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 Qualifier Profiles |
Dateline: 8/30/02
AB What A Runner, an aptly named Royal Quick Dash filly, made history when she ran the first sub-21 second quarter mile in history in her All American Futurity (G1) trial on August 15. When she breaks from post 6 in the $2,050,000 final on September 2, the filly will attempt to make history again by giving owners Dennie and Kris Hill and trainer Bret Vickery their first victory in American Quarter Horse racing's richest race.
Breaking sharply from post 7 in the 10th of 23 trials, AB What A Runner went 440 yards in :20.993, breaking by 3/100ths of a second the track record established in 1973 by world champion Truckle Feature. This was nearly three months after she made her career debut with a 5-length victory in a 330-yard maiden race at Les Bois Park in Idaho.
Vickery left his Idaho stable in the hands of his wife, Stacy, and accompanied AB What A Runner to Ruidoso. Bred by the Allred Brothers of Mesa, Arizona, and one of seven starters produced by the stakes-winning Streakin Six mare Be So Merry, the filly is a half sister to 1995 Los Alamitos Million Futurity (G1) runner-up Temerity Wrangler. Jay Conklin will ride AB What A Runner in the All American final.
The owners and trainers of the All American Futurity and Derby (G1) finalists chose their post positions at a luncheon at Ruidoso Downs on Thursday. The connections of third-fastest qualifier Silvered Eyes, which ran second to AB What A Runner in his trial, chose first and trainer Jack Brooks selected post 1 for the Mr Eye Opener gelding. Jacky Martin will ride Silvered Eyes in the final. Brooks and Martin have teamed to win the All American a record seven times, most recently with champion Eyesa Special in 2000. All told, Brooks has won the race eight times, teaming with G.R. Carter Jr. to win in 1998 with Falling In Loveagain.
Second-fastest qualifier and Rainbow Futurity (G1) winner First To Flash will break from post 2. Riders weren't named at the luncheon, but Joe Badilla is expected to ride the First Down Dash colt for the First To Flash Partnership and trainer John Bassett. Bassett and Badilla teamed to win the 1999 All American with champion A Delightful Dasher.
The $219,403-est. All American Derby will be run on Sunday. The connections of champion Tres Seis, the fastest qualifier and likely post time favorite, chose post 2 for the Golden State Futurity (G1) winner and All American Futurity runner-up.
The complete list of post positions can be seen here.
EYE OPENING EPISODE
Gray gelding
Mr Eye Opener-A Special Episode by Special Effort
Owner and Breeder: Sandy Erwin, Dallas, Texas
Trainer: Jose Dominguez
Qualifying Jockey: Juan Vasquez
RACE RECORD:
- Four wins in five starts, earnings of $117,770.
- Won All American trial heat 21 by two lengths from Ruidoso Futurity (G1) runner-up Fast First Call.
- Recorded the 10th-fastest qualifying time of :21.418.
- Began his career with three consecutive wins, including the April 7, $277,008 West Texas Futurity (G1) at Sunland Park. His winning time of :14.934 broke by 9/100ths of a second the 300-yard stakes record established last season by Illusioneiress.
CONNECTIONS:
- Owner/breeder Sandy Erwin and her late husband, Bob, got their start in the horse business breeding and raising miniature horses. Residents of Dallas, the Erwins in their own name have bred six stakes winners and the earners of more than $1.2 million, including Grade 1 winner and Texas Classic Futurity (G1) finalist Heza Bold Man and Heza Wicked Man, the winner of the March 2 West Texas Maturity (G3) at Sunland Park. Erwin also campaigns 2002 Zia Futurity (RG2) winner Dooley For Cash, a gelding by the Beduino (TB) stallion Dooley Authorized that won All American Futurity trial heat 1 and qualified to the All American Futurity Juvenile (R).
- A longtime New Mexico-based trainer, Jose Dominguez, since 1976 has saddled 222 winners and the earners of $1,679,328. His stakes winners include champion and 1992 All American Futurity finalist Royal Down Dash and champion and Grade 2 winner Okey Dokey Dale. In 1998, Dominguez sent Crash Thru Traffic out to break the 330-yard world record at Sunland Park. His brother Caesar trained champion distance horse What A Pleasure and now is a trainer on the Southern California Thoroughbred circuit.
- Former jockey James Lackey, who rode champions Cash Rate and First Down Dash to victories in the Champion of Champions (G1), trained Eye Opening Episode at Sunland Park.
- Jockey Juan Vasquez also qualified fourth-fastest qualifier Special Red Warrior. A 35-year-old native of San Miguel, Mexico, Vasquez first began riding in the U.S. in 1992. His annual win totals have steadily increased since '95, when he rode the winners of 35 races. During his 11-year career, Vasquez' mounts have won 717 races and have earned more than $6.9 million. He enjoyed his best season in 2001, with 127 wins and mount earnings of $1,803,964, and he also won the AQHA Jockey Championship at Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie. Vasquez scored his richest career victory aboard the Jody O Toole gelding Gol in the 1998 Heritage Place Futurity (G1) at Remington Park.
- Freddie Martinez is expected to ride Eye Opening Episode in the final and Vasquez will take the mount on Special Red Warrior. This will be the first All American Futurity mount for Martinez, who has ridden the winners of nearly 200 races and $2 million in his career.
PEDIGREE NOTES:
- The sire of champion and 2000 All American Futurity winner Eyesa Special, Mr Eye Opener raced from 1992-93. The stallion by two-time world champion Dash For Cash won nine of 15 races and earned $202,978. Bred by Joe Kirk Fulton of Lubbock, Texas, and owned by Dale and Billie Smith of Houston, he won the 1992 West Texas Futurity (G1) in the stakes-record time of :16.45 for 330 yards. From six crops, Mr Eye Opener has sired 32 stakes winners and the earners of more than $7.7 million. Now 12, the stallion stands at Dee and Betty Raper's Belle Mere Farm at Norman, Oklahoma.
- Dam A Special Episode earned $19,712 from 14 races and was a finalist in champion Toast To Dash's 1996 Kansas Futurity (G1) at Trinity Meadows. The 8-year-old mare is a half sister to Heza Bold Man, winner of the Grade 1 Manor Downs Futurity and Heritage Place Derby. Eye Opening Episode is her first starter.
Article and logo courtesy of AQHA from a press release.
All articles in the series:
- AB WHAT A RUNNER
- FIRST TO FLASH
- SILVERED EYES
- SPECIAL RED WARRIOR
- FLYS R STREAKIN
- METEORIC
- FIRST PLACE QUEEN
- ANDTHEBEATGOESON
- THE DOWN SIDE
- EYE OPENING EPISODE
