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Fire the Cartel heats up in QHRAI SSA Derby at Indiana Grand

It was a fight to the finish in the 22nd running of the $108,591 Quarter Horse Racing Association of Indiana (QHRAI) Stallion Service Auction (SSA) Derby to close out the fifth all-Quarter Horse racing program Saturday at Indiana Grand in Shelbyville, Indiana.

In the end, a three-horse photo determined the winner, giving Sammy Mendez and Fire the Cartel (photo) the nod on the far outside.

Starting from post nine, Fire the Cartel wasn’t a factor early on as Stone Lake and L.D. Martinez had a short lead from the center of the track over WRs Raise the Bar and German Rodriguez down along the rail. The two were prominent until the final strides when Fire the Cartel joined them in a race to the wire, scoring the win by a nose. WRs Raise the Bar and Stone Lake couldn’t be separated at the wire to finish in a dead heat for second.

The time of the 400-yard dash was 20.26 seconds.

Owned by Rose Bode, Fire the Cartel earned her second win in five starts in 2021. The sorrel filly by Five Bar Cartel, who was also bred by Bode, is now four for 10 lifetime. She more than doubled her career bankroll and now possesses more than $108,000 in earnings. Randy Smith trains and scored his sixth win of the day to close out the card and also establish a new record.

Coming into the day, both Smith and Mendez were sitting on records for most wins in one season. Mendez rode three winners for Smith to establish a new track record for most wins by a Quarter Horse jockey with a tally of 37 wins to break the record by one. Smith blew by his previous best year in 2020 of 53 wins, ending the day with a new standard of 59.

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