- brought to you by SureBet Racing News
Great Bloodlines of Vessels Stallion Farm Shine in Golden State Derby Trials
Cypress, CA - August 14, 2010 - Frank “Scoop” Vessels would have been so
proud looking at the list of qualifiers to the Grade 1 $262,500 Golden State
Derby following Saturday’s trials at Los Alamitos.
Of the 10 horses that qualified to the August 28 final every single one could
quickly trace their breeding back to the sport’s all-time leading sire First
Down Dash or to the Thoroughbred Beduino - a pair of legendary stallions from
Vessels Stallion Farms.
Fastest qualifier Chivalry SR (left), who came so close to tying Freaky’s track
record at 400 yards in his trial win, is the son of red-hot stallion Walk Thru
Fire, who is a son of First Down Dash. Walk Thru Fire also sired ninth fastest
qualifier Catchmesmokin. Making his first start since winning the Los Alamitos
Two Million Futurity last year was second fastest qualifier Good Reason SA, who
along with his half brother and eighth fastest qualifier Get Him Out SA, is out
of the First Down Dash mare Queen Of Appeals.
Ed Allred’s Princelike was the third fastest qualifier and a son of TR Dasher,
who was sired by First Down Dash. Similarly, Danny Cartel and
Effectiveimmediately are both by Corona Cartel, a son of Holland Ease, who is
also by First Down Dash. The 10th fastest qualifier in the Golden State trials
is Runaway Tyme, a son of Ocean Runaway and another great son of First Down
Dash.
Beduino can be prominently found in the bloodlines of qualifiers Divide The
Cash, whose sire Separatist is the son of Chicks Beduino, one of the most famous
sons of Beduino. That leaves the colt First Down King as the remaining
qualifier. What’s his relation to First Down Dash? Easy, he’s a son of the great
stallion.
And it wasn’t just the qualifiers that demonstrated the greatest of the breeding
program of Vessels Stallion Farm. The fields to the three trials contested on
Saturday was just name after name after name of horses that were only separated
a line or two from First Down Dash or Beduino. In the rare cases that those two
sires could not be found, then First Down Dash’s sire, Dash For Cash, would then
appear.
Stern Ranches’ Chivalry SR is the perfect example of the greatness of the
Vessels breeding program. Not only is First Down Dash is grandsire, but his
mother is a daughter of the great Beduino. Trained by Adan Farias and ridden by
Francisco Rubio, Chivalry SR did his bloodlines proud by posting the meet’s
fastest 400-yard time of :19.181. His winning time was less than 3/100ths of a
second shy of World Champion Freaky’s track record of :19.156. Chivalry SR is
also the owner of the meet’s fastest time at 300 yards. Despite his outstanding
victory, it was a bittersweet race for the gelding’s connections. After crossing
the wire and galloping out following his outstanding daylight win, Chivalry SR
tied up in the backstretch and became exhausted according to Farias and Rubio.
Chivalry SR was not able to return to the winner’s circle area and instead
needed a ride back to the barn in the horse ambulance.
“He did not bleed, but he is super tired,” Rubio said. “I didn’t feel anything
wrong with his legs. He just acted like was stretched out.”
“It was a fabulous race but I am concerned,” Farias said. “If the horse is not
100% we will not run him in the trials. I would rather wait until the Los
Alamitos Super Derby trials. The horse was sound coming into this race. He is at
the top of his game. Look at the way he ran. That tells you how good he is right
now. This race was sweet yet bitter. He won the race but I don’t feel
comfortable with the way he came out of it. We’ll give him a thorough check-up
in the morning with Dr. Rick Overly. We think he’s a Freaky caliber horse and
someone that could match up with the World Champion. You are talking about two
horses of great talent facing each other and that’s a problem that I’d love to
have.
“You know, sometimes horses cramp up because of the Lasix,” Farias added. “We
might have to reduce the dosage accordingly.”
Gianni Samaja’s Good Reason SA lugged in during his trial but still posted a
super victory over Princelike in the third and final trial. The son of Favorite
Trick beat Princelike by a head while posting the second fastest time of
:19.322. Cody Jensen rode Good Reason SA for trainer Paul Jones. The colt was
making his first start since his upset win in last year’s Los Alamitos Two
Million and also since having surgery to remove bone chips in his leg.
“You never know how they’ll come back after a little surgery,” said Samaja’s
agent, Vince Genco. “The horse was carrying good weight; he looked good, and was
training well. We had good expectations for him. Everything was pointing towards
him having a good race.”
The complete order of qualifiers follows: Chivalry SR (19.181), Good Reason SA
(:19.322), Princelike (:19.342), Danny Cartel (:19.367), Divide The Cash
(:19.461), First Down King (:19.462), Effectiveimmediately (:19.595), Get Him
Our SA (19.625), Catchmesmokin (:19.701), and Runaway Time (:19.719).