Red Headed Beach (photo) and Rolando Pina were dominant winners in the 14th running of the $188,900 Gordon Mobley Futurity Saturday during the all-Quarter Horse racing day at Horseshoe Indianapolis in Shelbyville.
Starting from post two, Red Headed Beach shot out of the gate and was in full command of the field. That control got even more dominant as the 300-yard dash played out.
Red Headed Beach was all alone as she crossed under the wire, winning by two and one-quarter lengths well in hand for Pina in a time of 15.472 seconds. Im Jess a Belle and L.D. “Danny” Martinez finished second over Jess a Riot and Shanley Jackson for third.
“It kind of makes me feel embarrassed we were ready to give up on her early on,” said Pina. “She is really a nice horse. And this race today, she did it all on her own. She has a big heart and a lot of run. She ran a big race today.”
Red Headed Beach was the top qualifier from the trials and was tagged the heavy favorite in the final, paying $3.20 for the win. The Escondido Beach filly, bred by Sheri Miller’s Miller Ranch in Shipshewana, Ind., is owned by Pattie Marshall. Tim Eggleston serves as trainer of the talented freshman.
“Early on, I called them (the Marshalls) and said, ‘You might want to make a barrel horse out of this one,’” said Eggleston. “She just wasn’t showing much at all, and her first work was not good at all. Then, in her second and third work she started coming around and in her gate schooling race, she was a different horse. She made it and has just kept on going.”
Red Headed Beach is now two for three in her career with more than $125,000 now on her card. Eggleston had three starters in the Mobley Futurity Final and they were nearly all side by side.
“When you are watching all your horses come out of the gate like that so close, I was scared to death there might be a big wreck,” laughed Eggleston. “All three of these horses are really nice horses and we are blessed to have that many in the final. This was a big day for us, and everyone has worked hard, both here at the track and back at the farm. Everyone came up for this day today. It was a big team win for our stable.”
Heartland Futurity Stakes
Relentlessly Special (photo) and Francisco Quintero turned in a perfect trip to take top honors in the $147,520 Heartland Futurity Saturday. It was the largest purse in the 15-year history of the stakes race.
Starting from post four, Relentlessly Special was detected from the start, getting away from the gate well and vying for the top spot with Go O Commando and Joseph Belloc Jr. on his inside and Kid Kwik and Diego Villamil Bocanegra on the outside.
Heading into the final stages, Go O Commando had the advantage heading to the finish line, but Relentlessly Special had a big closing kick, earning the victory by a half length in a time of 15.597 seconds. Go O Commando finished second over HG Favorite Energy and Danny Martinez for third on the far outside.
Relentlessly Special, listed as seventh on the list of qualifiers for the final, paid $5.80 for the win.
Quintero is in his third year of competition at Horseshoe Indianapolis. He was the state’s leading sophomore jockey last season and is currently among the top 10 jockeys this year. It marked his second career stakes win. It was the first time the Hes Relentless gelding had been ridden by Quintero in a race, although Quintero spends plenty of time on him in the mornings for trainer Tony Cunningham and his wife, Lisa, who is the owner.
“He’s the type of horse that is pretty honest,” said Tony Cunningham, the track’s all-time leading Quarter Horse owner. “He stands up in the gate and he always breaks well. He just got caught in the trials. Our team really did a good job getting him ready for the final.”
Relentlessly Special was a $57,000 purchase from the Heritage Place September Yearling Sale last fall. Lisa is the one that picked him out for the stable, and so far in four career starts, he has two wins and two seconds with more than $100,000 on his card.
“The horse was in the makeup ring when Lisa saw him,” said Tony. “She grabbed me by the sleeve and said, ‘That’s the one I like’ and we were able to get him.”
Horseshoe Indianapolis Classic
Jess Go Blue (photo) had a perfect journey to pick up her first win of the season and her first stakes win. Under the guidance of Shanley Jackson, the Indiana sired mare partnered up with Carters Law to give owner Gordon Timm a one-two finish in the 21st running of the $87,720 Horseshoe Indianapolis Classic, a new record purse for the race.
Jess Go Blue and Jackson began from post six and hit the ground running, keeping themselves in contention the entire 400-yard distance. As the wire neared, so did several contenders, including stablemate Carters Law and Antonio Rodriguez from the inside. But Jess Go Blue was strong to the wire for the win by a nose over Carters Law.
Miss Royal Snow and Jose Ruiz finished another neck back in third. Less than a half length separated the first four finishers. The time of the race was 20.077 seconds.
“The main thing was to just get her out of the gate,” said Jackson, who is the track’s all-time leader in purse earnings for Quarter Horse jockeys. “Once she got her legs underneath her, she was good. She’s a nice horse. I hadn’t ridden her before, but she was a calm, nice horse to ride. She was very confident. I hit her one or two times and she responded. I knew then she was good to go.”
Jess Go Blue paid $17.80 for the win as Carters Law was grabbing all the attention at the windows as the favorite. The five-year-old mare is a home bred from Timms, who has a small breeding operation in Michigan. Karen Yike trains both horses for Timm.
“This win is extra special,” said Yike. “We had a lot of bad luck starting out, and it’s been a good week. We had a good second earlier this week and now to run one-two in here is special. We are grateful to have good owners that trust us with their horses. We are glad to have such nice horses like this in our barn.”
Jess Go Blue ended her season last fall on a three-race win streak. She made one start earlier this year and is now one for two in 2023. She more than doubled her career earnings tally with the win and now has more than $100,000 on her card for Timm.
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