Lori Ritz / Coady Photography - Michael Cusortelli for SureBet

Im A Bear Wins Permian Basin Stakes

Hobbs, NM – Oct. 16, 2011 - Alejandro Medellin rode favorite Im A Bear to a neck victory in Sunday's 6-furlong, $55,360 Permian Basin Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Zia Park.

Trained by Jack Bruner for owner Tom Durant, Im A Bear covered her three-quarter mile trip in 1:10.08 while scoring her first career stakes victory. The homebred daughter of Touch Tone earned $33,000 to increase her bankroll to $70,180.

Im A Bear was bred in Texas, and the filly became the second stakes winner from 52 starters sired by Touch Tone, a 13-year-old son of the Phone Trick stallion Pick Up The Phone and winner of two stakes in 2001, including the $250,000 Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadows. To date, Touch Tone has sired the earners of more than $1.16 million, and he stands for a $1,000 fee at JEH Stallion Station at Pilot Point, Texas.

Im A Bear is also one of three winners from as many starters foaled by Real Bear, a winning 11-year-old mare by Formal Gold who ran second in the '03 Lakeway Stakes at Retama Park and Cy-Fair Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park. The filly's second dam, Top Corsage, earned more than $1.1 million from 1985-89, and her 15 wins included 12 stakes, seven of which were graded.

The Permian Basin Stakes represented Im A Bear's first start in New Mexico. The filly has won two of five races, and her stakes record includes third-place finishes in the September 24 Darby's Daughter Texas Stallion Stakes (R) at Retama Park and June 9 Texas Stallion Stakes (R) at Lone Star Park.

Sent to post as the 8-5 favorite in the field of 10, Im A Bear returned a $5.60 win mutuel and teamed with runner-up and 3-1 second choice Runge for a $17 ($2) exacta. Affable Amy, a 12-1 longshot, ran third to complete a $1 trifecta payoff of $120.30.

Hot And Gold, Pajama Bottom, Feisty Flirt, Just Text Me, Yellow Chumarine, Ize On Molly Boo, and Amazing Miracle complete the order of finish.

Runge is a bay daughter of Posse who has run second in all four of her starts for owner James Rogers' Black Hawk Stable. The $12,100 second-place share of the purse pushed her bankroll to $27,774.

A bay filly by E Dubai racing for Thomas J. Monsen and trainer H. Ray Ashford Jr., Affable Amy was making her first start since July 1, when she won a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight sprint by two lengths at Prairie Meadows. Affable Amy sold for $2,500 at the 2010 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, and she has earned $21,265 from two outs.