They finished one-two in the trials with All Out getting the edge. This time, it was Prize Kiss and jockey L.D. Martinez who got the nod at the wire to win the 13th running of the Heartland Futurity Saturday at Indiana Grand in Shelbyville, Indiana.
Starting side by side in posts two and three, All Out and Berkley Packer got away from the gate in contention for the top spot early on as Prize Kiss to his outside began making a move forward midway through the 300-yard dash.
Prize Kiss (photo) matched strides with All Out who made one final surge to take the lead again, but Prize Kiss came back a second time to win in a head bob in a time of 15.586 seconds. BP CK Eagle and Cristian Esqueda finished third.
Prize Kiss, a longshot in the 10-horse field, paid $27.60 for the win. The two-year-old sorrel gelding, a son of Kiss My Hocks, is owned by Pamela Brickley Hann and Craig Zeneberg. Tony Cunningham handles the training duties for Prize Kiss, who broke his maiden in the stakes race.
“This horse is a really nice horse who is just coming into his own,” said Cunningham. “We bought him out of the Heritage Place Sale last fall (for $38,000). Pam Hann and Craig Zeneberg are great owners. They send us to the sale and trust us to buy them a horse.”
Prize Kiss, who was making his second career start, now has in excess of $75,000 in earnings. He was bred by Flag Ranch LLC in Oklahoma.
“He was a handful when we got him home,” said Cunningham. “He didn’t want anyone touching him. He was hard on everyone. Hard on the horseshoer. We couldn’t do much with him. But we took our time and he turned the corner and now he’s great and he’s coming around.”
