RANCHO EL ALACRAN WINS THE BANK OF AMERICA CALIFORNIA ONCE AGAIN

CYPRESS, CA… AUGUST 21, 2010 - One night after Stylish Jess Br repeated as winner of the Merial California Distaff Challenge, the Vega family’s Rancho El Alacran won the Bank of America California Championship Challenge for the second straight year after My Lady First outfinished Stole The Candy to win the 440-yard race on Saturday at Los Alamitos.

One of the premier breeding farms in Mexico, Rancho El Alacran won the California Challenge last year with Fighter On Fire. The son of First Down Dash then came away victorious in the Grade 1 Bank Of America Championship on AQHA Challenge Night at Los Alamitos. Also sired by First Down Dash, My Lady First duplicated her former stablemate’s victory, as she left the gate sharply from post one with the help of a flipping halter.

Ridden by Rodrigo Aceves for trainer Adan Farias, My Lady First trailed Stole The Candy by a neck during the first part of the race but then took advantage of Stole The Candy’s erratic run. While My Lady First ran like an arrow along the rail, Stole The Candy bore out badly as the race continued to develop. Racing right next to the outer fence nearly the entire race, Stole The Candy was caught by My Lady First in the final yards and lost the race by a nose. Sent off at 2-1 odds, My Lady First covered the distance in :21.432 while earnings $34,794 for the win. The Shultz Ranch-bred 5-year-old mare has now made $521,683 in her career while winning 11 of 28 career starts. Stole The Candy, who is owned by Gustavo Barragan and trained by Carlos Gonzalez, earned $14,912 for finishing second at long odds of 21-1. Vrrroom, Masters Call, Head Bud, My Silver Boss, and Morning Corona completed the field.

“To be honest I never expected to beat horses like Masters Call at 440 yards,” Farias said. “This was only her second start off a layoff and normally she does her best work at 400 yards. We will now point her to the Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap. If we are fortunate enough to win that race then we would qualify her to the Champion of Champions again.”

My Lady First ran fifth to World Champion Freaky in last year’s Champion of Champions after winning the Z. Wayne Griffin Directors Trial. Her connections would love nothing more than to see the talented mare improve on that effort in the prestigious Champion of Champions.

“We would love to get back into the Champion of Champions with her, but our main goal is to make her a Grade 1 winner this year. We got two embryos by Mr Jess Perry out of her this season and to have her earn black type in a Grade 1 race would make the value of those babies go up. She had been a Grade 1 finalist many times and it would be special to finally win a big race.”

My Lady First came into this race after making her 2010 debut with a fourth place finish in the Matron Stakes on California Breeders Champions Night on July 31. Immediately after that race, Farias decided not to dwell too much on that result.

“ Going into that race we breezed 220 yards and then we gave her a 350 yard work,” he said. “I knew that the 400-yard distance in the Matron would be a tough task for My Lady First because it was her first start of the year. I was afraid that she would get tired at the end of that race and that’s what happened. Rancho El Alacran wanted to support the California Breeders Champions Night so that’s why we ran her in that race. I was worried about the 440-yard distance in this race, but having no trials helped us out a lot. We’ll see how she does in the Millie Vessels. We’ll decide if she goes to Louisiana for the Challenge Championship after that race.”

Carlos Gonzalez knows where he would like to be with Stole The Candy in November.

“We are ready to go if My Lady First can’t go to Louisiana,” he said with a smile. “I couldn’t be happier with the way my horse ran. Sure, he probably could have won if he had not gone out, but that’s how his race ended up and happy with that. I am happy with the way Adrian Loza rode the horse. Without Adrian Loza this horse would have finished lower than second place.”

Loza has won only 13 races this year at Los Alamitos, but Gonzalez was happy to give him the opportunity on Stole The Candy in this race.

“He gallops a lot of my horses and he usually tends to end up galloping Stole The Candy,” the trainer added. “When the mount opened up, Adrian pleaded with me to give him a chance and I am happy that I did. The problem with this horse is the break. We always ran him in a flipping halter, but then we decided to try something different and we took it off. We ended up going back to the flipping halter and it helped him break nicely tonight. We are ready to go to Louisiana if the opportunity comes up.”

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