Separate Bet Has Mind On Business For Brooks
Amarillo, Texas, August 30, 2006 – The connections of Separate Bet had a difficult decision to make earlier this year. Their well-bred 2-year-old colt showed immense talent, but he also could be hard to handle and less than focused on the racetrack. His trainer, Jack Brooks, called him “ornery.”
“This colt has been real impressive from the word ‘go,’” said Brooks, who trains the son of champion Separatist for brothers Jimmy D. Harrel and H. Duane Harrel and their partners, David Barrett and Joann Adams. Last year, Jimmy Harrel purchased Separate Bet for $80,000 at the Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale, where the colt’s catalog page hinted at a future career as a stallion. Separatist sired 2004 All American Futurity (G1) winner DM Shicago; Separate Bet’s dam is Grade 2 winner and Grade 2 stakes producer Better Bet On Me, by First Down Dash.
No trainer has been as successful with 2-year-old American Quarter Horses at Ruidoso Downs as Brooks, who has won eight runnings of the All American Futurity—five more than his nearest rival. However, despite Brooks’ high opinion of Separate Bet, the colt at first did not seem to be on track to reach the final of the $1.9 million race on Labor Day. The colt’s antics limited his performances at Remington Park, where he opened his career with a sixth-place finish in a trial to the Remington Park Futurity (G1) as the 2.2-1 favorite, and at Ruidoso Downs, where Brooks said, “He did everything a horse could do wrong” in the trials to the Ruidoso Futurity (G1).
“After the Ruidoso trials, we figured it was time,” Brooks said. “If we were going to do anything with him, we were going to have to geld him.”
In his first race as a gelding, Separate Bet finished third in a trial to the Rainbow Futurity (G1) in a performance that satisfied Brooks, who said, “He gets away late, but just comes running on the end.” With the effort, the gelding qualified to the Rainbow Invitational Stakes for the 11th- through 20th-fastest qualifiers. He won the race by a half-length to score his first career victory.
Separate Bet rewarded Brooks’ faith in him in the All American trials, winning the 15th heat track by three lengths in the fifth-fastest qualifying time. On a day where the track was sloppy, he was the only qualifier to come from trials 10 through 17. Separate Bet, who joins Dont Let Down and Gun Battle as the three geldings in the final, is the lone qualifier for Brooks and for his rider, AQHA Champion Jockey G.R. Carter Jr. In 1998, Brooks and Carter teamed up to win the All American Futurity with the filly Falling In Loveagain.
If you are unable to be in Ruidoso Downs for the heart-pounding events this week, be sure to catch all the action live on TVG Network. TVG’s live coverage of the All American will begin on Monday, September 4, at 4 p.m. MDT. Coverage can also be seen on Fox New York, Turner South and FSN Prime Ticket from 4-5 p.m. MDT. Delayed coverage will air on ESPN2’s “Wire To Wire” weekly highlight show on September 5 at 2 p.m. MDT.
In addition, the American Quarter Horse Racing Journal is providing daily updates of the contenders and their connections throughout All American week at aqharacing.com. Complete coverage of the 2006 All American winner will be in the October issue. Subscribe online or call (800) 291-7323.
For Immediate Release
FROM VARIED BACKGROUNDS, FINALISTS SHARE THE SAME GOAL
Amarillo, Texas, August 28, 2006 – The field of finalists in the 2006 All American Futurity (G1) spans a range of horses from homebreds to top sale yearlings, and the list of breeders is just as diverse.
Perennial top breeder Vessels Stallion Farm bred fastest qualifier No Secrets Here (First Down Dash – Dicey Secret by Raise A Secret) and still owns the colt with partner Benny Rosset of Sao Paulo, Brazil. A two-time winner in five outs, the colt has earned $140,265.
Vessels Stallion Farm also bred fifth-fastest qualifier Separate Bet (Separatist – Better Bet On Me by First Down Dash) and ninth-fastest My First Passion (First Down Dash – My Strawberry Chick by Chicks Beduino).
Separate Bet sold for $80,000 at the Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale in 2005 and now races for the Oklahoma-based partnership of Jimmy Harrel, Duane Harrel, David Barrett and Joann Adams.
My First Passion, bred by Vessels in partnership with Martha “Mimi” Wells of Orange, California, was purchased by Jose Cantu of Rio Grande City, Texas, in May in a private transaction. Winner of the July 2 Firecracker Futurity (G2), the gray colt has a record of 1-2-1 in four starts and earnings of $122,058.
Bobby D. Cox of Peaster, Texas, is listed as breeder on more than one finalist as well. Fourth-fastest qualifier Genuine Botticelli (Special Task – Genuine Reward by First Down Dash) and sixth-fastest Dont Let Down (Stoli – Babe On The Beach by Invisible Injun) are both homebreds campaigned by Cox.
Another homebred causing quite a stir in the 2-year-old ranks this year is Robert and Del Rae Driggers’ Gun Battle (Dash Ta Fame – On A Bunny by On A High) who has already earned blacktype with a half-length victory in the Zia Futurity (RG1) on July 30. The Driggers consigned the gelding to the 2005 Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale but repurchased him for $10,000. Since then, he has won five of seven starts and earned $214,235 on the road to the All American Futurity.
Also a repurchase, this time for $25,000 from the 2005 Ruidoso New Mexico-Bred Sale, is third-fastest qualifier Mightys First Call. Bred and owned by Richard Shearer of Portales, New Mexico, the filly has won three of eight outs, earned $80,973, and is one of only two females in the field of qualifiers.
The other filly, Remember Me Rose (Corona Cartel – Im Moonlighting by Zevi (TB)) was bred by the late Dr. Max Alumbaugh and wife Linda’s MLA International Company of Stigler, Oklahoma.
Remember Me Rose, who has won three times and placed second twice in five starts, earning $123,831, has already secured a berth to the 2006 MBNA America Challenge Championships with a stakes victory in the Ford Mexico Juvenile Challenge. A $73,000 purchase at the 2005 Schvaneveldt Andreini Sale, the filly races for owners Azoom LP, the Veracruz, Mexico, partnership of Enrique Carrion and Alejandro Barradas Lagunes.
Ninth-fastest qualifier First Freeze (First Down Dash – Streakin Snowlady by Mr Jess Perry) was purchased at the Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale for $120,000, the highest price paid for any 2006 All American Futurity finalist.
Bred by South Gate, California’s Shultz Ranch, an AQHA 30-consecutive-year breeder, First Freeze is a full-brother to last year’s fifth-place finisher in the All American Futurity, Shesnowlady. Dam of both, Streakin Snowlady, is two-for-two in producing All American Futurity finalists.
Rounding out the 10-horse field is highly-favored Okey Dokey Fantasy (Okey Dokey Dale – Fontanas Fantasy by Lazbuddie) the highest-earning finalist with a bankroll of $440,768 and a spotless record of eight wins in eight tries. With victories in the Longhorn Futurity (G2), the Manor Downs Futurity (G1) and a deadheat score in the Ruidoso Futurity (G1), the colt leads the nation in races won and ranks second in earnings.
Visit aqha.com for daily updates throughout All American week in Ruidoso. Coverage of the race is brought to you by The American Quarter Horse Racing Journal. Read the complete story of the 2006 All American winner in the October issue.
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