
shape for this race. He took his time with the horse and it paid off. I thought
the horse would do well and love the distance and that’s what occurred. I’m
happy for the connections. They have a nice horse.”
Joiner, who has been around racing his entire life thanks to his father Mike
Joiner, has known Sleepy all of his life.
“I’ve known him since I was a baby,” Joiner said. “I remember when I was 15 and
my dad had a barn right new to Sleepy’s barn. I used to sip coffee with Sleepy
at six in the morning while we were tracking horses. Sleepy is my good friend.”
The ten horses in the Adequan California final are as follows: Call Me Fisher
(:19.503), Secret Battleground (:19.612), Chasin Savanna B (:19.716),
Hezstraightin (:19.717), Scoville (:19.802), In A Separate Class (:19.815), A
Game (:19.889), My Elite Jessie (:19.998), AB Another Runner (:20.043), and Gran
Special SA (:20.145).