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Five Quarter Horse Stakes closed out Indiana Champions Day at Indiana Grand

The final stakes of the year for Quarter Horse racing brought in the state’s top sprinters with five stakes races Saturday on Indiana Champions Day at Indiana Grand in Shelbyville, Indiana.

Total purses for the day exceeded $1.3 million with Quarter Horse racing making up more than $700,000 of the tally.

Kicking off the Quarter Horse stakes for the day was the 13th running of the Miss Roxie Little Futurity. Mr Michel was the second fastest qualifier from the trials but all eyes were on the impressive looking son of Kiss My Hocks as the field entered the gate for the 350-yard dash.

Jockey Erik Esqueda had Mr Michel in contention early and fended off horses on both sides of him all the way to the wire for the win, his fourth in a row for trainer Claudio Barraza. High Rolling Seize and Shanley Jackson finished second over Stormi Spirits and Edgar Diaz for third.

Mr Michel, owned by Alberto Valadez, is now five for seven in his brief career. He will conclude his two-year-old season with earnings in excess of $220,000.

“I have to give a lot of credit to the trainer and family in Texas,” said Barraza, who was celebrating his birthday in a special way with the win by Mr Michel. “They broke him and told me he was something special, and he sure is. He’s going to get some time off now and he’s going to stay in Indiana.”

WRs Moonin Thewagon was also a strong contender on the card and didn’t disappoint, winning the 25th running of the QHRAI Derby by just a neck in a tight three-horse photo. Guided by Juan Marquez, the Moonin the Eagle gelding had a good break and led the entire 400 yards.

Rock the Candy Wagon and German Rodriguez finished second over On A New Note and Orlando Mojica. Jess Cindy, ridden by James Flores, finished fourth to complete a Randy Smith-trained superfecta in the race.

WRs Moonin Thewagon has now won seven straight races dating back to August 2020 for Gwen and Randy Williams of Williams Racing Stable of LaCenter, Kentucky. It was his third stakes win in that streak and he is now seven for nine in his career with earnings over $246,000.

The 13th running of the Sterlie Bertram Memorial also brought out a track favorite as Stone Lake was a gate-to-wire winner for jockey L.D. Martinez. The Escondido Beach sophomore was dominant in his effort, winning by one and one-half lengths in a stakes record time of 19.602 seconds.

Rock Candy Almighty and Jose Beltran finished second over Inseperable Blood and James Flores for third. Tony Cunningham trains the small chestnut gelding for owner Pattie Marshall.

“He’s just an incredible horse,” said Cunningham. “He had a little bit of a lull in the middle of the meet, but he’s come back better than we could have ever hoped for. He handled the muddy track well today and Danny (Martinez) did a great job riding him. I wish Pattie (Marshall) could have been here. They do a lot for us and are great owners.”

The ninth running of the Indiana Championships brought out some impressive horsepower with the return of Country Boy 123 on the outside and WRs Valentino on the inside. But it was WRs Apolliticalivory (photo above) and German Rodriguez from the center of the track that stole the show, winning by a neck over stablemate WRs Valentino.

There were close quarters coming out of the gate, but once they all got straightened up, WRs Apolliticalivory had the lead and held strong to the wire. Hooked on Jordan and Isidro Banuelos finished third.

“It was pretty bumpy the first jump,” said Rodriguez. “But once we got going, he was going and going. I saw Valentino catching up with us, but he held on to the wire for the win.”

WRs Apolliticalivory is owned by Williams Racing Stable and trained by Randy Smith. It was one of four wins on the card for Smith.

The final stakes of the day was the 25th running of the Governor’s Stakes and the race James Flores has traveled to Indiana for. He came up for the trials to ride for Jon and Brant Barley with Head Patron, winning his trial, and flew back in for the final. Head Patron had the lead early and never looked back, striding out to a two and one-half lengths win over El Rubio Corona and Sergio Ramirez. Count Down and Rolando Pina finished third.

 

 

It was the third win for Head Patron (photo), who is by Zoomin for Bux. Smith trains the chestnut gelding.

“We remembered a couple of horses racing by Zoomin for Bux that were pretty impressive,” said Jon Barley. “He’s an old timer and I talked to my uncle and we liked what we saw so I said, ‘Let’s breed a mare to him,’ and we did. Mike Gunner back home broke this colt and told us ‘don’t lose faith in him,’ and he was right.”

Flores has had a long-standing relationship with the Barleys who used to be in partnership with Larry Sharp before his death. Flores noted during the trials what an honor it was to ride this horse from the same farm that has produced so many stakes winners for the partnership.

“I want to thank and congratulate the owners,” said Flores. “When you ride a horse of this level and he runs this way, it makes you look like you know what you are doing. He is a very nice horse.”

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