Country Boy 123 made his third trip to Indiana a winning one, scoring the victory in the 21st running of the $52,160 Bradford Stakes at Indiana Grand Saturday, July 6. The race was the final on the second all-Quarter Horse racing night of 2019 in Indiana.
Based out of Ontario in the Ruth Barbour Stable northwest of Toronto, Country Boy 123 has spent most of his impressive career racing at Ajax Downs. But Barbour has sent the six-year-old Country Chicks Man gelding to Indiana three years in a row to Trainer Tony Cunningham. The result in the previous two starts have been second place finishes in stakes action. That result changed in the Bradford Stakes Saturday.
Starting from post three, Country Boy 123 was out of the gate quickly and on top in the blink of an eye in the 10-horse field for jockey Giovani Vasquez Gomez. Every stride he took made him more difficult to catch, rallying home to an impressive one and one-quarter length victory in a time of :19.648 seconds. WH Kenny G and Oscar Macias slid up the inside for second followed by Stinkin Rich and Shanley Jackson from the center of the pack for third.
“He (Country Boy 123) is very easy to ride,” said Gomez. “I had actually ridden him a few years ago when he came in for a stakes race and he finished second, so I knew him a little bit before tonight.”
It was the 19th career victory for Country Boy 123, who topped the $300,000 career earnings mark with the win in the Bradford Stakes. He paid $12.00, $6.60 and $4.40 across the board for his win. Although his time was short with the Cunningham Stable, Country Boy 123 was a welcome addition.
“We’ve only had him a couple of weeks,” said Cunningham. “Ruth sent him to us in good shape. We just did a little fine tuning to get him ready and he settled in a lot better this year. The first two times he came to Indiana, he didn’t get away good and struggled a little, but he broke well tonight. I thank Ruth (Barbour) for trusting me with her horse. He sure is a nice one.”
Barbour knows the horse better than anyone. The Michigan bred was purchased from the Heritage Place September Yearling Sale in 2014 for $7,200 and has been an asset to her barn since that time. She also gallops him herself, so she gets a hands-on view of his progress.
“Right now, I have a three-year-old Quarter Horse and a six-year-old Quarter Horse, which is him (Country Boy 123),” said Barbour. “And, then the rest are Thoroughbreds. I gallop him on our track at home, so he’s broke pretty well. We’ll take him home and we may visit you again in Indiana in October for another stakes.”
Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing continues through Wednesday, Nov. 6. Racing is conducted Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 2:15 p.m. and Saturday at 6:15 p.m. More information about the season is available at www.indianagrand.com.
