Voodoo Justice caught the eye of trainer Tony Duran for good reason. Although it’s taken some time to get her straightened out, she is now blossoming into a good racehorse and can now add stakes winner to her credentials. Guided by Orlando Mojica, the sophomore filly won the 13th running of the $75,000 Ellen’s Lucky Star Stakes Wednesday, July 14 at Indiana Grand.
Mojica was given the green light to advance to the front from the start of the one-mile turf race, and when he saw no one else was going to seize the opportunity, he sent Voodoo Justice straight out to the lead. Tuckyourtaleandrun and Edgar Morales moved up into a stalking position on the outside early in the race, but Voodoo Justice had complete control of the tempo moving down the backstretch.
In the final turn, several opponents began to make their move to overtake Voodoo Justice, but she held her ground. With horses surrounding them, Mojica asked her for another gear in the lane and she gave it to him, pulling away to a one and three-quarter length win at the wire in a time of 1:39.74. Taperinea and Andres Ulloa won the tight five-way photo for second over Swift Temple and Emmanuel Esquivel who finished on the extreme outside of the pack for third.
“Tony (Duran) told me if she broke well and no one else made the lead to go ahead, so that’s what we did,” said Mojica, who is a three-time leading rider at Indiana Grand. “I just wanted to make sure we were in good position early so it worked out. I want to thank Tony and Katie for this opportunity. This was the first time I’d ever been on her today. She can run. She never gave up.”
Owned by Tony and Katie Duran’s Rancho Monarca LLC, it was the third career win for Voodoo Justice and her second in five starts for 2021. The Indiana bred daughter of Harry’s Holiday, bred by Justice Farm, increased her career bankroll to more than $109,000 with the win.
Although the Durans raise a lot of their horses, they do buy a few at the sales each year. They bought Voodoo Justice as a yearling at the Fasig Tipton October Yearling Sale for $20,000, and they are now seeing their investment pay off.
“I saw her in the ring and she looked phenomenal,” said Tony. “She looked like a racehorse. But when we got her home we really had trouble with her. All last year, we could not get her to relax. But she’s finally coming around and beginning to relax. She’s always had a lot of ability. It was just a matter of putting it all together. I have really good help and that makes all the difference.”
The turf is not really in her breeding, but Voodoo Justice has now won both her starts on the grass this season. She joins several past stakes winners that have emerged from Rancho Monarca.
“The state that I’m from in Mexico is where all the monarch butterflies migrate every winter, so that is why we named our stable Rancho Monarca,” explained Tony. “Michoacán is where they all migrate too.”
The Durans have two places for their racehorse operation. Locally, they have a farm where their brood mares and babies stay while the remaining members of the stable travel south to their farm to prepare for the Indiana racing season.
“This filly went to Florida for the winter,” added Duran. “I take all the racehorses to Florida. Again, I couldn’t’ do it without all the great help I have in the barn. They work hard.”
